Happy Springsgiving, everyone. Hope your eggs are hardboiled and your brackets yet to be busted. Speaking of returning from the dead, how bout that Duke vs. Houston game, huh?
Before we get to this overdue edition of UNSKIND, I thought I’d show off some of the adorable little caps that Kelljin’s been crocheting. (If you didn’t already know, we’re preparing to welcome another little human into the Higher-Sayres household.)
Cute, right?
Now onto something almost as cute — Skingirl! Awww, our precious little doomed, maggot-ridden, corpse-soul is growing up so fast. (´♡‿♡`)
Storyboard
For page six, I wanted to play with perspective a little. This particular hellscape bends a lot of rules, and I want to practice shifting the point of view around a bit as we learned more about the environment SG has found herself in.
Script
PAGE 6
Basically a grid of 9 equal panels (except for the last few) with the middle panel replaced by a large demon egg, which takes up center page and overlaps the surrounding panels a bit. The demon egg is cracking (sound effects); urgency, impending doom.
PANEL 1
From behind Skingirl as she begins her journey. To the left of the path we see decaying angel's wings, a sword and shield, possibly a skull.
ENZO
...but beware, Sister! 'Tis not only man to fall through the void.
PANEL 2
Close up of Skingirl. She is bones covered in gathered skin of various shades and states of decay. In the sockets of her eyes, a dim black light shines.
PANEL 3
From behind Skingirl. She has taken the angel's shield and affixed it to her back. Her skin-hair dangles over the top of the shield.
Skingirl stands at the beginning of a path surrounded on all sides by asymmetrical, levitating black eggs. Like strange, obsidian modern art.
PANEL 4
A view from above. Skingirl sets off on the path, which runs from the bottom of the panel and winds, exiting the right side (interrupted by the demon egg mid-page).
PANEL 5
Other side of the egg, the path enters the left side of the panel and exits the bottom. We see Skingirl from above, at the end of the panel's path.
PANEL 6
View from over the side of an egg as it starts to crack. We see Skingirl looking over her shoulder in alarm.
PANEL 7
Side angle from above as we watch Skingirl run through a field of dragon eggs exploding open. I imagine a series of smaller panels, the path leading directly through all of them to the upper right corner. A series of overlapping squares sharing the same top right corner, Skingirl in each one running.
Inks
I really like the way Chris pulled off Skingiril’s face and the baby demons hatching. I would love to see this page animated, especially SG’s hair and that little guy in the bottom left.
Colors
As with all Chris’s pages, there is a lot of detail. Once Kelljin adds her colors in, all the little demon eggs pop and the depth is emphasized. This really helped us pull off the overlapping frames where SG is running off into the horizon.
Letters
I went a little light on the dialogue through this segment. My justification was that in attempting to highlight the action and environment, I didn’t want to clutter things up too much. After seeing it in its finished form, I think there’s an opportunity to return to the narrator and reinforce the overwhelming feeling of futility and horror. The only hope SG has in hell is to flee, but where to? Hell is infinite…isn’t it?
I’ve really been enjoying Scott Snyder’s comic writing classes over at Our Best Jackett. As we publish these pages, I’m seeing a lot of opportunities to be more intentional and deepen the voice of this work. Scott’s videos are highly recommended for anyone wanting to get into writing comics.
Look out for some more process vids and Cowboy Chris pages coming your way next time.
Maddeningly yours, D.M. Sayres