Description
Panel One: Things look back to normal. Cal is in the foreground, his back to the reader. He still looks like his flinching. "What, the rabbit?" he asks. Fern is leaning forward, glaring at him with her fists to her sides. "No, the kids! Why did they listen to you?"
Panel Two: Long shot of the two as they walk into a cloistered area between buildings. There's a covered walkway with another walkway on top. Two students are on top, greeting each other. In the lower section, the headmaster can be seen walking off-panel. Cal has his hands in his pockets, explaining, "I've had a lot of practice. It was my job to watch the little ones during events." "Ooh, like funerals?" asks Fern. "WHAT?" Cal replies.
Panel Three: Low angle shot of Fern's face. She has an expression of fear and the background is creepy. "I heard you were a gravedigger," she says.
Panel Four: Cal shrugs as they walk and says, "Well, not officially." "What do you mean?" asks Fern.
Panel Five: View of Cal as he looks down, his face serious. The background is dark and sad. "I dug graves because I was the only one left who could do it."
Panel Six: Shocked, Fern has stopped walking, and she's bringing her hand up as she says, "Oh..." She looks sad and worried. In the foreground is an extreme closeup of Cal's gloved hand pulling his bandana back out of his pocket as he keeps walking. SFX: >pull<
Author Note
Thanks for being so patient with me, I've had a lot going on lately, including a tiny computer upgrade with some subsequent downtime. Oh well, at least it's going now!
The biggest thing is how I made this page. This is the first page that I've made without the help of 3D character models.
Typically, I use 3D mannequins to help me with perspective, height differences, etc. But posing those models for every single frame takes a long time, and I've found (as my old animator skills return) that the 3D dolls were starting to limit the art. Poses were coming out a bit stiff for my liking, the mannequin hands can't curl the way a real hand can, and some of the joints don't work quiiiiite right, or take a lot of fiddling to look good...
So, I've been practicing and studying on top of everything to try and get back to my old level. I felt confident enough to try on this one, and guess what? Cal and Fern only took two days! Honestly the backgrounds (which I will still use 3D wherever I can, because OOF) took the longest time because I had to draw most parts of them. I also designed a stained glass window, which you can barely see in panel 2, but it's finished and it'll be very useful for Future Rabbit.
I will do my best to continue to improve not only my skills, but also my speed!
Stay Cool!
Bran
