Plague Rat – Chapter 5, Page 27

Description

Panel One: Closeup side profile shot of Cal. He's making the rabbit again, with a sad smile on his face and his face in shadow. From off-panel, Fern says, "Cal, I-" "My grandma taught me how to make the rabbit," Cal says, interrupting.

Panel Two: Cal continues, "She and grandpa ran the clinic in town. If kids were nervous about their shots or anything, she would use the rabbit to distract them." A view of Cal's memory. It's a view of an exam room, with his grandparents and a little girl in it. His grandpa is an eldery, bearded man with short, curly black hair and medium brown skintone. His temples and most of his beard is grey, and his eyes are closed because he's laughing. He's wearing a lab coat and putting a bandaid on a little girl's right arm, as though she had just gotten a shot. The little girl also has dark skin, and her black hair is worn in two puffs. She's wearing a white t-shirt and denim overalls with a little goose stiched on the front pocket. She's also laughing, and petting the rabbit puppet on grandma's right hand. His grandma is elderly, with lots of laugh lines on her face. She has pale skin, short, curly gray hair, and blue eyes. She's wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and a yellow cardigan covered in a daisy pattern. She's making the puppet move and it looks like she's talking for the puppet.

Panel Three: Cal and Fern, walking together. "It sounds like she was very kind," says Fern, with a soft smile on her face. "She was," says Cal, also smiling.

Panel Four: Cal, from off panel, asks, "What about your grandma?" The panel is shaped like a trapezoid, it's shape like a spotlight. In it there's an older woman in a spotlight, seen from behind, with a mass of waist-length curly hair so blonde it's almost white. She's dressed in a vividly red, sequined tailcoat with goad trim and epaulettes. She's also wearing white gloves, fishnet stockings and thigh-high leather boots. She's standing proud, with her white-gloved hands triumphantly in the air. In her right hand she holds a black cane topped with a large green gem. She's standing in front of a huge, cheering crowd, bathed in light and surrounded by confetti and sparkling glitter. Fern answers, "She's the ringleader in our circus."

Panel Five: "That's cool," Cal says, fiddling with the rabbit puppet.

Panel Six: Chibi version of the previous panel as Cal suddenly realizes what Fern just said, the bandana pulled off his hands.

Panel Seven: Cal looks incredibly confused, with his sunglasses askew. "Your what?!" he asks. The background has a funny pattern of confused chibi plague doctors.

Author Note

Time for backstory! We also get our first look at Cal's maternal grandparents and see where Fern got her attitude.

Art Note - I have never in my life used more special effects, lighting and glitter brushes in a single image than I have in that one panel of Grandma Grove. Also, not using 3D models seems to have freed up my art in ways I hadn't anticipated. I used to struggle pulling off more extreme expressions, but I had no problem pushing Cal's in the last panel.

Don't Forget Your Sunscreen!
Bran

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*