Chandra, Page 20: I Know The Base Like The Back Of My Own Hand

Begin Chandra / Go to Previous Page / Continue to Next Page 

Click to Enlarge

Whoa, lotsa dialogue!  And here he is, our fearless leader of Chandra, Commander Henry Davis, training away to keep himself fit, and fight the withering effects of the moon's light gravity.  These first twenty pages were finished exactly one year ago today, crazy huh?  It's strange looking back because I feel I've learned SO MUCH about making graphic novels since first drawing these.  Despite the big blocks of text, I think this page is successful enough in most ways.
Let's break it down after the break.
The lighting was something I wrestled with quite a bit on this page.  The overall coolness with the splash of orange was what I finally settled on to give the right touch of atmosphere.  I wanted it to be apparent that Commander Davis is a bit stirred up by his circumstance, and a darker scene seemed to accomplish that.  The final panel was something that I wasn't sure whether or not to include but I finally decided to as it gave a little hint of his stint on the base over the past few years.  Though of course it is intention ambiguous as to what the prefix of that year would be.  21? 22?

I left the date out of the story because to me that's always something that dates a project.  The technology is necessarily outdated, so that couldn't be a barometer of the time period as well.

Anyway, Henry was a cool character to work with, and I felt I had a better handle on him than some of the other crew on Chandra.  One thing that didn't really get worked out properly on this page was the gesture of the run in the first panel.  It's far too static.  I refer you wonderful creators to Will Eisner's Expressive Anatomy.  It deserves its own post and I'll probably do one in the future, but check it out if you haven't.  Eisner is of course the grandaddy of modern comics making, so his direction has some weight around here.