There we were, just wrapping up our lunch when I casually mentioned I had to get back to work and finish hanging the old guy. There was that blank moment of shocked comprehension, . . . you know the one, open mouth, unblinking eyes, slight twitch in the corner, . . . where our poor waitress didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure if we were serious or what and when she asked we just kept her confusion going.
"He's not dead, is he? I mean you have him hanging in a harness or something right?"
"Oh, no, he's very much dead." Although I could see Wayne thinking that possibility through. "We just don't know who killed him"
She stammered a little more, "But you guys are kidding right? Your not actually hanging someone?"
"Well he's already hung, we just need to finish it." Gotta sink that hook. "Then we need to find out who killed him"
Well, we finished it, . . . although we still have no idea who killed the old guy. It was probably because of those purple pants. Odds are that our waitress may never see this picture, but those of you reading my blog will. As she walked away shaking her head, and the other customers looked around a little nervously, we just got up and left so that I could get this blog post up.
I've always been a stickler for details and I like to make sure that everything is right within an image, especially if the image occurs in a certain time or place. When you find yourself illustrating a mystery story, you don't want to take readers/viewers out of the story by adding in something that disrupts the scene. Especially at the beginning of the story because you need to set that scene. You need to establish who your main characters are, how they look, how they dress, what they drive (or don't), . . . you need to set their location within the grand scheme of things as well as within the panel. Every panel should tell a different story and each story should add up to a cohesive whole. That or you've got a bunch of nice art with nothing to say.
As you can see in the image above I still haven't addressed the shading in the first panel, or the crests on the shirt, but I'm getting to it. These things take time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a town to build.