In Our Dreams Awake #3 is currently Live on Kickstarter!
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As a comic book writer, we are doing the best we can to take the thoughts and images in our head and describe it in a way where the artist can have some idea of what we originally meant to show up on the page. The amazing thing about artists, though, is they take that mess of words and somehow (through magic is the only way I can figure) create an image (or series of images) which end up being a way better version of whatever I had in my head to start. Those are some of the best days, when you open up your email to get a new page and it leaves you speechless. Where you want to go back to your script to see how in the world they made it so much better.
Page 17 Panel 1 Pencils – Edgar Salazar Inks – Genaro Olavarrieta Colors – Javi Laparra
The Team
Pencils – Edgar Salazar
Inks – Genaro Olavarrieta
Colors – Javi Laparra
Letters – Alexander Lugo
Writer – John McGuire
Concept
This panel represents a bit of the calm before the storm. At the end of last issue, Fantasy Jason spotted this very same spacecraft in his (illegal) telescope. Now he finds himself commissioned to draw it. In so many ways, this is exactly what his curious mind truly wants to do. Somewhere inside him is a person who wants to see the strangeness in the world.
The very truth of things which cannot be obscured by those in charge.
Here we are with our artist sitting on top of a hill, trying to draw this literal alien craft as the workers go about disassembling it. He’s not sure whether this thing will be studied or destroyed, so it may be his pictures will be all there is left for anyone to know this machine existed.
The Script
Page 17 Panel 1
Jason has paint on his clothes, face, and has various sketches, scroll casings, and papers lying all around him. He has a sense of wonder and awe at what he is witness to. Magus move past him with pieces of the ship.
For this panel, the time is 13:00.
Caption – Early Afternoon.
Peter (caption) – It will eventually be dismantled, so we need accurate records.
Breakdown
Edgar and Genaro did a great job here really nailing this moment. The butterfly fluttering just above Jason provides a very relaxing moment in the midst of the overall craziness which is not only occurring in that moment, but really has been occurring since the day before (Issue 1) and is a bridge to what awaits our hero throughout the remainder of Issue 2.
He placed the papers on the ground beside him, so the reader can see that he has been hard at work for a little while already. And he has an in progress piece on the easel to his left.
On top of that, Javi’s colors are perfect here. The greens, browns, and blues put the characters and the reader at a sort of ease (hopefully).
And while I haven’t shown your the entire page here, the overall feel is much the same as Jason pours himself into this project. Maybe even forgetting for a moment that this craft from his dreams is actually real and true.
Lost in the moment. Lost in the painting.
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The Kickstarter for Issue #3 is still going. Click the link below and check it out!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ioda/in-our-dreams-awake-3-a-dreampunk-comic