It’s a very minor thing that I’m sure most readers wouldn’t think about, but in this scene, I wanted the Tedeskians to jump Ril and physically tackle him. But why wouldn’t they just shoot him with their guns? That’s why at the end of their last scene, when Ril topples the big pile of scrap towards them (Chapter 6, pg 10), the Tedeskians drop their guns.
I’m sure if I had them holding their guns here but still jumping him, no one would really think anything of it. But it felt like something that needed solving on my end.
As an additional quibble, in the early scenes, the Tedeskians have the gun straps going around their torsos, so the guns could dangle as they picked up junk. But then how do they drop the guns completely in the previous scene if they have straps going around their torsos? I figured during the gunfight, they took the straps off from around their bodies so they could hold the guns more comfortably, which made it so they could then be dropped completely.
These are the kind of stupid details that I sometime find myself wrestling with. Stupid brain.
I’m definitely a fan of how much thought you put into the little details.
Considering how trigger happy they were, it also makes sense that they would only consider getting physical when there is no other choice. So if you did draw them with their guns here, it would be strange.
Yeah, it’s an ongoing struggle with sci-fi where everyone has guns but I also like incorporating other melee weapons like swords, knives, etc. Dune uses a lot of blade weapons but it works well. But in general I find it tough to have characters resort to hand-to-hand when they have guns!
You’re right, Sean, that I would not have noticed the guns/tackling discrepancy if you hadn’t mentioned it. But now that you did mention it, I’m wondering about the sound effects in the first panel. Are those just Ril taking shots?
Ha ha! I put so much thought into the gun thing but then forgot to account for that in the top panel. Damn you for noticing! 🙂 Yeah, I guess the original idea was the gunfight was still going on. But now I’ll say Ril is just blindly firing around corners to try to keep them at bay.
Since it’s the same sfx three times I actually thought it was only Ril firing… 😀
Now that I think about it more (and double check to review), I did use a blue color and different sound effect for Ril’s firing, while the orange “zrak” was for the Tedeskians. So I will probably go in and fix that at some point, at least for the printed graphic novel.
You could probably draw in a wisp of smoke over Ril’s gun barrel in panel two or some other visual indicator that he was just firing.
I’m not sure how you (a veteran comic author with many years of experience) feel about receiving unsolicited suggestions from me (some random stranger with zero years comic experience) so if it’s unwelcome then please tell me to shut my damn trap.
SHUT YER DAMN TRAP!!! Just kidding. I don’t mind the suggestion at all. It’s actually a good one. I don’t know if a wisp of smoke would make sense since I think some sci-fi people might point out that laser guns might not smoke. BUT, I think I will add a light glow to the tip of the barrel that will achieve the same thing.