While it may look like Wayne and I have just been sitting around playing Minesweeper the last couple of months, given the paucity of blog updates, we've actually been hard at work. So at long last, here's a little glimpse into the making of Descartes the Zombie.

Today we're taking a behind-the-scenes look at page one.

The Script

This is where it all begins. Many moons ago, I emailed Wayne the script for the first 16 pages. Here's page one.

Panel 1-1.

High angle on Dierdre (not birdseye; just an interesting angle that is not eye-level) as she shakes fish food into an aquarium. Not a huge, expensive aquarium, but not a fish bowl. It is large enough for at least two or three good-size (a few inches long) fish. She talks on a cell phone. She needs to be able to see the front doorway from where she stands (not necessarily in this scene – but later she has to be standing at the aquarium and looking at the doorway, okay).

Her apartment is like a studio apartment, but there is a very short hallway that leads to a bedroom on the left and a bathroom on the right. There's a tiny kitchen set off from the main living room area; this large main studio area is where this scene takes place. It's a little cramped, a little cluttered, but not messy or junky looking. Just well lived in. The aquarium is one of the dominant features in the room. Somewhere we can see it, she has an electric guitar propped against a wall, next to a small amp. She also has a stereo system with large speakers and a turntable on top. A stack of vinyl record albums sits somewhere or is propped up against a wall or bookcase or something.

DIERDRE: -- SEE IF THERE'S ANY WAY AT ALL YOU CAN COVER MY SHIFT SATURDAY NIGHT?

DIERDRE: YEAH, FOUR TO CLOSE.

Panel 1-2.

CU on a big goofy looking fish looking right at us. Something blue with big bulging eyes, relatively flat (horizontally) when faced head on.

DIERDRE (OP): -- OWE YOU BIGTIME! SERIOUSLY, IF YOU EVER NEED A LAST-MINUTE COVER...

DIERDRE (OP): THE STRAY KITTENS. YEAH, OUR FIRST PAYING GIG, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

Panel 1-3.

On Dierdre, looking all happy, as she turns away from the aquarium toward the front of the room.

DIERDRE: -- I WAS LIKE, “YOU BETTER BE THERE SATURDAY NIGHT OR YOUR ASS IS MINE!”

DIERDRE: WELL, YOU KNOW MIKE. “MY ASS IS YOURS ANYTIME YOU WANT IT, BABE.”

Panel 1-4.

MCU on Dierdre, looking a little less happy than the previous panel. She's not un-happy; it's more like her happiness is now tinged with a little uncertainty.

DIERDRE: NO, I HAVEN'T TOLD DEREK YET. HE HAD TO WORK.

DIERDRE: YEAH, HE JUST GOT HERE, SOUNDS LIKE. OKAY, YOU TOO. BYE.

Panel 1-5.

On Dierdre as she unhooks the chain on that silly little apartment door chain lock that lets you open the door a few inches and still be theoretically secure because of it. She’s smiling again, happy to be about to see her man.

DIERDRE: IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU DRAGGED YOUR RETRO WHITE ASS OVER HERE, DEREK.

DIERDRE: I HOPE TO GOD YOU BROUGHT US A—

Thumbnail Layout

The first step in the art process is thumbnail pencils. Little did I know when Wayne told me he was working on the thumbnails,that they would actually be the size of thumbnails.

Okay, they're not quite that small, but this is actual size, not reduced and clickable to the large version.

Pencils

Next up, the actual pencils.

Inks

What inks? Wayne is scanning his pencils and digitally inking them as part of the coloring process.

Colors

Here's the almost-final colored version of page one.

After Wayne sent me the first several colored pages, he got a notion to try colored backgrounds on the pages. He sent me a few samples, we discussed and both thought the colored backgrounds really added to the overall look and feel, and thus was born the actual final colored page.

So, that's it for our first installment of Descartes the Zombie: Birth of a Comic Book. Next time, we'll take a look at page two, which is where it really hits the fan!

Your questions and comments are more than welcome. Just click the little comment link below...