Melody and Macabre

Author notes

Cheating Death, Page 1

Xiam

on Feb. 15, 2009

Look it up, ya lazy bastards.

Oh, fine. For those who don't know, I'm referring to Dante's Inferno, Act I of his Divine Comedy. The Seventh Circle of Hell is reserved for the violent - of others, of themselves, or of God. Ace is guessing that Samael would probably dwell in the second or third ring of said Circle.

I'm not particularly happy with the entirety of this page. Panel 3 is kinda good until you consider Simon's arms, which are supposed to be draped over the arms of the chair as he's pretty much slumped into it. The head is good though, I'm finally getting the hang of him. Sorta. Hair still needs work.

In case you haven't noticed, his checkered pattern has a consistency in pattern, but not in numbers of lines/squares/checks. I blame the economy. And my lack of commitment to his ugly jacket. But hey, at least it's better than copypasting a single pattern over his coat without any interest in fabric formation. I guess.

I now hate this room - I loathe the fact that it'll be in much of this Scene. And by "much," I mean "all but one page." It's just… ugh… that balcony, I don't want to keep drawing it. Or that stupid wardrobe with the TV. Or that damn chair.

I'd love to draw the lamp more, though. I gotta get a good shot at that one.

In case you're wondering about the little winks of color that accompany their teleportation - I don't know where I got that idea. I thought I took the little star-shape from Watchmen, but looking back through, I can't even find it, so I may be horribly mistaken. I was initially going to make the flashes colored cyan, but I suddenly got the thought of a red shift/blue shift effect, a sort of time-and-space breaking doppler effect. So, when leaving, the flashes are red (as Ace goes farther from the viewer), and when arriving, the flashes are blue (as Ace comes into the viewer's sight).

I'm too clever sometimes.

(Actually, I'm not - I had them reversed at first, and now I'm doubting the change. Particularly since it might seem a bit discolored in spots. I hope not, though.)

Ah, crap, I forgot the mirror. Ah, well. Pretend it's there, because I don't feel like drawing reflections right now.