FVZA#1 pg 30 Test page & Breakdown

Hey all, this is my new blog and to christen it's launch, I'm showing a test page I did for Radical Comics for their soon to be released comic book FVZA. Normally I get labeled as being just a guy that can only draw muscular guys in tights, and nothing much beyond that.

So I relished the opportunity to be able to draw something different than what I'm normally known for, which was a zombie apocalypse/attack going on in a small town. I've attached page 30 from the script from where I drew from, along with the breakdown and final page, so you can see the progression of each.

FVZA – Season One: The Year of the Vampyr

Part One (Second Draft) 44 Pages

David Hine – 29th September 2008

Page 30

Panel 1

The main street of Corben. The citizens are all in various stages of infection,

shambling aimlessly along the sidewalks and wandering into the road. Sarah’s car

speeds erratically through the street, knocking one of the walking undead flying.

CAPTION (Landra): At least one tried to leave the town.

Panel 2

On the road out of town, Sarah’s car swerves off the road to avoid an oncoming farm

truck.

CAPTION (Landra): Sarah Peterson almost made it to Highway 45.

Panel 3

Sarah’s car is in a ditch at the side of the road. The truck has come to a halt in the

middle of the road and the driver, a middle-aged man in check shirt and denim

overalls, is hurrying across to the crashed car.

[NO COPY]

Panel 4

From inside the car. The two boys are huddled on the passenger seat, their mother

slumped over the wheel. She is conscious though. Her eyes are wide open and her

teeth are bared in a crazed smile. We’re looking past her, through the window, where

the concerned farmer is peering in anxiously.

[NO COPY]

After reading that, it makes it pretty easy to adapt it into visual format.
Breakdown


Now onto the breakdowns for page 30. The main things I was told to keep an eye on when I was drawing this page was to remember be cinemagraphic, atmosphere and perspective. And hopefully I was able to mind all of these things when drawing this page. I kept the angles of the panels on a skew to give a sense of chaoticness in the situation and give it an uneasy feeling as well.

If you look at the panel 3 breakdown and the final page, you'll discover that I changed the angle/shot. The reason is that the cars in panel 3 of the breakdown were way too similar in size, which would make it visually boring for the reader's eye. Plus the change of angle in the final page, allows the reader to follow the farmer coming out of his truck, as he unawares approaches the car, and along with the readers discovers the horrors inside.


Final Page


Part of the fun of drawing the first panel on the final page is that you get the chance to put in all these small little details that are just plain old fun. On the bottom left of panel one, you'll see a zombie eating someone's intestines, which is a small moment, but something that adds atmosphere. And the zombie being splattered all over the car's hood and windshield is just goofy enjoyment, cause you have to have a reason, why the driver can't really see the oncoming farm truck in the following panels.

Normally, I usually hate drawing cars of any sort, so this page became a bit of a labour to get through because of it, but in the end, I think because I had photo reference, they came out much better than if I had decided to go from memory alone.

I was a little worried about the expression on the woman's face in panel 4, since it seemed like she going into a huge joker grin there. But given her psychological condition and all she's been through, she's starting to crack at the seams at this point, so in the end it was cool.