The Adventurers page 28The Adventurers page 28

The Adventurers page 28

Looks like the dragon kids are getting the hang of reading, well, almost.  A fun fourth wall pin up by Cara. I'm pretty sure that Burnie would like to learn some recipes for slugs and I know for a fact Cindy is enjoying Adventurers issue 1.

The Adventurers Comic Page 25

The Adventurers Comic page 25

Well now I guess we know what happened to those grieving slugs two pages ago. Yes those are slug eyes. Notorious for getting stuck between teeth. A slugs life isn't easy. I was really happy with Spyke's shudder pose. It was definitely inspired by Monty Burns from The Simpsons.

The Adventurers page 23

This page serves as a story break and also links into the back up story. Yes they are mourning the loss of Irving, however, I do not think Burnie would have left much of him to bury! At one stage I was considering having this as a one page comic but it would be too confusing to separate it from the other back up story.

The Adventurers Comic page 15

The Adventurers Comic pg 15 Chapter 1: The Dragon

In hindsight this probably should have been two pages. For some reason I must have been reluctant to to do true splash pages (a panel that is a whole page) as the first true splash page doesn't occur until issue 4! Perhaps when if it is ever re-released in colour I can work some digital magic and make this into two separate pages. As it is, I do like this page composition and the little panels seem like memories of Ellie's morning before she sets out into the world.

Fun facts:
Anyone who has seen it, would know that the view is basically a generic version of The Jamison Valley in the Blue Mountains. Cara, who lettered issue 1, all while I was anxiously looking over her shoulder had a lesson in comic lettering effects. The font didn't include symbols for noises such as the ones around "sniff" so we made our own, You can hardly tell right? :P "We'll miss you" was also the worst placed bubble in the comic as "you" was almost cut out of the first edition print! 

The Adventurers Comic page 10

The Adventurers Comic page 10 Chapter 1: The Dragon

Now I'm still not sure what relation Big Smoke is to Ellie. Lots of people assumed he is her father and that is OK. All I know he is a carer for her of some sort. Do dragons even have family structures?

Adventurers Comic page 8

The Adventurers Comic page 8 Chapter 1:The Dragon.

Not sure how why I finally decided to go with talking slugs, but I'm glad I did.  I know Burnie is. Everyone else? Not so much... including the slugs.

Adventurers Comic page 7

The Adventurers Chapter 1 page 7: The Dragon.

In order to flow better to the next page, Ellie was resized in the last panel. Yes, by photocopying, reducing and cutting and pasting. Ah, how little I realised back then how easy it would be to do these things digitally!

Adventurers Comic page 4

The Adventurers Chapter 1 page 4: The Dragon

Who can keep on a rant when there a butterflies to chase? I was much happier with the redrawn characters and Burnie's improved design. I'd probably be really hesitant to leave the first 4 panel backgrounds blank these days but I think those panels work better without back ground in hindsight. The butterfly is a Monarch Butterfly. It's flight path is my attempt at a Herge like squiggle that signifies the track of the character is not a straight one.

Adventurers Comic page 3

The Adventurers Chapter 1  page 3: The Dragon.

This page was also completely redrawn. One reason was because as previously mentioned, the characters were quite off model (trust me, they are much cuter in this version). The other reason was so Burnie could make arm gestures. In the original he was in close up.

Adventurers Comic page 2

The Adventurers Chapter 1 page 2: The Dragon

So here is page 2. It was totally redrawn as the characters were way off model and didn't really have the right proportions for "cuteness". I was going to have Ellie reading a book about adventure such as Huckleberry Finn. I could never decide on which book to use so thought it was better to leave it up to the reader. I'm surprised I let Burnie's nose make the honk sound. This a comic. It's serious! I'm glad I did however.