The Adventurers Comic page 29

The Adventurers comic page 29.

Well that brings us to the last annotated page of The Adventurers issue 1. These little back cover designs were fun (but added to the work load!) to think of a little scene that related to the story each issue. Once again, beautifully coloured by Cara.  We edited in the sleeping slug when my friend Joel suggested doing so in a conversation. I do hope to retain some of the interaction with the animal world in future stories. It makes sense that Ellie could talk to humans and animals, as she sort of walks between the two worlds. It would be nice to see some slugs again. I hope you enjoyed The Adventurers issue 1!

If you'd like to read more, you might like to take advantage of the first ever Bolt Comics Christmas sale here.

The Adventurers Comic page 16

The Adventurers Comic page 16 Chapter 1: The Dragon.

As I mentioned before the environment that is depicted in The Adventurers is Australian. If dragons were to seek a continent to hide in, why not one of the warmest and driest in the world? In fact the Havens for the dragons was originally going to be the outback. Not sure why I didn't stick too that idea in the end. Anyway some of the plants are based on Australian native plants but I still wanted a generic feel so not to alienate any overseas readers.

The Adventurers Comic page 13

The Adventurers Comic page 13 Chapter 1: The Dragon.

I like this page. I like the sequence of the top two panels. I also like Greyash's speech. This was the page where I had to learn to cut a lot of unnecessary dialogue. The strange thing is it actually turns out for the best.

Adventurers comic page 5

The Adventurers Chapter 1 page 5: The Dragon.

Don't worry, the whole comic is not all going to be about how reading is so great. It's just meant to show that Ellie is an avid reader. I think it may come across a little bit preachy but that could be due to the fact that I'm a teacher. I was privileged enough that the school I work at got excited about the launch of The Adventurers and I was allowed to talk to the school about making The Adventurers comics and to sell a few ( I have no problem preaching about the fact that they are great vehicles for promoting reading :) ) Talk about worlds colliding! Seeing kids reading The Adventurers on the playground at recess and lunch was a very surreal experience, not to mention being asked for signatures. Lots of the students commented that the "Grandma" joke was their favourite.

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.

Adventurers Comic pg 1

The Adventurers Chapter 1 page 1: The Dragon.

 Here is the first page of The Adventurers. I learnt not to over do detail on this page as it was a real labour of love and to agonise over each panel to this extent would make progress really slow (Remembering it was 10 or so years from the completion of this page to printing The Adventurers 1 :/ ) I also lost the original page when I took it to the library to photocopy so I could cut and paste (in the literal scissor and glue method, not digitally) some of the ferns for panel 3, after leaving the page on the photocopier. Panel 3 was altered digitally for the 3rd print edition of The Adventurers in order to make it more clear that the image was a reflection. Originally the little dragon on the right had wings but his character design was modified after panel 4 was drawn.