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So here we are, page three!

It was about here that I started to realize I'd have to do something about backgrounds. Having decided to make the comic with traditional means using micron pens, pencils, an old-fashioned ruler, and colored pencils it was on this page that I realized that I wouldn't be able to illustrate every background in every panel perfectly, nor would I then be able to give the characters the proper attention they needed.

When I first sketched out the page I laid down some very basic outlines for the background, but as I was going through the artistic process I would keep grinding to a halt every time I spent too much time detailing in every little thing in the backgrounds of the panels. I kept running into this problem throughout the sketching/writing process, and it even held me back from fully finishing a few pages later on.

As I started to sketch out prior pages (and continued to drag my feet on inking this one) I started playing with the idea of using color gradients, patterns, and large shapes to represent the details of the background when the action of the scene was focused on the characters. In this way I could also very easily draw attention to details in the background when they might be competing with the characters (after all in narration a face always trumps an object.)

This page marks my first incarnation of the "fading background" technique. Since this whole comic is an experiment, this is only one of many ways I may choose to implement that technique. Since this page I've sketched out ten more, and in each of them I play with the technique more and more. I was most encouraged to use this technique when I heard a quote allegedly from a mentor of Norman Rockwell named Howard Pyle; he supposedly said, "They'll never shoot you for what you leave out of a picture."