Cover chapter 2
Rae gets the title of Honesty for irony and also because she’s about to before an honest person whether she wants to or not.
page 41 – 45
I maybe should have made Rae’s entrance into the shed a little more dark and ominous looking. She is torturing an animal after all. I tried my best to make Cu look sick but don’t think I quite pulled it off. He is having trouble standing. I also had him gnawing on his paw to try and get the nail out the way a dog will over lick or bite an injury.
This is mostly exposition and to clue Rae in that she’s in trouble once Cu gets out. I made sure Cu was back light when he said “Regardless of whether it’s helpful or harmful. So he’s maximum threatening while in his sicker state.
page 46 – 47
This whole bit I thought would be fun to show in a bunch of tinier panels. Just to show how fast it all goes down.
page 48 – 50
I wanted to show Rae frantic so she makes a few mistakes in her rush. She breaks the salt circle around Cu and then she doesn’t have time to lock the shed. The whole scene Rae is trying to direct them to her house and away from the shed. It’s more obvious than she usually is, especially when she gets in front of Morgan while she is looking at the shed.
page 51 – 53
The past few times Rae’s facade has broken is when someone out smarts her or figures something she doesn’t know out. So Elsie knowing something she doesn’t know shatters it. I wanted to slowly build how upset she is as she realizes they all figured it out. But Elsie especially is who she is mad about. That’s why there is so much emphasis on the YOU when she starts yelling.
Rae’s anger slowly builds up until it explodes. But Elsie’s comes out much quicker as soon as Rae starts insulting her.
page 54 – 58
This splash page was a lot of fun to draw.
This fight is also another of the none pretty fights for the book. It’s also extremely one-sided because why Elsie and Morgan have both gotten into physical fights, Rae hasn’t. I figured Rae would mostly try defensively roll into a ball. And since we are in Rae’s POV we don’t get to hear anything Elsie says because Rae is focused on don’t get hit.
Kimber’s reaction to the fight is because she, like Rae, hasn’t seen many actual fights. Them freeing Cu while Rae gets beat I figured would be a good reason for them not to stop the fight right away. Or at least for Kimber to not try and stop it.
Morgan pulls Elsie off not to save Rae but because Cu is heavy. Because she’s 100% fine with Rae getting beat up.
Rae flinches when Elsie raises her fist. That happens through out the rest of the book.
page 59 – 63
I figure Rae would immediately try to figure out how to explain away her injuries rather than be worried about Cu. Also, I like the bit of Kimber asking Rae if she is okay. Cause asking that is so ingrained in the US at least, I like that Kimber catches herself by being more specific.
This whole scene of Kimber and Rae talking I wanted to show Kimber uncomfortable about still standing up to Rae. Because her and Elsie have bonded a bit last book. So this fight is harder for her to put asside.
I wanted a slow take in of Rae’s injuries while she figures out what to do. I also kept these pages close at hand so I could keep Rae’s injuries consistent through the rest of the book. Her broken nose was pretty easy to remember though.
The panel that ends page 62 I think came out well. I like the contrast of how clearly Rae has been breaking this chapter compared to what she says about herself. Also in this whole scene I tried to make Kimber seem small because of her discomfort and because of how little Rae is paying attention to her.
page 64 – 66
Rae gets a calm moment to prepare for her call to her mom to make it 100% certain she is faking. Crying sound effects fucking hard. I also wanted to focus a lot on Kimber during the phone call. Because Rae’s act isn’t as important. Her surprise and discomfortable with setting Elsie up as a mugger.
page 67 – 69
I wanted a lot of emphasis on Rae saying what she is thinking. It’s why the Kimber bring up her concern panel happens in a series of tall thin panels. They should go quickly but then one big panel as what Rae said hits both Rae and Kimber. And then another big panel that focuses on just Rae. It was important that her words have more impact here.
Also, this whole scene is supposed to be awkward because without lies Rae doesn’t know how to talk to people. As I figured Rae would jump to concussion rather than fairy magic at first.
page 70 – 72
I wanted to show Kimber cycling through some complicated and conflicting emotions really quickly after Rae says she has been manipulating her. As that get more intense I also wanted to get closer to her.
I also made sure framing wise we are always far away from Rae.
I then ended there scene with the same layout I’ve been using for Kimber chapters in the previous books. Only it’s Kimber being the one walking away.
page 73 – 74
Again the distance from Rae was important to me in this quite moment. This is a slower scene to match Rae’s slow realization of why she is saying what she thinks.