Batman Annual Process PART 2

Part 2 of my little look into the Batman Annual.  I wanted to really make this a detailed explanation, but sadly, time isn't on my side.  Instead here are some of the remaining pages, and layouts so you can see the transition between the two.

 

 

 

 

Again, we play with the whole "circles" theme with Freeze's googles in panel 1.  Originally I had freeze in panel 3 but felt a big open room, with the sky showing through the glass and a solitary shot of Nora in the tube would be better.  I wanted it to look like a trap.  I based the room off Bruce Wayne's penthouse in The Dark Knight film. 

Again, notice how Peter's color make this simple page sing.  Adding some fog over the line art gives it more depth.  Color artists, take note and DO THIS.  Seperate your foreground, middle and background.

 

Here is the layout for the two pages.  This is how my page layouts look.  They are quick and messy but get the point across.

 

 

Big batman shot.  In the script, it simply called for a shot of batman breaking through glass as a splash.  I didn't really have a great idea for it, but thought more of a hunched over Batman ready for battle would look better.

 

Excellent colors again.

 

Fight sequence activate! This was a fun page. I redrew batman 3 times in the final panel. I finally got what I want and I feel the pose flowed well into the next page.

 

 

Layouts.  Notice the pose in panel 3 is different.

 

The Ice effect Peter uses here really makes the page glow.  Also note the colors he is using.  Blues, as the cool, and reds/purples for the warms.  Really makes the blue color pop.

 

 

 

 

Biff bam Boom!

 

 

 

You'll notice I changed the layout a bit here on this page.  I wanted you, the reader, to get the sense that Freeze walks past Batman's frozen body toward Nora's pod.  It didn't work in the layout, so I made panel 4 bigger, and did two smaller panels at the bottom. These are the kinds of things you need to think of when you are layout out pages.  Will the audience get lost?   I saved panel 6 for another page.

 

Love how Peter uses the RED on Freeze's face here.  Most colorists wouldnt do something like that, but his face REALLY pops because of it and looks angry.

 

 

 

This page is one of my fav's.  I love the final panel with Batman fighting freeze from the past.

 

 

 

My fav panel of the entire book is panel 5 here with Batman looking back.  Peter also uses yellow here.  Look at how that pops!!

 

 

 

This was one of the toughest pages of the book.  Making Freeze look sad was tough.  Again, having a fellow like Peter on colors gave me a ton of confidence.  You can see I left alot of his face white.  I simply used lines and allowed him to paint the shadows.   The finished product looks excellent.

 

Well, thats it!  If you want to see the end of the book you'll need to go an get yourself a copy!  This book was a blast to work on and I was so thankful to get this opportunity.  Hope you all enjoyed this little look into the Batman Annual!  I hope to do something similar in the months ahead when DETECTIVE COMICS 13 and so on are released!