For what I call “the hospital sequence” (pages 41 to 44), I wanted things to be a little bit different than what I’ve been doing so far. First, I chose to light all the inside setups with a hospital-green sheen for the background, while the characters maintained their unadulterated colors. This is in contrast to the tinted look I’ve used in previous scenes. The little effect with the glass at the reception area came to me as I composed the shots. I thought it would add a cool detail to the panels. The idea of Gabriel using shades inside the hospital came from the concept that particularly strong psychics are known to shield others from the power of their gifts. Since Gabriel was there to read people’s minds, I thought it would be apropos, and I could also do some cool reflections on them. The collage in page 42, panel 2 wasn’t on the script. The investigation played out quite simply, but by the time I did the breakdowns for the page, I decided to go for a one-panel collage showing each character doing their thing. The idea of the clock was always there, but I chose to take a more surrealistic approach to it by the time I was doing the final art. Also, in the final art of page 43, I got a bit ambitious and decided to play with rain and a change of light; from the vivid colors of the first shot on page 41 to the washed-out first panel of page 43. With the rain came the idea of puddles, and that gave birth to the idea of panel 4 in page 44. Again, all of these were done in the final art stage. The cab sequence was pretty much designed that way in the breakdowns, with the exception of the reflection of the protagonists panel 2, page 44.
The precognition sequence with Acantha was scripted and designed that way, but in the final stage, I added the rain drops and that awesome texture to the images that gave it such a great, disturbed appeal. Furthermore, by the time I was lettering the page, I thought it would be cool to add a voice over from Claire, but the words and the balloons would be blurred, as if to give the effect of muffled noise while Acantha was in her trance.
These four pages really came to life in the final stage of production; with ideas growing out of the panels, concepts, as well as my own imposed challenges. I love the fact that even after I had scripted and prepared my scenes, there is still room for improvement. The process had become quite organic as the new ideas I came up with spawned some of their own. I’m so happy Metasearch is still a source of both wonder and learning, even at this latter stage. I’ll see you in the page.
Oddman Out
