Multi-panel page for “CIRCUS” by Tom Waits. The song is deep and gritty, so that's the mood I knew I wanted in my comic. I chose the section of the song about the character, One Eyed Myra.
"We pounded our stakes in the ground
All powder brown
And the branches spread like scary
fingers reaching
We were in a pasture outside Kankakee
And One Eyed Myra, the queen of
the galley who trained the
ostrich and the camels
She looked at me squinty with her
one good eye in a Roy Orbison
T-shirt as she bottle fed
an orangutan named Tripod"
Sketches
I chose the section of the song about the character, One Eyed Myra. As an animal trainer, I thought she would be a ringleader. I wanted her to look intense and tough with thick cheekbones. I chose the skinny body shape over the bulky one based on how well the ringleader coat shaped her.
Page Layouts
Final Layout and Character Sketches
This final layout takes the best elements from the layout sketches. I also wanted to trying something new with traditional coloring so I tested out my sharpies on One Eyed Myra.
Full Size Sketch
In the pencil sketch I started testing out how the text would fit because I was thinking of traditionally lettering it. I scraped this idea to do a silent comic. I also erased the contents of these panels and redrew them.
Traditional Ink, Pencil, and Sharpie
Because I didn’t have to leave room for text, this left me with space to fill up the panels when I redrew and then inked them.
Digital Enhance
Majorly adjusted the levels to make it gritter and darker. The background is made much darker to set it in the back, bring the panels forward, and sets the mood.
Final
Moved around the right panel line from the first panel