Annotations

Panel #1 - I went down into the ravine in the park near my house and found a very nice bog full of fungus, mushrooms, muck, logs, stumps, and moss. Lots of rich visuals, which you see in this episode. The mushroom copse was very cool! Definitely had to get that in the story.

Panel #2 - The rich green hues in this Pacific Northwest forest really contrast great with Duke's heroic blue clothing (my new Sony 8 megapixel camera also helps, I bet). I really like some of the poses and angles in this episode, especially panels #2, #5, and #7.

The verdant images are one of the reasons I'm being very economical with thought balloons. I could put in some more of Duke's thoughts, but I really like the unobstructed views of the forest. I've never been too fond of voice over or thought balloons unless absolutely necessary. Without text balloons, the forest also seems more majestic and quiet, reinforcing Duke's solitude. Plus, I'm sure the imaginative of you can guess what Duke is thinking.

Panel #6 - That's another parachute in the distance (actually, my rainjacket posing as a parachute).

Panel #9 - That's the GI Joe Sigma 6 Hi-Tech action figure. You'll get a better look at him in the next episode. It was getting later in the day when I took this photo and it was kind of dark. The original photo put Hi-Tech in too much shadow and he was hard to see. So I used the brightness function in Photoshop to brighten Hi-Tech in comparison to the foliage around him. Here are pics of the process.

Original image.

Blocked out image.

Final brightened image.