Draw Redraw Redraw Redraw

Hedra is an wordless space fantasy that I have, at present, been working on for a little under a year.

This is page 32, which shows our hero approaching an unknown planet.

This is the first attempt at pg. 33, which shows the hero descending into an alien world. The cubes build upon each other and create impossible figures, conceivably letting the reader know that the hero has entered a magical realm. The look of this page is appealing, but the cubes appear to be buildings reaching upward. The intended feeling is, however, one of entering a subterranean space. This page is missing a key piece of information.

This is the second attempt at pg. 33. The entrance to a subterranean world is made clearer. However, the prettiness that was present in the first attempt is lost. Too much space on the page is devoted to the surface level. The subterranean section is squeezed into a corner. 

This is the third attempt at page 33. In addition to attempting to correct the imbalance in the second attempt, a new element is added. Instead of using only cubes, other platonic solids are represented. These platonic solids will play a small role in a later part of the story, and it would be nice to incorporate them into this section. Unfortunately, the other platonic solids to not play well with the cubes. The impossible figures created with the cubes are no longer possible. What was previously a magical world is now simply a geometric one.

Furthermore, the movement on the page is off. The reader's eye goes up on the first panel, down on the second, then back up to the third, and down for the fourth and fifth. It does not flow smoothly.

The positive aspect of this page is that it deals interestingly with the change in direction of the hero's flight from page 32. The upward movement in panel one switches to downward movement in panel two through the repetition of the diamond shaped entrance and the inversion of black and white. Previous pages did not address this change. 

This is the fourth attempt at page 33. The entrance into a subterranean world is maintained as is the change in direction. There is more space provided for the cubes to create impossible figures, and the flow of movement is smoother. The hero's flight creates a smooth inverted u as it moves across the page.

What is strange is that I fully believed in the functionality of each attempt while I was working on the particular page. It was only after that they appeared to be failures. It would be nice to recognize the mistake before it has been made.

Of course, there is also the potential that all of these thoughts and all my worries are completely irrelevant; the reader will not notice, and the first attempt works just as well the last (or even better, possibly, as I do find it the most striking of the pages).