Perspective Shift - Page 38 (Patreon)

That guy really doesn't want to chat about things in public.

That guy really doesn't want to chat about things in public. x)

This turned out to be an interesting page structurally. I knew I wanted him to disappear into the crowd. Originally it was just going to be a close up of butts and arms and stuff. But as I was sketching it, I realized it was a little more interesting to have the surrounding characters reacting to them shoving through the crowd.

There's a compositional technique called framing or foreground framing where you use other elements inside the composition to frame the focal point and lead the viewer's eye further into the composition. Looking through trees is a common example. I've used this technique previously in the comic too, like on page 16 where he's looking through the window on the door into the classroom. The idea here was to use the larger characters as framing to focus on the rodent running away.

What ended up happening instead is this sort of multi-layered panel where it's almost like several panels in one. There's the smallest ever frame in the middle formed by all the foreground characters. And there's a completely different story being told on the periphery of the panel with the characters reactions outside that frame. The overall effect ended up being a visually busy image which is perfect because the last few pages have been so crazy already. It emphasizes that chaotic nature (from Quentin's perspective) of everything that's been happening.

I didn't plan it. I just thought it was an interesting consequence of trying something, having it not work, then doing something else which worked even better.