Saiyuki stickfigures

[telophase]

So I started to think about working out how a chapter of Saiyuki was constructed, and got so far as dropping a layer on top of each page in one chapter and scribbling the figures and backgrounds as stick figures and notes.

Then (a) I got that OH GOD YOU'RE NOT DOING YOUR REAL WORK feeling and (b) I sort of forgot where I was going to go from there, so here I am offering up the scribbles to anyone whyo wants to look at them and see if they can come up with anything useful.

I think I wanted to mostly see where Minekura used closeups and far-away scenes, how many backgrounds and what sort and when she used them, when she left the backgrounds off, etc. She almost never uses almost-full-figure people - they're sort of from the thighs up unless the camera is set far away. And she excels at managing to get a background in with giving you a really clear picture of the whole surroundings.

Anyway, the file is here. It's chapter 44, from near the beginning of the Kami-sama arc in book 8, only 15 pages long, no action, and no plot spoilers in the stick figures.

If you have any grand ideas, or not-so-grand ideas, post 'em. And no making fun of my stick figures!

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Well, it definitely gives me an idea of how I could go about drawing stick figures and panels to get across the ideas I'm trying to get across, even though I can't draw.

Not that that's the sort of insight you were looking for.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

:D I'm still not quite sure what I wanted to figure out, but the stick figures seemed really important. Maybe as a way to think how it might look in the composition stage, and maybe in order to take my attention off the wonderful art and details in the final pieces. Hrm. Hrm hrm.

[kate_nepveu]

Boy, that downward-left flow is really obvious in stick figures.

Comparing your stick figures and the pages suggests to me that after establishing a background, she doesn't use it unless it would be thematically useful, perhaps to a slightly greater extent than the random chapters of _Sandman_ that I sampled do.

Umm, other than that, I got nothing.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

She usually fills the panel - she doesn't usually rely on a flat tone by itself, but uses background and word balloons and the characters themselves to fill it, or usuas a tone that emphasizes what's going on in the panel - scratchy tones (that's a favoite of hers), or a few flowers or random shapes. The few times there's no background, it stands out.

The backgrounds all have lines that point directly to the main character in the panel, and she doesn't often continue the lines all the way to their end, especially when the vanishing point would be located in the picture.