jimbohusky - Captive In Clover: chapter 1, scene 1 roughs

Another story I've been sitting on a bunch of roughs for for the last couple months, tryign to give myself a kick in the pants to keep moving forward on.

This was the first writing project where I went "what if i just started scribbling out thumbnails on 3x5 index cards and see if that helps me visualize it", and while I love the process, I quickly realized it was a LOT of sketches to clean up... and I'm undecided on how much I want to re-work stuff like this. I found myself going back and forth between using the old webcomic parts of my brain, to thinking of it in motion as an animated movie, and back to comic again sometimes if i wanted to pause for a moment and let them talk so I didn't keep doing a new shot for every line of dialogue... But looking at all of them together, I just had a lot of fun doing it, and I want to keep doing things at a pace that feels the most fun for me and lets me get the closest to being able to share the movie in my head. I've got a movie playing out in my mind for basically every single commission I do, and for every little story prompt I jot down for myself, and this kind of flow lets me feel like i've opened the fire hydrant of images in my head. I'll probably end up doing a second pass on all of these, with one or two layers of toning for contrast if absolutely necessary, but my goal for myself is to build up my eye for pencil sketches to be stronger on the first pass, so maybe I can just do a layer of toning after scanning and that'll be enough to get the story across clearly.

I've written a ton of story beats for this sheep and dragon pairing for moments as their relationship develops, but it was super challenging to force myself to commit to a beginning of a story to introduce them. Very rewarding! But oof is it hard for me, I do so much second-guessing myself and my story decisions that prevent me from committing to drawing stuff, most times i have time to draw i go "ugh but maybe i should be doing X so i can do Y later"... but the nice thing about just going ahead and doing the pencil sketches is I find it easier to commit to whatever I'd written that led to those sketches, and it becomes easier to just do additive editing, with a couple more shots to clarify X or foreshadow Y.

I've been writing chapters broken up into a handful of scenes, and this first scene is where I let myself just have fun with introducing a princess character who channels a bunch of Marilyn Monroe roles and some Don Bluth princess tropes, while also setting up some elaborate worldbuilding for my fetish scenarios. Basically her handmaiden (border collie, a sheep dog) chides her for drinking and snacking before this big annual banquet (while reading smutty bodice-rippers, how un-princess-like). This banquet is a big deal for the princess, as she spends all year talking about and looking forward to as her chance to go wild on delicacies and desserts from distant kingdoms, but it's also one of few opportunities to be introduced to some suitors, and the king and queen are getting increasingly anxious and pushy about her being married off. The princess needs to fit into this expertly tailored dress, so her handmaiden brings out her secret weapon, an enchanted corset - mostly just to establish some integration of magic with fashion and technology, later i'll be using it for other anachronisms to explain shit away like electronics and fast fashion and plastics and whatnot, just so i can lean into some more modern tropes of spoiling a bratty character without having to bend over backwards for "period-accurate" practices and just do tongue-in-cheek modern stuff as a joke. I ended up surprising myself with how much fun I had doing back-and-forth conversations, lots of playful dialog about the princess's appetite and weight, both her and her handmaiden bemoaning the rigid strictures of high society that doesn't appreciate such a generous figure, and how the princess needs to sacrifice short term pleasures for long term benefit (getting married off to the richest prince possible). But regardless of what's expected of her, she's fully intent on enjoying herself as much as she possibly can...

I'll finish touching up the script as soon as I finish roughing out this chapter - I did a little over half of the 2nd scene which i'll post momentarily, unsure if i'll do a 3rd scene or just hurry up and get to the point where the dragon crashes the banquet and kidnaps her. I ended up treating this like a movie in pacing, but also wanting to set up enough material for a tv show's worth of episodic beats to have fun with down the road if I decide to draw it out... just gonna let it flow and keep having fun, but keep it moving until it's done.

(Also edited to be visible on all tiers, felt bad for posting so little lately and wanna make sure my supporters get to see what I've been up to.)