I'm going to post what I've got, partly because I'm not planning to spend a whole lot more time on this part of the project today (and posting this for feedback will keep me from tinkering with it this afternoon). I'm also curious to see what you think of the approach. It's not perfect, and I think I need a little more "crowd" in some parts of the image. But click this to enlarge it, and see how you like this background.
I can simplify, or enlarge, or shuffle things around -- it's all in layers still in my master document, so I've got some freedom to adjust.
UPDATE:
Here's a version without the singers, and with some proportions and sizes adjusted, for legibility. (Remember, this is just one smallish panel!)
What do you think?
Already I'm thinking that the singers in the background don't "fit." The fat guy with the pipe in the foreground isn't quite as objectionable, to my eyes, maybe because he's so far from the center of the panel. But I am pretty sure I'll eliminate the singers.
ReplyDeleteI think I detect a little of Jesse's terrific _Blue Fuzz_ mini (including B.F. himself) along with some of those Basque folklore characters; and are those another couple of characters from the first volume of _Elfworld_?
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with the singers, or at least not as much as you do. I like the way they help fill out the scene (and you've done a good job of managing relative sizes in perspective here). I think, though, that they might seem a little less out of place if they had an audience--even an unappreciative one (say, someone grimacing at their caterwauling). But it's your call...given the small size of reproduction, it might not be wise to overcrowd the panel with small figures.
Now that the singers are gone, I don't miss them! Plus I think it helps the legibility of the space to see where the edge of the Tavern building ends; that black wall of the chimneyed building in the far background also helps that building read as a building.
ReplyDeleteSo, yeah: improved.