In this picture Betty is now unconscious after inhaling the poisonous volcanic gases. I’ll finish this picture tomorrow by adding her bucket, fixing the path, and adding some shadows.
I had a hard time painting the mountain. In the end I gave it a dark color with very little texture. Betty and the green gas are what I want the read to pay attention to.
For book three I’m using Clip Studio Paint EX in two-page spread mode. One of the big advantages of using this mode is that I can do a better job of creating a transition from the left page to the right. I can plan the composition and I can make sure the two pages use harmonious colors. This is a big deal for me — color coordination was a big problem with my second book, which used full page background images on most pages — I was lucky if the colors didn’t clash. I give the two-page spread two thumbs up.
In the picture above I’m trying to direct the reader’s eye from left to right, following Jimmy and Betty into the next page where they observe the animals walking into the jungle and out to the circus in the distance.
