Page progress - page 17 (part 2)

I've now drawn the figures for rows 2 and 3 (Figure 1). I'm quite pleased with the drawing of the armour, though I may go back and change panel 1 if time permits. I had t do some investigation of armour and how it works, re the helmet; as I suspected, it is split into a neck section or bevor (as Uccello is wearing in panel 3), and a top section, or sallet (as Rocco is putting on him. I think this makes better comics, in that there has been a further action happened between the panels (i.e. putting on the bevor), and it adds up better to a staged process of putting the armour and helmet on. I still need to remove the helmet from panel 1, and have Rocco holding something - perhaps the left gauntlet.

It was quite difficult to get the two figure posed suitably in relation to each other (even making use of the 3D models). This also required getting both figures correct in relation to the stool, lacing rococo's hand so that the shape of the helmet read clearly, and capturing the moment as Rocco is putting it on. I was quite please with my solution of angling the helmet, as it both shows Uccello's head complete and emphasises the aperture at the bottom of the helmet.  I had thought it was good idea in a story about perspective to use tiled floors, but had underestimated quite how difficult it makes it to place items without unsightly and confusing tangents. It's doubly hard when there's a stool involved - you've got to try and neither have any of its legs confusingly hidden, or have then line up with the lines of the tiles. I put the figures and stool in a folder together, and 'under drew' them in white (i.e. instead of deleting parts of the tiled floor) and spent some time moving hem around slightly to get the best placing. I could only move it small amounts, as i think this story (being so focussed on the accurate depiction of space) need proper continuity in the proportions and perspective of the room, and in particular, the placing of the stool. It's only Rocco's right leg that ends up with awkward tangents. It may be that it will be less of an issue once it's coloured, as the tiles will be similar tones and he lines between them less noticeable. I might be able to redraw/move the leg slightly, but having established an expectation of relatively believable figures, it might involve having to redraw the whole figure.

I had originally intended that in panels 3 and 4 we would see Uccello's imagining of the battle scene around him instead of the room (Figure 2 shows my sketches in blue), however I felt this was a bit rushed on the page: it needed an element of time as Rocco talks him into the scene, and also I thought we needed to see Ucello on the stool in the room, before fading to himself on a horse in the battle. At the same time, I was thinking about making a wide panel later in the story into a double page spread, and this required an extra page before it to have the right pages facing, so it made sense to add an extra page to extend this sequence. I also removed some text from my original version (Figure 3) onto the following page.

In panel 4, I logically need to add Rocco to the scene, which is a shame, as I think there is something powerful and poignant about the armoured figure alone on the stool in the room. I will add to this panel, the beginnings of Uccello's imaging of the scene at the battlefield (with no figures at this stage): this will reference, but not quite match the final painting.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3