Behind-the-scenes: "How I Met Your Coyena Dad" thumbnails pages 8-15! (Patreon)

Greetings, friends! In the past week or so I've shared with you the preliminary synopsis and breakdown for the new Coyena story "How I Met Your Coyena Dad", as well as thumbnail layouts for pages 1-8. Today I'm sharing roughly the middle third of the story!

Again, to summarize, these are quick layouts to figure out the overall flow and pacing of the story, and the basic poses, attitudes, and actions of characters within each panel. For some trickier poses I'll do a bit more extensive figuring out their anatomy so I've got a bit of the work done when I get to the penciling stage, but for now there's no fine detail, no final dialog (just notes written in the margins), and things are easily subject to change if I decide something isn't working or there's a better way to portray something.

And with that, here's the next few pages! Any questions or thoughts about my process, please feel free to comment below or strike up a conversation in the Telegram group!

Pages Eight and Nine

Page eight was included in the last post, but here's the full two-page spread. In the process of knocking over the workbench, the power switch has popped off and been lost in the heap of papers and equipment on the floor. And as Boreas grows progressively larger, losing his clothes and being forced to sit on the floor to get clearance for his head and shoulders, AND loses his eyeglasses, he'll have a much harder time finding it again, and he leans back a moment to muse on his situation.

Pages Ten and Eleven

Page ten starts with another open panel of Boreas stretching and flexing his muscles, taking a moment to comment on how kinda good this feels. But he's distracted again as his shoulders press into the ceiling, forcing him to crouch forward in a kneeling position, and realize to himself that he's not going to be contained by the lab for very much longer.

So, rememember when I mentioned that the initial storybreakdown is more of a guide and subject to change?  Well, originally I'd allocated five pages for Boreas to outgrow the lab, and then four panels for Aura trying to help him after he bursts thru the wall. But as I was thinking and plotting ahead I realized that the interactions between Boreas and Aura are going to be much of the heart of the story. So I ended up shaving one page off the lab scene, condensed the coda at the end of the story by a page or two, and added those pages into this middle section coming up.

So, now, on page 11, we cut to Aura again, walking past the science building and hearing a bit of a commotion going on inside. Then, to her surprise, a giant coyena explodes through the wall at her.

Pages Twelve and Thirteen

Page twelve is their initial interaction. I want to portray Aura as confident and in charge, rather than afraid or panicked. So in the top open panel, she's on the ground in surprise, asking what's going on, and Boreas anxiously begs her not to run away or be scared. In the second panel we close in a bit closer, Aura taking charge a bit as she inspects Boreas' oversized hand, and asks Boreas to explain what's going on. In the bottom two panels, we give Boreas a moment to hope that maybe the growth has stopped … but no, it sure hasn't!

Page thirteen cuts momentarily to a biology lab inside the building. A hopefully-looking male student is asking if his female counterpart wants to go dancing, but she says no, she has to stay in and study for the upcoming anatomy of the paw exam. Moments later, Boreas' giant footpaws burst through the wall into their space. This is pretty much a gag sideline, and a bit of eye candy for the paw fans I know are out there. ;)

Pages Fourteen and Fifteen

On page fourteen, we return to the action outside; Boreas is still growing, and asks for help -- he doesn't want to move too much and cause more damage, and he can't see well without his glasses, but someone has to power down the experiment in the lab to stop his growth. My intent here is that Aura sees something of his caring and sensitive nature, and so in the last panel, she looks him straight in the eyes and promises she'll stay and help.

At the top of page fifteen, I have a bit of dialog for Boreas to assure Aura that she won't grow herself -- somehow, the field seems to be locked on him and only him. One of those details I want to nip in the bud so no readers ask why she isn't getting bigger too. Then, a closeup of Aura squeezing through the gap in the wall into the lab, and a pleasing eye-candy shot of her view beneath him as she enters into the space.

Next Steps

And, that's it for today! Next time I'll share the final pages of the story with you, including the resolution of the situation at the lab and the return from the flashback back to the present-day anniversary dinner. After that, I'll start sharing some rough dialog pages and pencil pages with you, before the pages are completed with inks and final compositing.

Thanks for reading along, and again, any questions or observations, feel free to comment below or bring them up in the Telegram group! Have a great week, y'all! ❤️