It was fun to draw that scene from chapter 3 again. I guess my style has developed a bit in the 12 years since then … V`(oo)´V

Sometimes I want to redraw the first few chapters, and other times it totally depresses me to even think of the possibility of doing that. After all, one of my mottos is “there is no going back – only forward!” And the time I have for drawing comics is limited, anyway.

Let’s say that if somebody would pay me enough money to do only that for as long as it takes, then I would redraw the beginning.
I guess I might also do it if I somehow wouldn’t be interested in drawing any of the other stories that are fighting to break out of my head, though that seems a bit unlikely.

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Fun fact: Willie’s sweater is based on an H&M sweater that I coveted back in 1997. It was purple, black and dark blue. At about 250 SEK it was way beyond my clothes budget, and I never caught it on sale, so I let Willie wear it instead.

Maybe I’m drawing in too tiny format again. But printed on paper it will be much more clear, anyway, even in pocket book size.

I guess I should pick up the pace a bit if I want to finish this chapter in time for Stockholm SPX10 …

This landscape is based on Khongoryn Els (“the singing sands”) in the Gobi desert, Mongolia. There are some places where harsh cliffs suddenly are interrupted by a vast wall of sand, just like in this comic. A couple of photos from when I travelled there in 2006:

Also check out my gallery of Mongolian doggie portraits …

I skipped the title over the page, because it’s not really necessary the way the pages are presented here on ComicPress …

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I recently discovered that the Google Maps street view is available for the UK, which means that I can do even better research about Willie’s home grounds in Newcastle.

The neighbourhood where she lives was initially based on Hjällbo and Hammarkullen, two northern suburbs of Gothenburg (estimated by some to be the 4th and 3rd “worst” neighbourhoods in Sweden – of course that’s not very bad at all on a global scale), where I lived for a while and where my aunt and my cousins lived up until just a short time ago. There are a few similar neighbourhoods in Newcastle and Gateshead.

Here is how I’ve drawn it in the comic so far: chapter 4, chapter 6 and chapter 6 again. The way I’ve drawn the buildings isn’t very consistent, so I am quite free to draw it a bit differently again next time …

While I probably won’t base the area slavishly on an existing neighbourhood, it’s still nice to have a specific area in mind that I can then pervert however I like to make it fit the story.

At first I thought that Walker, Newcastle, could be a suitable area. But if I should succumb to the urge to feature prominent landmarks of Newcastle and Gateshead, Walker is kind of far away from everything …

Across the river, in Gateshead, there are some nice social housing blocks too. There was once the lovely St Cuthbert’s Village (two historical photos) in Bensham, Gateshead, featured in the film Get Carter (1971). However, the lower flats were demolished in 1994, which is a couple of years before 1998 when Driftwood takes place. Only the taller blocks remain since then, and I have always imagined Willie’s neighbourhood to consist of both lower and higher blocks of flats.

But … there are also the Chandless Flats in Gateshead (historical photo 1, photo 2). They are located next to the Gateshead Highway, convenient for access to both the Tyne Bridge and the Angel of the North, which I might use in the comic …

I like the sound of “Gateshead” more than “Newcastle”, anyway, so maybe from now on Willie is from Gateshead. (Just have to remember to change it everywhere next time I print anything …)

Okay, no text on this page. And the drawings all look weird. Well, on the next page I will get to use actual photo reference for the landscape. V`(oo)´V