Annotated Chapter 3 Cover
This may be my favorite cover we did. The still life is an exercise that a lot of first-year art students struggle through, and for artists like Paul Cezanne, it can be a way to showcase their art style. But others like Pieter Claesz (seen at right) can use the choice of food (and whether it’s been consumed or not) to imply a story behind the brushstrokes. Erica has no problem doing both.
After the very traditional-for-comic-books “everybody lines up for the camera” first cover and the somewhat transitional second cover, here’s where we settled firmly into the understated mode we used for most of the other 48 chapters, less broadly symbolic than Watchmen but likewise zeroing in on background elements instead of human and human-like figures. Just putting the five dishes together is a visual shorthand for the alliance we’ll now see in action here.
From Phil’s cover notes for Erica: “Five dishes sit on a Tavern table. A bowl of lamb stew with potatoes, carrots, and onions in it (Byron), a bowl of Meat stew with meat, meat and more meat (Frigg), a broth-heavy chicken soup (Dusty), a bowl of veggie soup (Syr’Nj), and a Seafood Salad with Lobster/Shrimp, high class fish (Best).”
I find the fact that you apparently nicknamed Gravedust Dusty early on unaccountably amusing, since Gravy caught on so completely.
Of course, if you had been calling him that, this note would have been a bit more confusing.
Some great artistry on this page. I have a feeling food is more difficult to draw than one’d think, especially when it’s this detailed.
Looks like Byron’s a manly man who likes his meat stew, but still appreciates the veggies. *eyebrow wiggle*
(Hey, I’ve inherited as my final avatar the Gnoll equivalent of Dixie Wetsworth from Cabana Chat, so I’m obligated to making most of comments here double entendres.)
I like that even the silverware has some symbolism for the five of them packed into it.
Byron’s spoon is neatly laid by the side of his dish, reflecting his more ‘straight-laced’ nature.
Frigg’s spoon is left haphazardly in her dish, reflecting her Frigg-ness.
Syr’nj’s utensil (probably a spoon) is nowhere to be seen, because she presumably has not set it down for hygienic reasons, or has it so completely folded into her napkin as to be obscured.
Gravedust’s spoon is not straight, but has carefully been placed on a napkin to not make a mess.
Unlike all the others, Best uses a fork (a far more aggressive utensil) that is colored purple (the traditional color of royalty) with an actual design on the grip, whereas all the spoons we see are plain; in fact it makes it seem like Best carries his own forks, as his utensil looks nothing like the others (signaling his odd-man-out nature in the group.)
I hadn’t noticed that, good eye
The dish under Syr’nj’s bowl is also purple, maybe signifying her hidden (at this point) royal origins.
Well shit, now I’m hungry…
Yes, my fuzzy champion… I’m hungry too.
Looking back on the comments on the original page, it’s funny how far off some of the guesses were… and one person (Joe) was exactly on the money.
Heh, got it right. Syr’Nj and Frigg’s were easy, and slightly less obvious, Best’s. Then you consider that Byron is the one who would go for something cheap, yet filling and nutritious, the food of the warrior trying to make ends meet. The unpretentious and humble chicken broth is perfect for Gravedust.
I remember liking this page the first time around. But now that I know the characters a whole lot better, it was way easier to guess which food is theirs. Heck, even the shape of Frigg’s spoon seems “frigg-like” to me, hah. And like Critwrench pointed out with the fork being fitting for Best.
This is rather a fancy tavern to be able to accommodate all these different food tastes. (And yes, very well designed.
I have loved the “cover art” in this comic.