The Draftsmanship of Kat Leyh

Page 89 of Snapdragon has a simple enough task to execute: transition from the present moment to a flashback. Leyh’s execution of that task goes above and beyond, however, showcasing the phenomenal synergy between art and story in her draftsmanship. #snapdragon 1/12

Like many contemporary comics artists, Leyh created the world we see in Snapdragon in digital format, using a combination of photoshop and a cintiq drawing tablet. This encompasses the methodology for sketches, line-art, flats, and final colours. 2/12

The first panel of the page is a simple portrayal of Jacks’s domestic existence, a banal rendering of weathered furniture and an old lady in a recliner all through a high angle perspective to express the sense of humble diminishment. 3/12

As Snap prods Jacks to recollect her past, however, the next panel takes a dramatic aspect shift to view Jacks in profile, with an expression of elation on her face and a clear movement forward (out of the recliner) to signify her excitement. 4/12

Brilliantly, this posture (and the momentum of her movement) carries forward to the panel beneath it – the moment of departure from one timeline to the previous – in order to showcase Jacks in her glory days, her recliner here replaced by a motorcycle. 5/12

Within the gutter between these transitions, Jacks is physically rejuvenated through a smoother profile, enhanced musculature, and – most importantly – through a widening smile. Her posture bears down between panels as well, signifying a renewed engagement with life itself. 6/12

The colour-shade of the background transitions as well from sterile white to glowing yellow. At the same time, Leyh transitions to a deeper and more vibrant colour palette in the bottom panel (in response to the low-contrast palette of the first panel). 7/12

The final panel ultimately signifies Jacks’s escape into nostalgic recollection with a tilted horizon, aggressive motion lines, mud spatters that bleed out of the panel (projecting upward toward the banal present), all while Jacks throttles off the corner of the page. 8/12

This escape is further signified, subtly, by the disappearance of the gutter, with only a top panel border left to contain or confine Jacks. Otherwise, the image and the rich colours supporting it extend all the way to the edges of the page. 9/12

Though set in the past, this final image in the sequence is likewise invested in the story – it’s a callback to a near-identical image of Snap on her bicycle from the second page of the book, thus establishing the important symbolic connections between Jacks and Snap. 10/12

The heart of these connections is the extent to which Jacks is a role model for Snap – a mentor and paradigm that Snap can emulate. It also however, establishes Snap’s relatability to Jacks – the extent to which Jacks sees her past self in Snap. 11/12

All told, we’re talking about 1 page in a book of 224. Snapdragon is filled with layouts like this – intricately nuanced, but always within the context of the story being told, a testament, once again, to the talent and intricate vision of Kat Leyh as a creator. 12/12