Behind the Scenes of St. Malo #1, Pages 12 & 22

Creative Mussel presents a behind-the-scenes look at St. Malo! Come visit the Manilamen in a new, unseen light.

Here's how we work...

• Script

• THUMBNAILS

• Script Comparison

  • Allowance for lettering and general feedback

• Character Modeling (as needed)

• Artwork

  • Script comparison and general feedback

• Artwork with Lettering

  • Script comparison, lettering edits as needed, and general feedback

• FINAL ARTWORK

Script by Jay B Kalagayan.

All Artwork by Feriowind.

Commentary by Giovani Medina.

PAGE 12 SCRIPT

Mutya’s cottage.

Exterior. Front deck of Mutya’s cottage. Sunset. 

1- Front deck of Mutya’s cottage. Shot of the front door. Ulan enters from the left side of the panel since he is talking first. Mutya is still weaving baskets. 

ULAN: GOOD EVENING MUTYA.  THE MOSQUITOS ARE COMING.  YOU BETTER SETTLE IN. LET ME HELP YOU BRING IN THE BASKETS.

2- Shot of Mutya in the midst of standing up. She has her hand on her back like it hurts a little. 

MUTYA: THANK YOU ULAN.  DANILO ENJOYED YOUR COMPANY HUNTING ALLIGATORS.

3- Shot of Ulan. He’s got a fish basket in his left arm. It’s tucked under his arm. His right arm is thrust forward and you can see a stump of his arm, at the elbow. It’s sewn at the end with an X or cross pattern. He is showing his arm stump to Mutya with a slight smug smile. 

ULAN: HEH, THE ALLIGATORS ENJOYED MY COMPANY EVEN MORE!  BOAHAHAHHA!

4- Large panel across the page. Like the shot is coming from an open doorway. You see the sun setting. Silhouette shot of Ulan and Mutya laughing. Now Mutya is on the right and Ulan is on the left. The sun is setting behind them. It’s a gorgeous sunset on Lake Borgne. In the shadowed silhouette of the inside of the cottage, you might see fish nets, floaters and weights hanging. The doorway might have a few spears leaning against them. You might see a partially constructed coned fish basket as well.

MUTYA: HAHAHAHAHAH!

ULAN:  BAHEE!

THUMBNAILS + FINAL ARTWORK

St. Malo is a book that thrives off of Feriowind's rich shading, making it so fascinating to see how that process begins with just three values. The choice to only fill in shadows at this stage immediately reinforces the space, making the conversation feel much more grounded and familiar. Similarly, the slight adjustment of perspective in the first panel places all focus on Mutya and Ulan, allowing the reader to feel as if they're in the conversation.

The final panel is also incredibly strong here. While it serves as a way to see some of the light of St. Malo with Mutya seeming more content than previous panels, it also serves as a reminder of what to come. With the previous pages depicting the lake and Lyka's ghost, the final panel serves almost as a bridge between those two worlds, seeing the tools and livelihood of Mutya contrasted against the bright, setting sun, ironically emblematic of the dark things carried with the village.

PAGE 22 SCRIPT

1- Mutya hits the corner of the hut. You can see the intestines that threw her in the right side of the panel. 

2- Shot of the intestines. They are acting like tentacle legs now, holding up the Manananggal. There are at least four points of the intestine hitting the floor to hold the creature up. 

3- POV from Tala view from basket. The Manananggal partially untangles itself and is looking right at us / Tala. We see the spear shaft dangling as it’s separated from the spearhead which is still in the Manananggal. The spear shaft is loosely attached to a rope / line and the spearhead is embedded into the creature’s wound. 

4- Manananggal or the entrails POV. We see the basket. Slight outline of Tala is in the baskets. On the sides of the border, we see entrails, wiggling and reaving up to attack. 

5- POV of Tala. We see slimy, poopy entrails flay around and hit the weaved baskets trying to get to her daughter/us. A slime imprint on the basket where it hits.  

Tala: “NANAY!” 

INTESTINAL SOUND FX: SLORP!

INTESTINAL SOUND FX: SLARP!

THUMBNAILS + FINAL ARTWORK

Mutya's home makes for an incredibly dynamic environment that becomes the deciding factor for the winner of the fight between her and the Manananggal. Her weaponry appears throughout the issue, but it is only in this night sequence that the significance of each tool appears front and center. Seeing the Manananggal tear off the net while its heart remains pierced reminds us that it hasn't won yet, and that Mutya certainly has more up her sleeve.

The inclusion of these tools and traps require a sense of continuity, one that argues they must exist before and during the moment of use. This is a difficult decision to make, as it is one that requires both the writer and artist to be aware of all angles within and around a panel, as opposed to just the metaphorical lens we see the comic through. Kalagayan refers to these objects repeatedly throughout the script, even when not in use, to ensure that our sense of continuity stays strong and clear, especially between pages.

Ready to find out what's haunting the village of St. Malo? Then you can buy St. Malo HERE on Ko-fi!

Written by Jay B. Kalagayan

Artwork by Feriowind

Check out more books like St. Malo HERE, on the Cryptid Corner