Page Specific Notes:
Page 1:For aesthetic reasons the entirity of the letter from Kairi is not visible, but with a small amount of puzzle work I'm certain everyone can figure out the gist of the letter. However for those of you who may find it annoying that parts of the latter are missing, here is a full transcript of the entire text:
Dear Mene,
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write to you, but this is the first time I have had access to the post. I wish I had something exciting I could report to you, but sadly the days that pass are mostly dull and uneventful. I guess I shouldn't be so negative, after all I am seeing new landscapes and towns I have never seen before. At that is it exciting in some respects, but I still wish you were here to share in the experience, and so we could confide in each other. I've made friends with a couple of the girls in the caravan, but still it's just not that same as talking to your best friend. Gah! this letter sounds like I'm trying to make you feel bad. So please, don't feel bad Mene, really, I understand why you couldn't come.
So, how have you been Mene? Are you well? You'll have to report all the town gossip to me so I don't lose touch with home. For as much as we used to complain about our small town life, lately I find I am missing it very much. I know the lantern festival will be soon. this will be my first year missing it, and it makes me kind of sad to think about it. I hope you will still be going Mene, and please eat some extra lantern cakes for me! Well, I need to close now or I will miss the mail call. Give my love to your gran for me! And please write me soon!
Your friend,
Kairi
Page 2:I always think that a bedroom can really show a character's personality, so I spent a lot of time mulling over what type of furniture Mene has in her room. I figure Mene's furniture is probably influenced by what is available to her, but I also think it exhibits a bit of her personal taste. In any case, I found her writing desk in a Victoria magazine and I based her desk lamp off of a victorian desk lamp that seemed very Tiffany. You may also notice the poster above her desk. It shows a couple character's of Robin's series Ganbare Shimura-san, which is one of the few online comics I try to read regularly. A quick visit would be worth it. (^_~)
Page 4:The cottage on this page is a real cottage in the Stourhead Landscape Gardens in Wiltshire England, though I gussied it up a little bit. When I happened across this cottage, I really fell in love with it, and decided that it must be used somehow in the comic. In actuality the cottage whose most prominent feature is It's beautiful gothic window bench, is kind of run down and dilapidated. Another fact you might find interesting is that some of the scenes for the recent Pride and Prejudice movie was shot at the Stourhead Lanscape Gardens, in particular it is at the Temple of Apollo on the grounds in which Mr. Darcy makes his confession to Elizabeth. :)
Page 6:I think some good theme music right around this time would be Small Town Boy by Josh Kelley. In fact it might even be a good theme for Etoile. I will add it to my soundtrack selection.
Page 8:Planning the interior of Etoile's house was pretty challenging. I had to begin by creating a floor plan first. After I figured out my floor plan I researched what the interiors of old cottages looked like and then I found some furniture I thought Etoile might have. Because I wanted this background to come out really well, I even made a model of my house plan in Sims to get a better visual of different perspectives and etc.....
Page 13:For the hair clip that Etoile has given Mene, I used one of my own clips as a refrence, but modified each flower petal so it would make a crescent shape. One day when I have a camera available I will have to take a photo of my hair clip which was used as inspiration. :)
Page 16:The background image in the second panel of the fountain, is actually a fountain in downtown Indianapolis. It's called the Depew Fountain and resides in University Park. If you google it, you can see the real thing. It's a really pretty fountain imo, and I drive by it every day on my way home from school.
Page 17:Ainetree's hot springs bath house was mostly inspired by the Roman baths, but I also wanted the building to have an Asian influence. At first I thought to get the look I wanted was going to be too difficult, but I did my research and I think I came up with something believable.
Pages 18~19:As I was working on these two story pages I was listening to a combination of music, which I think is nice to listen to when looking at the images. If you are interested, you might check out Manten no Hoshizora and Chikyuu-ya from the Whisper of the Heart soundtrack or Song of Dream, Words of Bubble from the Haibane Renmei soundtrack.
Page 21:The chairs at Mene's kitchen table were modeled after the antique farm house chair I use at my computer desk. :3 The matching table is in the attic with the other chairs, lol. Though you can barely see it in this frame, the fridge was modeled after the awesome retro style fridges that the company Big Chill makes.
Page 23:Glendon Hall is actually modeled after a very real town hall called the Berkhamsted Town Hall, which is located in Hertfordshire, England. I really love this building, it's gothic style architecture is gorgeous and I think a perfect fit for the town hall in a romance comic. :3 I just hope nobody will get cheesed with me for renaming it for my fictional town. Anyway if you want to read up on Berkhamsted or it's town hall, there is a nice wikipedia entry on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkhamsted
Page 26:Really all I have to say here is that Mene's shoes are modeled after a pair of new shoes I got from Target. They are soooo cute, but I'm waiting to wear them when classes start again.
Page 27:Yay! The hero is back! I think you could cue the song "No Myth" by Michael Penn right now and it would be very appropriate. :3
Page 29:I had to do a lot of research to come up with the river shrine. I ended up borrowing from Trajan's Kiosk, which is part of the Temple of Philae in Egypt, and I also referenced various asian temples to get ideas for the roof and the other asiatic temple detailings.
Soundtrack:
These are a few songs that I recommend listening to while reading Patches. (^_^) Most of the songs on this list are what I envision would be playing during certain scenes if this were animated. There isn't too much right now since I kinda just started writing the series. ^^;
Just Like Heaven - The Cure (opening theme) If this comic were to ever be animated , I think I would choose Just Like Heaven to be the opening theme. It is a little bitter-sweet, but has a good punchy-beat and lots of sweet romantic sentiments.
She Will Be Loved - Maroon 5 (ending theme) If this comic were to ever be animated, I think I would like this song for my ending theme. The lyrics and mood fit exceedingly well with the overall theme of the story. It would be one of those quiet ending themes with lots of romantic shots of my main characters. :3
Small Town Boy - Josh Kelley Besides fitting with the quiet country town ambience, I think this song would be a good theme for Etoile. So it is officially Etoile's theme until further notice. :)
Little Star - Stina NordenstamA really good, mellow song that I think goes well with quiet town life and lazy days. Good background music. :)
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