Airbury Panels – Erica

A couple of raw panels from 2009's Volume II of my graphic novel series, Airbury Academy, featuring Erica in all her green-haired glory. The one above is from the opening story titled The Search For Room 200. Here Erica shows Psyche, who has somehow never seen a coin before, how to use one to operate a vending machine. In the final version, the speech balloons cover up some of the detail. (Yes, the blue packets at the top say 'Toasted Spleen'.)

Below is a panel from the sixth and final story Evenfall, showing the four main characters in the abandoned building, which uses photos of an actual wall for a good deal of the backdrops. If you live in Melbourne, you can see this wall for yourself. It's in Heffernan Lane near the city centre, and as far as I know, the sprayed-on 'Commit No Nuisance' is still there.

I began working on the Airbury series in November 2006 using some of the characters I had already created. Over time, Erica went from being a ridiculously minor character to one of the main ones (which is why she features in the header of this blog). As a comparison, I thought I'd also post the very first drawing of Erica – a pencil sketch from 2004.