One of the great things about writing a graphic novel that takes place primarily in New York is that when a particular scene calls for reference photos, it makes for a great excuse for a family outing. So when the opening scene for American Terrorist #3 involved a chase through Chinatown, it was time for Wendy, Maddy and I to go indulge in some dim sum.
My first priority was to make sure I got some photos of Confucius Plaza. The monument has an inscription dedicated to the Chinese American war veterans who lost their lives in the defense of Democracy. I wanted to get that line in the book.
It took me two photos to fully capture both structures…
but Andy seamlessly placed them both in the same panel.
American Terrorist #3 page 10 panel 4
My next mission was to find an interesting side street into which Hannah and Owen could run down in their attempt to lose the police officers chasing them. I found the perfect one on Doyers Street. Here it is in it’s black & white. I think Andy did a great job of using the reference but still shifting the view so that we could see our characters running down it.
And then of course, once Owen and Hannah made it back onto the main street, I wanted something that was really representative of Chinatown. What I ended up doing was just walking down Bayard Street snapping pictures the whole way, trying to get everything in. It was pretty overwhelming. Luckily, my father-in-law was there to take pictures of me taking pictures. And I think Andy did a great job reconstructing the photos into a single impressive scene.
Lastly, I needed a restaurant in which the characters hid until the police left. We decided to use our favorite dim sum spot, Oriental Garden. Here’s what it looks like as soon as you walk in the front door.
Great, once the reference photos were done, there was nothing left for us to do but sit down for some dim sum!
I think Maddy’s starting to get the hang of it.
