Many artists tell me that although they would do several thumbs for a comp, they usually end up going with their first, as it's often a gut reaction to the story moment and therefore tends to hold the most emotion and becomes more effective in their storytelling. I have to admit that many times, this is also my experience. But in some cases, it is good to take a step back and have a second look.
Here is an example of one of the comps in a recent project.
The subject seemed straight forward enough. 2 characters. One popping out of a box, the other just looking on. So, that’s what I drew. It was fine…fulfilled the requirement. But after going ahead in doing a few more comps for the next pages, I decided to go back and check the progress. Seemed to me this one fell short of the effect I wanted. Although It may have fulfilled the requirement, it lacked a certain amount of emotional involvement that I would’ve preferred. Overlay needed.
Not exceptional…but better. It offered a little more life to draw from so in moving forward, at least I have a decent base of which to start.
A fellow artist once told me, “When in doubt…tilt!”. That may not work in every case, but it certainly helped me in this one.