← Issue 1 · Page 2

P.02 — Wake-up

Tall vertical portrait of Chuck asleep on his sleeping platform under a woven leaf canopy. Composition: woven canopy ceiling at the top with morning light filtering through the slats in soft pink-amber beams, Chuck curled on his side under a thin cotton blanket in the lower two-thirds of the frame, fur tousled, peaceful slow breath. A simple clay water bowl beside him. Painterly cell-shading, very-early-dawn warm palette, NOTHING else awake.
Extreme close-up of Chuck still half-lying on his platform. His eyes are JUST OPENING for the very first time of the day — slow, slightly puffy, lashes still heavy with sleep. A single warm sun-shaft has reached his face and catches his eyelashes and the corner of his mouth. Fur tousled, one cheek pressed against the linen pillow. He has NOT moved yet, only the eyes. Soft pink-amber side-light, painterly cell-shading.
Medium close-up of Chuck propped half-up on one elbow on his sleeping platform, the blanket fallen to his waist. His other hand drags slowly down his face, rubbing sleep from his eye, fingers in his fur. Mouth slightly open, expression groggy and unreadable. NOT yet sitting fully up, NOT yet awake — the in-between half-conscious moment after the eyes open. Soft pink-amber morning light, fur tousled. Painterly cell-shading.
Medium close-up of Chuck now sitting up cross-legged on his platform, arms stretched wide overhead in a big yawn, eyes half-closed, fur tufted, mouth wide open. Soft morning light from the side. Warm and lived-in.
Medium close-up of Bo, the 13-year-old chimpanzee orphan, hanging UPSIDE DOWN from the woven palm-leaf eaves of the platform, his head and shoulders intruding from the upper edge of the panel. Clearly YOUNG (12-13yo, small head, big eyes, slightly oversized ears). Big mischievous open-mouthed grin showing the SIGNATURE MISSING FRONT TOOTH (one upper front incisor clearly absent). Eyes wide and bright. Speech bubble baked into the panel art with a thin tail pointing to Bo: "Still alive! Cool!"
Wide medium shot. Chuck (the canonical 18-20yo chimpanzee in his crimson sleeveless wrap-tunic with bone-bead necklace, ochre sash, indigo forearm bracers) sits cross-legged on his sleeping platform. He has helped Bo down — Bo, smaller and gap-toothed, now perches RIGHT-SIDE UP beside him, grinning. But Chuck's gaze drifts PAST Bo toward the deeper jungle off-frame (camera right), expression softened but distant — something has caught his attention or his thoughts are elsewhere. The off-frame look is the page's hook: the reader feels Chuck's day is not going to be ordinary. Soft morning light, faint mist still in the canopy below. Two speech bubbles baked into the panel art: tail pointing to Bo: "Hungry?" and a smaller bubble with tail pointing to Chuck: "...In a moment."