This is the page that gave me the most trouble of the book, because I desperately wanted to draw a magical ice bridge and none of my attempts look magical, or icy. Eventually I spend 3 days drawing 60-odd individual snowflakes in stupid detail that probably won’t even be visible in print and I’m satisfied with the result.
I originally had bigger plans for this page, but I scaled them back once I got the main details. It was saying pretty much what I wanted it to say, but something did seem to be missing on both sides. On the Summer Queen’s side, I realized it had to be her losing her crown, but on the Autumn Prince’s side I couldn’t figure it out. I mean, it could have been some bits of hay? But that is not very interesting.
But I took a page from my very early vision of the comic and dashed out this funny little crow, who I love. Obviously there are crows aplenty in the Autumn Kingdom. And they also think it’s weird that people make so much trouble for themselves by not saying what they mean.
But also, let’s face it: Titus and Rose did NOT belong together. That’s the point of this story. You can love someone as much as it possible to love anyone. That doesn’t mean you’re the least bit compatible or share the same goals or even see each other clearly.
I haven’t said anything about the illuminated initial caps yet. I drew most of them before I drew the illustrations. Some of them I had a very clear vision and others I just sort of made it up as I went. I always knew that the first comic would start “Once upon a time,” and the initial cap would have a little farm scene with a barn inside.
This one also was very clear in my mind. I actually have that same garden swing, which The Man built for me in the backyard. I could not get it right. The arms and legs and bodies weren’t sitting properly in the swing no matter how many times I drew it. I made the made model with me for a reference pic. Then it was easier to adjust.
Spent a very long time drawing that dragon’s scales. The Fox assured me they are perfect but they don’t look perfect to me but anyway they are done and that’s pretty close to perfect from where I sit.
That small king is a real creep so I drew him creeping.
Women, don’t betray your own principles for some guy.
This egg is awesome. What do you think could possibly hatch from such an artifact? I guess you’ll have to check back tomorrow.
I spent a very long time trying to think of what would be written on the sorceress’s book in the bottom right of the page but then I decided it was so arcane that mere mortals could not even perceive it.
This drawing took forever; this is what I was talking about yesterday when I said I expected to draw more specific stuff from the book. I would still be drawing it if I had gone with that idea and only illustrated this page with indigenous Michigan plants mentioned in the book.
The Man told me that’s NOT how you carry a deer, but I mean, how many deer has he carried in his life? Maybe he’s just not as strong as he thinks he is.
This whole image cracks me up.
It works excellently as an introduction to the entire project; it’s the only one that ties directly back to the book in terms of locating it in Whiteheart, Michigan. The others read more traditionally like fairy tales than this. I think it’s also the shortest of the 13 stories in this book.
Long time readers will note that I employed a completely different style of art than I used for the 4 previous volumes. When I originally envisioned this project, I expected to draw a lot more symbols that specifically sprung from the pages of The Waters; in the long run, the style choices I made precluded that type of detail, but I did feel pretty strongly that this page, at least, needed to feature a LOT of celery.
It was August of 2022 when Bonnie Jo Campbell commissioned the View from Whiteheart, Michigan map and sent me the manuscript for The Waters for reference, and November of that year when I sent her the final version, which means I’ve been working on this comic book for approximately 2⅓ years.
All the others took like 2–4 months.
I’ve still got some tweaks here and there plus the 4 color pages for the covers, but today I finally finished the last page of the body of the work. And good timing, too. In 12 days I have to lay out The Pencil Eaters Volume 2 so it can get to the printers in time for the release party May 13.
But until then, I’ll focus on getting this book to the printer and uploading the pages as they’re finalized.
it’s very different from any of the other books. It’s shaped like a comic book but it reads like a hand written and illuminated fairy tale manuscript, for reasons that I think will be obvious to anyone who’s read it. It’s a very inspirational book, and it inspired me in refreshing and magical ways. I expect the people who liked the other ones will like this one, plus it can be enjoyed on its own without any reference to the source material.
This is an unfinished detail from the inside front cover/table of contents: “The Spirit of the Waters.”
This image pretty much expresses the state of the union, to my mind. It’s been a while since I drew a political cartoon. Almost precisely 8 years. It takes a lot out of you. And I did this the old fashioned way, no help from Photoshop.
This Saturday, April 5th, well over 1,000 protests are expected all across America. Either you know why or you’re part of the problem. I’m glad to live in a city where 75% of the people get it.
I made this sign 2-sided because we’re not going to let the bastards grind us down.
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