Illustration Notes for Episode Forty

Because of the wacky, ‘three episodes in a single week’ production schedule I’ve discussed in illustration notes for the previous two episodes (back when my wife and I thought we would be traveling in California now) I actually finished this image BEFORE I’d written a word of the actual episode—though I knew exactly what was going to happen there, of course.

That said, this week’s illustration is one of my favorites so far—for several reasons. Once again, it depicts something NOT present in the written episode itself—adding to the story, rather than just reiterating something you’ve already read. But this image takes that a step farther, actually equipping the reader—ahead of time—with a fun clue about where Colleen really is during this episode; a question presented, but not answered in the text itself.

If you’ve already read the scene, you know that’s her we see here, behind that window halfway down the screen. You’ll likely also realize that the tenement alleyway outside these windows matches NOTHING that she sees through it from inside. What SHE sees leaves her wondering if she’s been taken to some other state, or some other country even. But, looking from ‘out here,’ the discerning reader will have figured out that she is, ironically, just above the very alleyway where Matt Rhymer was originally attacked and changed into a teenage boy.

I don’t regard this image as a spoiler because any truly attentive reader already had the information needed to figure all that out with or without this illustration. We know the alleyway where Matt’s Tale begins is “Anselm’s very doorstep”—from things in three different earlier episodes. We also know, from one of those episodes, that though Anselm’s house looks like a squalid alleyway from outside, it is a lavish mansion from within. And, finally, from yet another previous episode, we know that what one sees from BEHIND his windows bears no resemblance to what is actually outside them.

Still, it was fun to put those little bits together here by contrasting this image with what’s described in the writing—to point you toward an answer to one puzzle that you could have, but might not have, otherwise assembled for yourself.

Plus, I just really like the way this drawing itself came out. As always, there’s an uncropped, uncluttered version for your enjoyment just below. :]