Illustration Notes for Episode Sixty-Two

Once again, this week’s episode offered a lot of potentially interesting moments to depict, but I chose this one, because—for me at least—it most seemed to depict the overall meaning of the scene: the illusion of freedom and self-direction Matt began to feel, shattered. The discovery that he is still caught up in some larger and more forceful story than his own.

As with last week’s image, I started off working on a more dramatic facial expression—making Matt gape at what was in his hand—his brows raised high, his mouth and eyes much farther open. But then I realized that this was not what my face would be doing at this moment. The kind of surprise I had started out to draw seemed more the kind I might feel at the delight of a letter from a friend I hadn’t heard from for ages, or unwrapping just what I’d hoped to get for my birthday—or reading a newspaper article about something astonishing about someone else’s life—and thus ‘more removed’ from my own. The ‘What?!! Whoa!!!’ kind of surprise. But I didn’t want Matt looking like a kid who’d just found some great prize in a cereal box. I wanted him looking more confused and dismayed than that.

Upon finding something so far outside of any reason to expect—at any level—that I couldn’t even really understand what I was seeing at first—something that took me a moment to begin to understand the implications of—I realized that both my mind and my face seemed more likely to go blank. What seemed wanted here was not amazement, but incomprehension, followed by concern. So…I went with the expression you see on Matt’s face here, instead of some more theatrical expression of surprise. As always, it’s up to you to say whether I decided right. :]

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Below, as always, find an uncropped and uncluttered version of this week’s episode image. Hope to see you again next week! :]