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You might wonder when you see the following why I continue to post my sketches. Well, they’re to show what the concept for the illustration was before Nina swoops in and gets all artsy about it.

Drawing is hard. The angles, perspective, shadows…for ME, that is:

Can you spot Marlene peeking out the trailer window?

Apparently, NOT for Nina (but we knew that already, didn’t we?):

Nina has Marlene in the window too. It’s like she’s copying me! Only better.

I’ve been waiting for this chapter to come for awhile. ENTER MARLENE!

Marlene is  a character that has been with me for a long time. For this final version, she was fleshed out a lot more. In more ways then one. Witness a now defunct illustration from the first full book version:

Now that we were fleshing out Marlene, I wanted her even MORE “Marleeney” in the illustrations as well. For inspiration, I sent this:

I seem to have a fixation with Phyllis Diller. This is the second time I’ve used her in my blog! Who, you ask? HMPF, I say!

Carol Burnett as Nora Desmond, a spoof of the character from Sunset Boulevard. SO FUNNY.

I could also have sent this:

Either way, Nina COMPLETELY nailed it. Here’s her take on my “Marlene and Hazel meet sketch:

Just look at Marlene’s face! Doesn’t she look like someone you might know? My brother’s comment when he saw Nina’s take on this one? “SCARY.” You GO, Nina!

And my house! As I wrote yesterday, my heart skittered a little when first I saw it. There was something about it. Good or bad, I wasn’t quite sure to begin with.

In an early attempt at what eventually became Hazel Twigg & the Hollyhock Hideaway there’s a whole history of this house, and about all the people that had come with a real estate agent to see it only to walk away without entering or barely setting a foot inside.

I myself have had a lot of people come up to me since moving here telling me they looked at this house, “But it was too much.”

“Aw,” I would reply modestly. “It’s not really that big…”

Only to be met with an incredulous gaze, “No! Too much WORK!”

Oh. I see. Ahem.

Later when my brothers wanted me to write a nemesis into the story, I decided to use that hapless and formerly nameless and faceless real estate agent that had fruitlessly tried to make a sale.

I guess this house was waiting for the right person! I guess this house was waiting for me. Yay! (But it DOES need a lot of work…). Nina’s final take:

A MUCH better angle. But I’m a better Agle! Har.

Have a GREAT WEEKEND!!

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