Forgotten
from The Prince of Butterflies

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Comments

As the years pass and John gets older, the butterflies return a couple more times, and he helps them, but in time they stop coming and he wonders if he's grown too old, or if they've perished.  

 

Originally, I had something completely different in mind for this painting.  Mentally, it changed several times as I thought about how I was going to do it.  

 

Besides capturing the right mood for the text, I also had other concerns with this spread.  Reading the text carefully, the main character has aged a few years which forces you to decide if you're going to "age" them visually and risk them not looking consistent and recognizable to a young audience, or how much do you age them, etc.  His small size in the image helped make him feel lonely and forgotten, and it turned out to be a nice solution to the other problem as well.

Notice the reappearance of the title page ladybug on the left.

 

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