"His face was like a black withered apple, and almost destroyed; his polished forehead shone as though a purple light gleamed under the skin; his sickle-curved posture made him look as though his back were broken; a sad little brokeback dwarf crippled with age."Truman Capote - Other Voices, Other Rooms.

"Now at thirteen Joel was nearer a knowledge of death than in any year to come: a flower was blooming inside him…Amy, Randolph, his Father, they were all outside time, all circling the present like spirits: was this why they seemed to him so like a dream?" Truman Capote, Other Voices Other Rooms.

Some thumbnails to possibly be made into paintings.

Cover mock-up

I decided to create a mock-up of a cover for the novel using a combination of paint, collage and ink. I added the tip later on photoshop. I think the outcome is fairly successful - the colours are dramatic and the collage adds an eerie element to the sky - like it is tearing itself apart.

New direction..?

I've been struggling recently with my paintings, I feel like they are flat and lacking energy. I'm also worrying that if they were shrunk down and produced inside the book they are not strong enough in composition and the subtleties of the paint and texture would be lost. My tutor suggested that they weren't illustrative enough so I might try and combine my painting with my drawings and use ink and collage so they are more linear. I have been looking at Dave Mckean's work a lot and how he manages to combine atmospheric painting and illustration.

Some work by Dave Mckean:

Some more sketches inspired by the novel.

"Rising, he glanced up at the yellow wall of the house...It was at this point that he saw the queer lady." Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

"Joel slumped like a dog on the floor before the hearth" 

"Randolph, a set smile stiffening his face, rose and strolled to a window, his loose kimono swaying about him; he folded his arms like a Chinaman into the butterfly sleeves, and stood very still." Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

"A whirl of ferris-wheel lights revolved in the distance; rockets rose, burst, fell over Noon City like showering rainbows" - Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

"A whirl of ferris-wheel lights revolved in the distance; rockets rose, burst, fell over Noon City like showering rainbows" - Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

Scene in the creek with Idabel and Joel

Musee d'art moderne Paris

From thumbnail to a painting work in progress.

Narrowing down scenes that i particularly want to illustrate and creating endless thumbnails. 

Some photos I found online of a young Truman Capote that I have been using for reference and inspiration. The novel is semi-autobiographical; informed by Capote's childhood, so I have been using these when sketching the protagonist Joel Knox.