Clapp's "Green Things"

John Clapp
Illustration

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(17 k), large version (94k)

Seen in Society of Illustrators Annual #40

To see this image being painted, click here.

G r e e n T h i n g s

Interior art for The Stone Fey
by Robin McKinley

Publisher: Harcourt Brace
Editor: Allyn Johnston
Designer: Linda Lockowitz

Watercolor on paper

"He smelled of green things..."

Problem
This was the moment in the book where the heroine, Maddy, first touches and is essentially seduced by The Stone Fey. Allyn had asked me to reconsider my original sketch, that had a more "Michelangelican" "God giving life to Adam" feel.

Solution
I wanted to show a couple things in this part of the book. #1, the eroticism of the moment, but without showing anything graphic since it's a book for children. #2, I wanted to visually show the "seduction" of her thinking, which is really the whole point of the scene.

Through the closeup and angles and such, I tried to suggest her "post-seduction" moment, and I made her face green to suggest the Fey's inhuman influence. I wanted it to look like the green was overtaking or washing over her. It ended up being my favorite piece in the book.

This, by the way, is Jamie, the "Garlex Pizza Girl". Around the time I needed to choose my models, I went in to pick up a pizza I'd ordered and there she was...a very fortunate occurence.