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Losing a Wacom and a Wolf

This installation of Black Wolf of the Glacier drawings should probably appear in black, a tone of mourning.
Since I last posted illustrations, I have lost the company of my generously-sized Intuos3 Wacom, the drawing tablet I used to complete all of my illustrations for Lucy's Dance. I never went as far as naming it, but its flat grey countenance had borne the tracing of some of my best current line drawings. It weathered my dropping it, tripping on its cord, and sullying it with foodstuffs enough that like the Velveteen Rabbit, it became real. Then a loose power cord did it in at last. and I watched its blue connection LED flicker away like a fairy, and yes, I did try clapping it back to life. When hope seemed distant, I also resorted to prying it open and looking inside, but it was no use.

My new wireless Intuos4 is pulling its slight weight. The smaller 8x5" surface doesn't feel restrictive, considering I draw primarily from my wrist; rather, it makes each movement more powerful by mapping a smaller space to my monitor. The on-tablet shortcut buttons with customized digital labels came as a delightful surprise.

But I can't quite forget the old model, which still sits in a quiet corner, awaiting possible repair as a backup. Like the wolf Romeo in pages 24-25, it is gone, but its absence is keenly felt.
20-21
I have always loved using insets. Deb Vanasse noted that that this illustration should mark the "emotional center" of the book, so I tried to achieve that closeness by showing the feeling of brushing one hand against a wolf's fur.

22-23

This illustration includes real content from a sign posted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Actual sign content was much longer and more discouraging, including the following bullets:
  • Do not encroach on the wolf.
  • If the wolf approaches you, yell and clap your hands to reinforce an appropriate distance between wolves and people.
  • Do not let dogs play with the wolf and keep dogs on a leash.
  • Do not feed the wolf.
Romeo's favorite pastimes seemed to involve provoking transgression of all but the last of these rules.
24-25
Maybe too many people clapped their hands at Romeo, or maybe not enough, and he vanished like a fairy. When you view these drawings, let your mind's eye supply what else is absent: the washy splotches of paint.
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