This image is from Joe Meno’s collection of short stories entitled “Demons in the Spring”. This particular illustration is by artist Kelsey Brookes and embedded in the story “What A School Girl You Are”. This is my favorite drawing in the whole collection of stories.
The illustration reminds me greatly of a game I would play with my friends when we would fold a piece of paper and each draw part of a form – head, torso, legs, and feet – to create a completely fantastical image.
I really like the use of text as well as a drawn image. I feel that the two layers of both text and image compliment each other and create a harmonious and weird, however intriguing illustration to look at. The range in the weight of line in the drawing is also something that helps create a “reality” to the form in the middle of the page.
The illustration appears later in the short story, but is supposed to represent the high school freshmen the narrative is about. In the opening lines the author describes the girl, “Your body is a green twig, full of knots and unattractive bumps and angles.” This illustration completely “illustrates” that line and lends quirky visual aid to the story, and quite possibly makes the story that much stronger.
This is such a quirky drawing, but I love it. I'm really curious to read the short stories now because this image really does capture the phrase. The line quality is interesting and I like the simplicity of the drawing, but because of the unusual subject, it seems more intricate than it really is.
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