The Art of The Order of Odd-Fish: Illustrations

One of the most spectacular pieces I’ve received! It’s by Mike Bricis, whom I met through the Illinois chapter of SCBWI (the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators). It’s really worth clicking on it to see the larger version. (After clicking through, click the image again to get it at full-screen.) This thing is PACKED with Odd-Fishian gorgeousness! From the daffodil on Korsakov’s head to Aunt Lily’s flaming double-sided lance, from the mongrel lizard-dogs to Jo’s waitress uniform, every element is carefully accurate and yet energetically inventive (I love how Aunt Lily’s costume armor is red and gold, her favorite colors, and giving the Belgian Prankster pink bunny slippers is an inspired touch).

It’s Jo wrestling with the nang-nang at the Municipal Squires’ Authority, as Commissioner Olvershaw howls in fear! What an incredible Olvershaw—I feel like I’m rapidly aging just looking at him. The flying papers and fluttering curtains give the whole piece a wild, kinetic feeling, not to mention off-balance Jo struggling with the thrashing nang-nang as it tears off her fingernail with that proboscis (gross! awesome!). The nimbus of blue electricity crackling at the end of each of the nang-nang’s cilia make it even more startling and alien. (Check out an even larger version here.) Teddy is a professional illustrator, and everyone should go look at his blog for more eye-popping genius.

Teddy asked me, what scene hadn’t yet been illustrated for the Odd-Fish art show? I told him I’d love to see something of the Desolation Day ceremony, when the citizens of Eldritch City dress up as Silent Sisters, tear apart an idol of the Ichthala, and drink its unholy milk. Teddy painted this truly unsettling picture. The weird joy on the milk-drinkers’ faces is really disturbing, and exactly what I wanted. Teddy is a real find; this guy should be illustrating EVERYONE’S book. Go check out Teddy’s blog for more fantastic art!

Another wild, exciting, cinematic painting from Teddy Bihun! It’s Ian pulling the golden thread out of the All-Devouring Mother to destroy the monster and save Eldritch City. Amazing work—I don’t think I can pile enough compliments on this! The wild zigzagging of the thread, Ian’s determined grimace, the ostrich’s shriek, the beautiful dawn sky, the otherworldly, Lovecraftian All-Devouring Mother and Silent Sisters cathedral—this is the climactic picture I’ve been waiting for. Go check out Teddy’s blog!

A stunning, hilarious picture of Eldritch City’s mafia queen! Chen nails what’s so grotesque yet irresistible about Oona Looch, right down to the absurd “Razzle-Dazzle!” t-shirt, poor Fipnit trotting along behind her, and the utterly impassive Looch daughters. Oona’s fishlike old-man face, her slack, lascivious mouth, and piteously feminine eyelashes are perfect.

Chen does brisk business at Botodesigns, which makes T-shirts, paintings, prints and more with a “Japanese-inspired robot and plant art land” theme. You can also find her at Etsy. It’s worth checking out my original post about this, complete with more Chen Reichert work (including a picture of Heather and me as American Gothic!) here.

It’s the climax of the story, when Ian pulls the golden thread out of the Ichthala and it unravels and collapses! I’m so awed by Bellaboutime’s depiction of the All-Devouring Mother’s multifarious and terrifying eyes, its multiple slavering mouths, and the fascinating way it’s in the process of unraveling and collapsing. Every inch of the monster-goddess is packed with beautifully gruesome detail (I love those bits of gristle hurtling out of its maw!) and the way Ian and his ostrich look silhouetted against the red sky is epic. Gorgeous and impressive! Check out more of Bellaboutime’s work on Instagram.

Somehow Samantha Jo gained access to the inside my skull and painted the EXACT IMAGE I wanted to convey for Lily Larouche’s Christmas costume party! “>Check out the larger version, and hunt down all the different characters mentioned in the text—Korsakov with daffodils on his head, the alligator in a bikini, Jo at the organ, the worm, the UFO, the eggplant. Even better is the stuff Samantha Jo dreamed up: the clown talking to the pterodactyl, the flower, and the Southern belle; the minotaur arguing with the Statue of Liberty; and my favorite, the wallflower bear in a tutu on the stairs, looking at the party with awkward longing. Do yourself a favor and check out Samantha Jo’s website!

It’s the scene where Jo is looking out over Eldritch City on her first morning. I have particular affection for this moment in the story, and this painting. I especially appreciate how Kathleen has captured Jo’s emotion—the tentative anticipation in her eyes, the nervous clutching of the chest. Amid all the wacky images and weird hijinx, this painting has a seriousness and a wistfulness about it that’s refreshing. And the sunset and fish crashing back into the sea are beautiful! Thank you, Kathleen! Go lose yourself in Kathleen’s awesome artwork on her website.

by Dawn Heath

A blazingly talented artist has reached directly into my imagination and created precisely what I’d been dreaming about! It’s the Odd-Fish feast from when Jo first comes to Eldritch City, and it’s everything I wanted: raucous, fantastical, yet homey and goofy. Clearly, Dawn read the scene carefully: the knights and squires are all seated where the text implies, and there’s tons of little details: Dame Delia’s snake, Sir Oliver’s many hats, bald Sir Alasdair, the cracked mirrors and pictures, the feast robes with epaulettes and turbans! I have stared at this for minutes on end, always finding something new. I particularly love the little cockroach on the microphone in the alcove, the other one asleep under the table, and yet another trying to catch Dame Delia’s snake. A masterpiece! This really sums up the rollicking spirit I tried to create. Check out Dawn Heath’s other work online here.

Jo in the Archives
by Dawn Heath

It’s Jo Hazelwood in the Odd-Fish archives, with the coded manuscript from her father. Take a close look at that manuscript: Dawn took the trouble of figuring out the code of colors from the book, and applied it to the book Jo is holding! This portrait feels like a picture of a medieval saint. I love Jo’s grave yet calm demeanor, the colorful books in the background, and that exquisitely-worked-out manuscript she’s holding. Another triumph! Do check out Dawn Heath’s other work online here.

It’s Jo’s first morning in Eldritch City, when she and Ian are riding an elephant down to the Municipal Squires’ Authority. I love the lush, medieval feel Dawn gives Eldritch City, and the colorful jumble of architecture, especially the bulbous Russian-style onion domes! Thanks, Dawn, for another fantastic piece. Check out Dawn Heath’s other work online here.

This one’s a gem! It’s from the first chapter, at Aunt Lily’s costume party at the ruby palace. I particularly like the deft composition here. Aunt Lily is of course the center of attention, her hips cocked provocatively, with a bemused Jo naturally in the background, and Colonel Korsakov (complete with daffodil on his head!) breaking into their world from the left. We even get the alligator in the bikini I mentioned, cavorting goofily! (Another piece of art I received of Lily’s costume party also has an alligator with a bikini in it. An unexpectedly popular image . . . )

by Freya Trefonides

Ken Kiang’s notes hilarious, futile, egotistical notes for possible supervillain costumes. These are some seriously dapper evildoer outfits! The perfect Kiangian touch: “Must get more of this desk stationery. I love it! It just screams ‘professional.’”

by Freya Trefonides

Readers of The Order of Odd-Fish may remember there are 144,444 gods in the story. Thus, keeping one’s Eldritch City catechism straight might be an onerous task. To help, Freya brilliantly dreamed up the resourceful Nanookina Dinkle, a staff writer for the Eldritch Snitch, who has a weekly column describing various gods! This week, the indefatigable Dinkle chronicles god #97 (Vutowener, God of Flowers) and #98 (Mizz Magizz, Goddess of Circles). An elephant who is “the patron god of an elite tribe of bouquet-arrangers, florists, and gardeners,” who communicates in an ever-changing language of whistles? And an orange circle who is worshiped by solid black cubes on hosiered legs? Freya’s gods, and the stories behind them, are frankly wilder and better than what I would’ve come up with! Click here for larger, more legible image.

More from Nanookina Dinkle’s catechism column in the Eldritch Snitch, which keeps track of the 144,444 gods of Eldritch City. “Nuv, the Purple Shack of Politics” is awesomely weird and witty (especially the earnest scholar who actually listens to the talking shack’s lectures) but my hands-down favorite of all Freya’s gods is “Cqzxtoo, God of Chairs.” Freya has better control of the precisely deployed absurd detail than many adult authors I could name. To paraphrase what Jack Donaghy said of Kenneth on 30 Rock: “In twenty years we’ll all be working for her, or dead by her hand.” Click here for larger, more legible image.

This picture of Eldritch City is really worth clicking to look at the larger view. I love Sebastian’s maniacal detail of the squished-together buildings, the bit of land untethered from the ground trailing a rope ladder, and the numerous people and creatures all coming and going, like looking into an anthill. Search closer and you can find the Odd-Fish lodge, the Schwenk, a zeppelin called the SS Hazelwood, and other surprises. Sebastian is also in the middle of writing a fascinatingly inventive novel called The Goings-on of 766 Peachtree Avenue, which is so insane and absurd it makes Odd-Fish read like Raymond Carver. Sebastian’s going places.

The picture is from an ancient story from the Odd-Fish’s tapestry, which is only briefly mentioned in the book: “a ballroom full of laughing girls dancing with beautiful monsters.”

Karen takes this little phrase and goes to town! This is one of the things I enjoy most about fan art—how some artists take something that’s offhandedly mentioned, just a line or two, and expand it. And what a humdinger of a picture! I particularly appreciate how the women are all obviously totally smitten by the monsters, and the monsters are laughing flirtatiously. And the variety of fashions, and the variety of monsters, are wondrous! I want to go to this party.

by Danie

Here is a superb portrait of Colonel Korsakov, clearly on the verge of blustering about his digestion. The artist Danie (whose DeviantArt profile, under the name ClassyFat, is stellar) describes her methods as such: “The figure is scrap pieces of framing mats super-glued together then painted with oil . . . then he is hot glued onto a piece of spray-painted cardboard.” Interestingly, “the tassles on his shoulders are real . . . I envisioned him fatter though. Ah well. It’s Korsakov on a diet.”

To be sure, Korsakov needs to diet. I love the mixed-media approach (great choice to use real tassels for his epaulettes) and the quizzical-bordering-on-outrage expression in his eyes is perfection. His luxurious beard and mustache and exactly as I imagined, as well as his formidably bristling eyebrows. I’m very lucky to have this. Thanks for an incredible job, Danie!

Here’s Danie’s original posting of this on DeviantArt.

Zach Dodson is many things. He writes books (his debut novel boring boring boring boring boring boring boring shared a release party with Odd-Fish). He publishes books (the essential Chicago indie Featherproof Press). He co-hosts a live talk show about art and design (“The Show And Tell Show”). And he is also, clearly, a talented artist in his own right! Zach showed up at my house one day with this deliciously detailed armored ostrich—Ethelred, naturally—done in pencil on a huge 4′ x 5′ paper, framed and ready to go. Good Lord, Is there nothing Zach can’t do?

It’s a collage of Jo Larouche’s life! I love how Carol integrated the text of the book jacket into the piece, including the warning about Jo being “dangerous” (helpfully pointed out, with dry humor, as “enclosed advice”) and put in so many little subtle touches—the fish and the bird and the mysterious woman in the margin (Aunt Lily? Jo’s mother? A Silent Sister?) and the clip from the British WWII posters (”keep calm and carry on”)! Bang-up job, as they would say! Carol’s original collage style brings a unique angle to this collection. Visit her blog “Artist In Progress” here.

Another great collage from Carol! I like the goth look of Jo here—worthy of a Tim Burton character!—and how Carol runs the gold thread alongside the prophecy about being “the bride of the apocalypse” and Ian lurking in the margin. The Chinese (Japanese? Eldritch City?) coins are a nice touch too! Carol has a unique, intriguing collage style of arranging illustration, text, and emblems. Visit her blog “Artist In Progress” here.

Modern dandy Basil Arnould Price, a fifteen-year-old prodigy whose work on DeviantArt is staggering, contributed this stylish portrait of Ian Barrows, Jo’s best friend in Eldritch City.

Basil really captured the what I wanted Ian to be; both his unstable, adolescent good looks and his tentative awkwardness. The rose in his hand and the butterfly perched on his rifle give him such a fragile, earnest air. It seems fraught with symbolic import, like some allegorical code. I also appreciate that Basil put Ian in proper knightly raiment. It gives it a medieval, chivalrous atmosphere. The brooding weather in the background, with the nightmarish half-face in the clouds, is a masterful complement to Ian’s uncertain mood.

Basil writes, “I felt like Ian was sort of an embodiment of the gentle, somewhat youthfully insecure first boyfriend, complete with awkward teenage facial hair. He’s the sort of boy that I can easily identify with. And yes, those are monstrous faces in the background, intended to represent Ichthala, along with the unnamed fish that so lovingly vomits up the city.” Exactly.

by Laura-Jayne Nailor

This wildly gorgeous banner is by Laura-Jayne Nailor, also known as macabrexheart on DeviantArt (although it looks like she hasn’t updated her profile in a while). I was hoping Laura would do something like this! It has exactly the kind of unhinged, colorful, whimsical feel I admired in her other work. I particularly like the Mardi Gras mask Jo is wearing and the way the ostrich is totally unimpressed by the vomiting fish. The multicolored buildings of Eldritch City and the swirls and curlicues bubbling out of the fish’s mouth makes the whole banner feel fizzy, bursting, and alive. Great work!

Here’s Jo mending her costume armor as Aznath, the Silver Kitten of Deceit. Brilliant to have the actual Aznath watching over Jo as she works on the armor! This is the kind of art I like best—of something that isn’t an actual scene in the book, but expands on the story and enriches it in an unexpected way. Laura wrote, “I just loved the mythology part of the book, so I couldn’t help but put the Silver Kitten in there! I had wanted to do one more with a young, actress version of Lily Larouche, but I had no time! I’m a freshman in college and who would have guessed how much time that takes?”

Fiona examines the Ichthala idol she has made for Desolation Day—a great companion piece to Jo sewing her Aznath armor. The squishy, fatty, spiky, growling monster is great, but what makes it even better is the tension between it and the cool, appraising gaze of Fiona as she surveys her work. I also like how Laura paid special attention to Fiona’s clothes—that neat pink sash setting off her flowing green blouse and jeans. You kind of can’t tell from these pictures, but both pictures have actual thread pasted to them (threaded into Jo’s needle, and a tangle of multicolored threads connected to the Ichthala idol) that cleverly reference the way the Ichthala goddess is stitched together, and the gold thread that pulls it apart. And the threads serve to tie the two pieces together. Ingenious!

B.B., who is a very funny person, made this great portrait of four of the main characters of Odd-Fish . . . kind of like LP album cover for a theoretical Odd-Fish album? I’d love to hear Nora, Ian, Jo and Audrey singing in four-part harmony. I also like their vision for Eldritch City fashions: waistcoat-centric for the ladies, and a cropped collar for Ian. Bravo!

More great stuff from B.B.! This time, some sketches and studies. I love the unwieldy absurdity of Jo’s Hat of Honor (which, according to B.B., includes “a watermelon, a lemon, a biscuitsword, a Cavendish head, an Aznath Silver Kitten of Deceit, a Ken Kiang symbol, a fish vomiting a lodge, an Awesome Face, a pie, and the Belgian Prankster’s goggles.”). Jo’s slightly peeved expression is priceless! Also FTW: Korsakov and Sefino “gallivanting,” Korsakov enjoying his digestion, Nora enjoying her conspiracy theory, and the demon not enjoying potato chips. And it’s all done in such a lively, bustling style. Great work! (I also like how, whenever B.B. draws Nora, she always hides Nora’s hands. It’s irresistibly cute.)

More sketch goodness from B.B.! I think it’s cool how they take excerpts from the text and wrap them around different elements of the illustration. Few other artists have attempted to draw the Dust Creek Cafe scene—I don’t know why! B.B. gives it the treatment it deserves: the blissful look on Cavendish’s face, Jo’s nonplussed startled gawping, and the Belgian Prankster’s mischievous chuckling, all splendidly done.

A family portrait of Jo’s parents, taken just before Jo’s birth! I especially like Dame Evelyn’s haunted look, with the darkness under her dead-to-the-world eyes, and Martin’s muddled, slightly-worried-but-I’m-not-quite-sure-what-for air. Mercedes deftly captures the awkwardness of the young couple as Dame Evelyn’s nightmarish secret festers between them. This makes me want to write a prequel!

by Karen Alexander (Azro on DeviantArt)

The creation of the universe as depicted in the Odd-Fish tapestry: the All-Loving Mother tricked by Aznath, the Silver Kitten of Deceit into vomiting the 144,444 gods into existence. Gorgeous, raucous, strangely solemn, this is just what I imagined the tapestry to be like: crammed with life, but its rambunctiousness streamlined into a flowing whole. Karen has included many of the gods mentioned in Odd-Fish: along with Ichthala and Aznath, there’s also Zam-Zam, the Dancing Ant of Sadness; Fumo, the Sleeping Bee; Quafmaf, the Pigeon of the Moon; Nixilpilfi, the Gerbil Who Does Not Know Mercy; Mizbiliades, the Bleeding Butterfly; Pzarnarfalasath, the Rhinoceros Whose Laughter Destroys Worlds; Zookoofoomoot the Maggot of Dismay; Pft the Mouse; and more! Karen’s giddy profusion of gods puts me in the mind of the otherworldly bathhouse in Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.

Good enough to be a book cover! It’s beautiful! Diana’s clearly spent some time poring over photos of real ostriches, right down to their knock-kneed stance and the imperious look in their eyes. The armor and regalia are exquisite, especially the authentic-looking ostrich tack (stirrups!) and the semi-transparent feather headpiece. This is the best kind of art: doing the diligent research, and then setting it on fire with imagination!

I can totally see Dame Delia snatching up a crumpled paper bag and scrawling these expert sketches of the beast as she chases it across Eldritch City. It might be too small to see here, but scribbled among the sketches are the notes “The Schwenk—Struthiconiicopteri Schwenkii” (I love the pseudo-Latin scientific name!) along with “sharp bill” and “crest is rarely raised” and “caught a glimpse of the bird in flight” and “tracked the bird around the city for several hours. It is just as elusive as Korsakov said!” This is beyond fan art; this is an authentic document from Eldritch City that somehow wriggled into our world. Diana makes the Schwenk even more enigmatic by never fully revealing it, but only capturing it in a few hastily-executed sketches, each showing a different aspect. Making it feel that much more real! At last, the Schwenk has found its John James Audubon.

What a joyous, buoyant feeling this one has! Ian and Nora are hanging from Jo’s legs; and Korsakov and then Sefino are hanging from Ian’s leg, and Audrey’s hanging from Nora’s arm—and there’s Aunt Lily floating nearby with her own balloon (a reference to her reckless hot-air ballooning in California?), and the Belgian Prankster popping up in the corner. This is just wonderful composition, summing up the essence of all the characters in their expressions and body language. I love the close attention to detail here. Who remembers Ian’s tan corduroy jacket? Diana does, apparently. And Nora’s Teenage Ichthala shirt is the perfect touch. But my favorite thing is how Colonel Korsakov is pouting about something . . . as though he had been unexpectedly scooped up by Nora’s foot, and is patiently enduring the indignity of flight. Another strength: I like how Sefino looks like a fop, but also looks like a real cockroach. Smashing work, Diana!

Jaw drops to floor. Brain explodes with awe. Eyes joyfully melt. A double triptych of Lily Larouche, Colonel Korsakov, and Commissioner Olvershaw, both in their prime and in their old age! I can’t decide what I like best: the vivacious Audrey Hepburn feel of young Lily Larouche, the dashing figure Korsakov cuts as a young KGB agent, or the terrifying decrepitude of Olvershaw as he reaches out to demolish you with his thumb (and if you zoom in close enough to the hi-res version, you can even see his crinkly nose hairs!). A visual feast! More choice details: Korsakov’s teeny-tiny teacup, Olvershaw’s thumb fluttering on the edge of a stringlike arm, and the nonplussed cockroach assistant. Read the original post, with Hailey’s accompanying dialogue, here.

As a kind of victory lap after turning in one of the best pieces of Odd-Fish art I’ve seen, Hailey gets loose and relaxes with this fun mash-up of The Order of Odd-Fish and the movie Pulp Fiction. At first the mind resists. Then you realize: Samuel Jackson should totally play Colonel Korsakov! That’s just logic, people. Wonderfully done.

It’s a gorgeous portrait of Jo Hazelwood, this one emphasizing her mysterious secrets. What a knockout! Britnee’s packed it with symbolic heft—Jo’s mask, hood, and finger-to-the-lips indicating her secret life, the ingenious candlestick that is a fish vomiting out a building (I especially love that), the fish ring, the subtle fish barrette. The atmosphere of hushed secrecy is cunningly reinforced by the muted blues and grays. It’s beautiful.

Kevin Buckelew is the notorious fish-hat-wearing young man from Colorado whom, it was revealed in March 2009, is actually my mother. Here we see Colonel Korsakov and two Odd-Fish squires, hot on the tail of the elusive Schwenk! So many great details: the squires shushing each other as they wield weapons from Sir Festus’ collection, the tentative manner in which Korsakov peers around the corner, the hidden Wormbeard skulking on a lizard-dog in the alley, the way the Schwenk blithely strides across the rooftops, the hypercolorful design of Eldritch City . . . I especially like how Kevin himself is peering out the window (with mysteriously long, sharp fingernails?) and how the words on the storefront, “Kevin Fish Hats,” are twisted into a weird Eldritch City alphabet. My original post about this art. Kevin’s post on DeviantArt.

It’s the cockroach butlers of the Odd-Fish praising their Hat of Honor, just before dumping it on Jo’s head. I love the monocles, the waistcoats, the bottles of moonshine, the bow ties, the singing and walking-sticks and dancing . . . especially how Jo is speechless and Ian is laughing next to her. This is pretty much exactly how I imagined the scene!

Sammi’s vision of the Schwenk here is fantastic—like a technicolor Pegasus, a fierce, rainbow-drenched hallucination. I particularly like its mischievous smirk!

A landscape of Eldritch City at night. I like the lurching angles of the buildings and the storm of pastel dots bubbling up from below. The sky, with the concentric circles, reminds me of a van Gogh sky. Mysterious and slightly surreal . . .

Here’s Lily Larouche’s ruby palace! With an economy of shapes and a kind of suggestive impressionism, Sammi makes us feel the isolation of Jo’s home in the desert. I like how the palace’s darkness gives it a threatening, forbidding feeling, as though there really might be a dangerous baby in there. The cactus in the foreground is an adroit touch, making us feel the vast distance between us and the palace. Well done!

Here’s Jo after the cockroaches have thrust the Hat of Honor onto her: glum, exasperated, and embarrassed as she’s weighed down by the massive, Seussian hat!

This is the first piece of Odd-Fish art I received after the book came out—and it sets the standard high for everything to come! It’s Jo and Fiona outfitted in ceremonial armor for their climactic duel at the Dome of Doom. Dueling tradition requires that each duelist costume themselves as one of the 144,444 gods of Eldritch City. Jo (on the left) is dressed as Aznath, the Silver Kitten of Deceit; Fiona (on the right) is dressed as Ichthala, the All-Devouring Mother. I love the anime style, which puts me in the mood for a kinetic action sequence. I also appreciated that Mallory took the trouble to figure out what would make practical battle armor—in the book, Ichthala is described as a shapeless blob of tentacles and mouths, but Mallory wisely streamlined Fiona’s costume into something sleeker and scarier. (And those dead, blank red eyes! Masterstroke!) The bold variety of colors in Fiona’s costume make a good contrast with Jo’s various subtle shadings of silvery fur. And I love that set, determined expression on Jo’s face! A classic. Here’s my original post on the art. Visit Mallory Woods (a.k.a. DarkshireWarlock) on DeviantArt.

I received this watercolor even before Odd-Fish was finished! It was painted by Michelle, a woman who worked at Jinx, the now-defunct coffeehouse where I wrote much of The Order of Odd-Fish. I have no idea what happened to her. We had planned for her to illustrate the whole book. This was her picture for the first chapter: Jo creeping around the ruby palace’s garden during Aunt Lily’s costume party. I particularly like the mysterious red windows simmering in the background darkness, the way Jo is curvily framed by trees and Chinese lanterns, and the merry toad crouched among the roots. It’s a weird coincidence that Michelle’s choices of colors and composition are startlingly close to what became the actual cover, years later! I still wonder what happened to her. Read the original post here.

The Belgian Prankster
by Kathleen Simmons

Here’s a gloriously gleeful comic-book style character sheet for the Belgian Prankster! This one’s by Kathleen Simmons, known as LittleDarlingEve on DeviantArt.

Kathleen deftly conveys the mix of goofy whimsy and insane terror that is the Belgian Prankster by showing him in four different modes. In the full-body drawing he looks guileless, almost innocent. Then Kathleen shows his monstrously eager, feral side when his stinger is out; gives us a taste of his contemptuous irony with the third picture; and then neatly acknowledges that Hoagland Shanks is the Belgian Prankster in disguise with the fourth picture, in which he blissfully clutches a pie! I love the red bags under his eyes, his exploding gray hair, his overall creepiness. Bravo!

At the tender age of 19, Kathleen’s already getting in at the ground floor at Disney: she snagged one of the coveted positions working as a Disney Cast Member for five months at Disney World next year. Go Kathleen! With her skills, she’s going far. Seriously, do yourself a favor and check out the tons of great art she’s already done on DeviantArt.

Here’s a wonderfully detailed rendering of Chapter 6 by my protegee Freya. It’s the scene when Ken Kiang, before shooting down Colonel Korsakov’s plane (with Jo, Aunt Lily, and Sefino aboard) taunts them by reciting a list of life’s simple pleasures. I love how Ken Kiang gazes fondly into the middle distance as he recites “Chamomile tea . . . Funny puppies—oh, the silly things they do! . . . the smell of freshly baked bread . . . dandelions . . . ” and Jo chases the Inconvenience around as Sefino, Aunt Lily, and Korsakov freak out. Tons of great little details: Sefino’s collection of powdered wigs (with colored bows!), the jawbone of an underwater animal, a blunderbuss, a box of Turkish cufflinks, and even the bust of Yuri Andropov! “For the love of Lenin, shut up, Kiang!”

Jo hides in a bush in Aunt Lily’s garden, eavesdropping on costume party guests. Nearby a man dressed as a UFO gossips with a woman dressed like an eggplant about Aunt Lily’s out-of-control antics. The eggplant has a properly bored, la-di-dah expression; the UFO has a fish-eyed, nerdy look that makes me think he’s trying to impress her. Freya adds a whole new social subtext to the scene! Great stuff!

by Freya Trefonides

Another winner from Freya! I particularly like the composition in this one. It feels like we’re standing with Colonel Korsakov, Jo, and Aunt Lily while the boy dressed as the hedgehog points a gun at us! Korsakov and Lily flank Jo on either side, as if protecting her, and Jo seems to be reaching out for Korsakov’s hand for reassurance. But Korsakov has his hands on his hips in defiance. I also like the cut of Aunt Lily’s dress and the flaming design on the hood of the hedgehog’s sports car. Nice work!

Here’s another cool picture from Freya! This time it’s of Jo hiding in the underground neighborhood of Snoodsbottom, trying not to be found by the rampaging squires from the Order of Wormbeards. I love Freya’s attention to detail: the Apology Gun tucked in Jo’s pocket, the alien clothes hanging from laundry lines, and most interestingly, how the composition traps and squeezes Jo (and the viewer) into a confined space while Fiona and the other Wormbeards look for her.

In Chapter Four, Jo and Aunt Lily’s house is filled with noxious green insecticide by the obnoxious handyman Hoagland Shanks. Colonel Korsakov is afraid the insecticide has killed his cockroach partner Sefino, but in fact it has only made the foppish insect tipsy. I particularly like the glazed, half-focused look in Sefino’s eyes here, his off-balance stance, his uncertain waving of his walking-stick. Freya has clearly put in her fair share of time with inebriated insects.

I believe this is the first illustration I received from Freya! It’s Jo flying through the sky on her ostrich Ethelred. I had this picture hanging on my refrigerator for a long time—I like how Jo and Ethelred are blithely flying by while the bird below them is shocked and terrified, so much that its eyes are literally popping out of its head, its feathers leaping off its wings! Ethelred in particular has a serenely pleased look. I also like the “J” sweater!

Here’s Freya’s imagining of a scene from Chapter Two, when Jo is in the bath at the ruby palace, thinking about her life with Aunt Lily. As usual, it’s the little details that make it work: the clawed feet of the bathtub, the light slanting through the windows, Jo’s pensive expression as she mulls over her situation. And of course, the overwhelming red-and-goldness of Aunt Lily’s decorating scheme. Solid!

Here’s some of Freya’s earliest Odd-Fish art. We can see the hints of future awesome work to come! This Ken Kiang is a bit sterner and I daresay scarier than the Ken Kiang in her throbbingly detailed illustration of the dogfight in Chapter 6, and the Jo astride Ethelred here will soon take spectacular flight. (I like the addition of sunglasses/goggles. It can get windy and sunny way up in the sky.)

In Chapter Two, Aunt Lily figures out how to open the mysterious black box that fell from the sky in Chapter One. Little does she know it is the Inconvenience, and the lives of Aunt Lily, Jo, Colonel Korsakov, and Sefino are about to come exponentially more troublesome and annoying. Here Freya cleverly puts the viewer in the point of view of Aunt Lily as she looks into the black box for the first time.

Here’s a gallery of some of the main characters of Odd-Fish: Ken Kiang, Sefino, Jo, Ian, Colonel Korsakov, and Aunt Lily. Jude’s style catches so well the goofy, off-kilter style I was going for in the book. I love all the characters he’s drawn here, but the Sefino is definitely my favorite, especially the way he’s holding up a claw in outrage. They all seem touched with manic insanity. I like in particular the way Aunt Lily is waving—not waving to anyone in particular, just waving at empty space, smiling at something she remembered once . . . perfect for her character. And Jo’s wry smirk is bang-on too!

Here’s another cool imagining of Jo and Fiona in their costume armor! Jo, on the left, is Aznath, the Silver Kitten of Deceit. Fiona, on the right, is Ichthala, the All-Devouring Mother. Fiona is really terrifying—like something out of the movie ALIEN?—I love how her costume is bristling with teeth and horns. And Jo’s got such a cool, tough expression; I especially like her fluffy silver armor! The burning dark red background and having Jo and Fiona back-to-back were great ideas. I can feel the tension between them. Fantastic job!Visit Panndy’s DeviantArt profile here.

Here’s a quirky, cool portrait of Jo from Mangamoo1 from DeviantArt. I love the feeling of this one, which catches Jo’s quiet humor. She seems both dainty and punk, both poised and otherworldly. The golden thread and the fish are smart extra details, but it’s the eyes that really sell me here—they seem to go beyond merely large manga eyes—all the way to the hauntingly huge eyes of a Margaret Keane painting. Great work!

I knew Libby was a good cartoonist from her illustrations for The Strange Ship II ending, but this is a huge level-up. The elaborate, jewelry-like feel to the ostrich armor is perfect, especially the feathers on top—putting me in the mind of a simpler Aubrey Beardsley—but the best part for me is the imperious, cocky expression on the ostrich’s face. And those mysterious runes! Libby explains the runes: “From left to right: Tyr, god of war. I figured it would aid in battle. Kaen (reversed), in order to ward off chaos/bad luck. Naudr (reversed), to ward off death.” I love details like that! Read the original post here.

It’s a sober, contemplative portrait of faded starlet and ex-knight Lily Larouche. I love when artists take an unexpected perspective on the subject—Karen doesn’t focus on Lily Larouche’s wackiness and glamor, but on her secret sadness. That’s a hard emotion to pull off, but Karen does great justice to Lily’s character, deepening it so that Lily Larouche feels like a real person with a tragic past and not just a caricature. I imagine that this is the look Aunt Lily sometimes get in her eyes at the ruby palace—and when Jo asks what’s wrong, Aunt Lily just smiles vaguely and changes the subject.

Karen writes, “I don’t know why I drew her with a hat, maybe because every time I think of crazy older women I see a a floppy sun hat?” Ha!

Bonus! This looks a bit like Judi Dench, whom I think would be perfect to play Aunt Lily if there was ever an Odd-Fish movie—well, either her or Helen Mirren.

It’s Sir Nils van der Woort when he was still a knight of the Odd-Fish, before he became the Belgian Prankster. Karen writes that this is “right before he enters the service of the Silent Sisters. I kind of wanted to show him contemplating betraying his fiancee and Order (as well as his city and all of humanity but that’s another story.) ” Karen got the brooding, “contemplating betrayal” emotion spot on. The shifty expression and sidelong grimace seal the deal. An tense, threatening portrait! Check out her original post on DeviantArt here.

This forbidding portrait of a young Colonel Korsakov rounds out Karen’s trio of charcoal drawings of the knights in their younger days. Karen writes, “this is a young(er) Korsakov, probably when he was first assigned to capture the Schwenk. I imagine he looks a bit spacey because his digestion is telling him two things at once.” Spacey, yes; and fierce; and, somehow, rather bohemian? I guess it’s because Karen gave him longer hair—it gives him a raffish, artistic vibe that offsets nicely his military background. I like to think Korsakov let himself go a little when he settled into Eldritch City. Here’s Karen’s post on DeviantArt.

It’s an illustration of the different selections available at the La Société des Friandises Étranges—that is, the Club of Weird Desserts—where Ken Kiang treats Hoagland Shanks to what he hopes is a soul-corrupting orgy of pie overindulgence! According to his accompanying letter, here Mason not only shows us avant-garde pies from the book like the Calibrated Cataclysm (“juicy quinces and persimmons soaked in liqueurs measured out in single angstrom drops, served flaming in a dish of richest creams”) and the Phosphorescent Fascination (“made out of an edible plastic made out of Neptunium, a radioactive material.”), but also some avant-garde pies he invented himself: Molten Money (“the filling is made out of pure 24 carat gold”), Chocolate Hell (“the filling is made of chocolate heated to a temperature hotter than the surface of the sun, and sealed inside the pie so that not even one degree of heat can escape from the pie”). Sounds delicious. And terrifying!

A graceful Sefino, resplendent in his exquisitely tailored “fifteen-piece suit,” courtesy of Diana Todd, also known as Loki God of Tricks on DeviantArt. I love the jaunty manner in which Sefino doffs his hat, the insouciant way he grips his walking-stick, the subtly stylish flare of the trousers . . . and best of all, he looks like a true, honest-to-goodness cockroach!

This is a brilliant reimagining of the cover of the book! I love how the title is part of the vomit coming out of the fish, festooned by an Apology Gun, an ostrich, two double-bladed flaming lances, and Jo, Aunt Lily, Colonel Korsakov, Ian, Nora, and the Belgian Prankster (with suggestive stink-lines!). The design is exuberant and creative, and did you notice my name spelled out in the windows of the upchucked lodge? Creative and compelling!

This great alternate cover for the book is by Adam Archer, artist and author of The Terrible Terrible Lake and The Bones of Lampus Haddly. Adam really nails just how I thought Jo would look, especially her calm-but-wary facial expression/body language. Portraying her laying on the floor with the fish in the background was inspired—the way Adam contrasts those colors makes it pop out in such an engaging way. But would you expect any less from him? This guy is a penciller, inker, colorist, and artist for DC Comics. I’m honored he took the time to make this art for my book!

This sketch of a kinda-sorta chibi version of the Belgian Prankster is a goofy delight! I love how he is weirdly guarding all of the copies of The Order of Odd-Fish in Canada for some reason . . . the sly look on his face is inspired!

I love Sefino’s nervous manner here, as though he knows what he’s guilty of, and he knows you know it, and he’s just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Great attire for this cockroach, too—suitably foppish for a butler of the Order of Odd-Fish, complete with suitcoat, tie, flower in the buttonhole, and walking-stick!

A great illustration that shows the moment that Jo is caught between being a normal girl and turning into the Ichthala monster. I like the creepily bright green eyes, the look of panic, and the swirling red smoke behind her! Evocative!

This illustration perfectly captures the relationship between the sly Ken Kiang and the seemingly oblivious Hoagland Shanks at the Club of Weird Desserts in Paris. The multi-tiered platter of tiny pies between them was an ingenious detail (topped by a French flag!) and I love Ken Kiang’s smug expression and Hoagland Shanks’s wide-eyed gluttony (hands smeared with sweet jellies and creams!). It’s the careful details that make this one work, from Ken Kiang’s suit to Hoagland Shanks’ ridiculous bib and glass of milk. Fantastic!

There are so many wonderfully weird places for the eye to go here: from the relatively well-drawn and conventional Sefino and Colonel Korsakov to the “Candy” version of Ken Kiang (??) and the “Pie” version of the Belgian Prankster (the Belgian . . . Piester??). I love the frantic, attentive way Ken Kiang reads the book of So You Want To Be Evil, and the detail of putting Aznath, the Silver Kitten of Deceit on top of Jo in her waitress uniform is an inspired touch of foreshadowing. Ingenious, playful, and fun!

Another busy, fascinating collage of characters and situations! The multicolored Schwenk is beautifully rendered, and the Belgian Prankster is quite ominous in his shadowy, silhouette form. I like how Ken Kiang is slightly embarrassed, even with his devil horns and tail, and Jo, Aunt Lily, and Korsakov are cute and appealingly drawn. The anxious Sefino in the corner is a wonderful touch too, as well as the goofy Nora! What a fun assemblage of characters!

Another enthralling collection of characters and situations! I love all the little details, like Ian demanding recognition for his scruffy mustache, or a sketch of what a young Lily Larouche might look like, an appealing Dame Delia, and even the urk-ack and the Belgian Prankster in his stinger mode! Once again Pirka brings an irresistible cute sensibility and a sense of playfulness to her illustrations. Well done!

What’s better than an illustration of a character from one’s book? An animated illustration of that character! This goofy gif perfectly encapsulates Ken Kiang’s ludicrous goal of trying to be evil. I love the way his arms and legs flop around, the frantic look on his face, and the shimmering word “EVIL” overhead. Marvelous!

It’s an Odd-Fish-themed Christmas card! Jo, Ian, Audrey, and Nora are flying their armored ostriches (I like the neck-armor; makes sense!) with Santa’s sleigh being pulled by a Ken Kiang-mounted Schwenk. With, of course, Sefino at Santa’s side. It’s gorgeous, a delight! I love the exuberant energy and good vibes of this Odd-Fishmas picture.

Emily is back with a charming sketch of Teenage Ichthala actress Audrey Durdle for a birthday card (and I love how superfan Nora is in the background, freaking out over the appearance of her idol). To receive birthday cards of my own characters from readers means I have the best (and most talented) fans ever.

Four Order of Odd-Fish valentines! Here everyone’s in character: Jo puckishly hinting at her dark divinity, Nora speaking in paranoid code, Colonel Korsakov huffing and puffing about his digestion as usual, and Sefino sternly exhorting his beloved to do something scandal-worthy with him. Wonderful stuff! Thanks, Emily!

In the book, Dame Myra is the Odd-Fish knight who studies Improbable Botany. This pictures of Dame Myra’s greenhouse on the top of the lodge, and the bizarre plants one might find within, are by the young and enviably talented Thomas Kendall of London. He’s associated with the folks at the Urban Physic Garden and Registry for Wayward Plants, two groups that one associates quite naturally with improbable botany! As Thomas says on his blog, “Run by Dame Myra, the greenhouse at the Order of Odd Fish is filled with strange, exotic and completely unknown plants of the kind that we don’t believe exist in our world.” Beautifully done!

The artist Thomas writes, “This plant is a parasite. It draws its nutrients from the tree it latches on to but it gets pollinated by the rare and noble gases in the air around it. It has a tiny delicate flower nestled at the heart of its leaves which has a small vacuum inside to pull in the gases. As the fruit ripens it fills with new flavorsome vapours which cause it to float. Once the fruit is mature it detaches and floats away. Harvesters cover trees in gigantic but fine nets to trap the striped fruits. Once rotten though the gas escapes and it falls to the ground with a squish and disperses the seeds.” Brilliant! I wish that was in the book! This is what I like best about seeing Odd-Fish art: the way different artists expand the world of the book according to their own interests and ideas, extending it in all sorts of interesting ways.

The artist Thomas writes, “This tree grows in particularly arid areas. What appears as a barren trunk in periods of drought, sprouts vines in rain season. These vines knot and twist together to form elaborate patterns. These vines draw water and nutrients from the air and surrounding soil which fattens the trunk to maintain its life span through the dry seasons. In these seasons it returns to a bare trunk pulling in all the vines to protect them.” This makes me want to write an entire book just about Dame Myra and her adventures in a world of plants created by Thomas!

Thomas writes, “This plant is the result of nymphs mating with trees on an all-too-regular basis. Over time the trees have gained human characteristics. What was a traditional English Cox’s apple has developed eyes . . . Its center is filled with an apple-flavoured aqueous humour and the leaves grew eyelashes to swat away unwelcome insects.” I like a fellow who can deploy a term like “apple-flavoured aqueous humour” with such aplomb. And this sketch is absolutely first-rate, glorious!

It’s Jo in her Aznath-the-Silver-Kitten-of-Deceit armor, riding around her flying ostrich in the Dome of Doom, with one of her traditional Eldritch City insults inscribed in the upper-left hand corner! It’s by the talented NudgieBudgie on DeviantArt. I particularly like the Joust-like aesthetic, and how there’s a monster peeking out of the water below. There wasn’t a monster in the Dome of Doom in Odd-Fish, but now I realize there absolutely should have been!

I love Olvershaw’s glowering expressioon, his IV drip traling behind him, and his seemingly wounded face. It puts me right in the mind of the old, cantankerous weirdo! I have to admit, I feel this guy’s eyes follow me around the room.

Here’s a rather nightmarish, conceptual take on of one of the more obscure passages in the book, when Ken Kiang sells his soul “to any supernatural being who cared to bid on it,” in one case for as low a price as a bag of barbecue-flavored potato chips. Kind of chillingly maniacal! Is Ken Kiang transferring his soul to the balloon-like devil head via a homunculus-sized version of his own head, or . . . ? There’s some intriguing theological territory to excavate here. Note the kitten’s head from which Ken Kiang presumably had guzzled kitten blood earlier! Bizarre and haunting!

This is a great depiction of when Jo and Fiona face off in the Dome of Doom near the climax—Jo in costumed in battle armor as the monster-god Aznath, the Silver Kitten of Deceit, and Fiona costumed as Ichthala, the All-Devouring Mother . . . both of them on flying ostriches! The boxing-ring settings subtly conveys the fight about too happen, and I like Jo’s worried look and Fiona’s sly smirk.

A beautifully hand-drawn version of the paperback cover of The Order of Odd-Fish! It was done by a group of girls one of the five schools I visited for the Downers Grove Author Festival in 2012. An accurate and charming version of the cover that I still have hanging in my basement where I write! All of the characters in the picture frames are brimming with emotional energy, using the original pictures as a model but definitely adding something beautiful to iit.

It’s the pernicious centipede journalist Chatterbox, resplendent in his exquisitely tailored “fifteen-piece” suit! I love it! Especially all the different “business” Shelly has going on with his palps―grasping his hat in mid-doff, fiddling with his cane, angling in akimbo skepticism, etc. In the lower left hand corner, Shelly notes, “Those brown curvy things near his face are actually a first pair of legs that Nature has modified into a pair of poison fangs. Yes, poison fangs. Awesome, No? (All centipedes have them. And some centipedes eat roach babies. Just a heads-up.)” Whaaaat! So there is a natural animosity between centipedes and cockroaches that I coincidentally alluded to with Odd-Fish‘s rivalry between Chatterbox and Sefino? Perhaps I was drawing upon some great collective unconscious of entomological lore. Great work, Shelly! Check out all of her work on DeviantArt here.

It’s the scene when Chatterbox, the snarky centipede journalist, leans out his window and gently undercuts Sefino when he comes on his triumphant visit with Jo wearing the ridiculous Hat of Honor. Shelly was a student of mine, and I already knew that Shelly was an appreciator of the insectoid form―one of the first things she mentioned to me was that she had a collection of hissing cockroaches at home―so I was pleased to see her anatomically sophisticated take on Chatterbox. I particularly liked the subtly detailed color work on the windows too.

It’s the flaming double-sided lance that is the discriminating knight’s weapon of choice in The Order of Odd-Fish. I love the dynamic way the flames are portrayed, seemingly flickering around the blades even as we watch! The grip in the middle is a smart touch, too.

Here’s some inspired concept art for Lily Larouche’s ruby palace! I love the concept of a tree in Lily Larouche’s garden that is grown from a seed brought from Eldritch City. A statue of Lily by some old jilted lover is a nice touch. And a landing platform for her hot-air balloon! It makes me wish I had put these details about the ruby palace in the book! I love it when artists expand and add on to the original ideas from the book with even better ideas.

What attention to detail! I love the composition—with the UFO talking to the eggplant while Jo eavesdrops from the bush—and how through the window, we see the robot, the pirate arm-wrestling the dinosaur, the giggling devil, Lily dancing on a table, and if you look hard, even a certain well-dressed cockroach. Elaborately constructed and winningly done! (Jacob wrote to me, “Honestly, I think the hardest part to draw in this one was the eggplant’s feet.”)

Jacob’s picture of Jo’s room (shaped like a gigantic jeweled egg) nails exactly how I imagined it (bonus: out the window, you can see Dust Creek behind the highway).

I love the raucous madness of this Dust Creek Cafe picture—it’s got everything: Mrs. Horpness hurling waffles, Jo helping Aunt Lily, Mrs. Cavendish sternly chastising Mr. Cavendish (I love Mrs. Cavendish’s flower sun hat!) even as his head flies around the room, and all the old people running pell-mell for the doors—just what I was hoping to express in that scene!

Jacob Von Borg goes full-throttle and unhinged in this illustration of when Lily Larouche’s ruby palace is filled with hallucinogenic insecticide and Jo and Korsakov seem to multiply before Sefino’s eyes. Great jittery, striking composition here, and Korsakov’s mustaches are to die for!

Chapter Five is about how Ken Kiang’s boredom leads him into considering becoming evil. I love how Jacob puts a double-silhouette in there that underlines Ken Kiang’s dilemma!

Here is Korsakov’s plane, right after it is shot down, being eaten by a giant fish; Jacob really gives a sense of scale here, and the sun setting right above is the perfect touch!

I love how Korsakov’s eyes spring wide as he listens to his digestion, his finger held up as if it to ask for momentary silence while he mentally decodes his intestines’ squishings and rumblings.

Jacob nailed Sefino’s ridiculous outrage—one pair of arms pointedly akimbo, the other pair flung up in exasperation, clutching what must be a copy of the Eldritch Snitch—all while still keeping him totally insect-like.

This Aunt Lily is perfect, from the louche way she holds her cocktail to the mischievous twist of her lip and playful eyes!

Jo is properly demure but not dull, with a spark of something dangerous in her eyes.

I love the way the cake is being vomited onto the shores of Eldritch City! Great gobbets of vomit, flying beautifully across the sunset!

I love the manic energy of this depiction of when Jo, Ian, and “Nick” (actually Audrey) ride squids in the jeweled caverns beneath Eldritch City, and are attacked by monkey-like creatures called groglings! I like the contrast between Jo, Ian, and Nick’s looks, and the squids’ determined expressions, and the malicious groglings! It was also a nice touch to show the lower half of the squids’ bodies in the water, appropriately shaded too show that they are submerged. Full of life, action, and emotion!

A witty, well-drawn, and pretty accurate web comic describing the how the universe came to be, according to the All-Devouring Mother legend! I love the goofy joviality of the All-Loving Mother, the bickering chatter of the gods stuffed in her belly, and of course the epic god-vomit.

This was a treat! Great work with the realism of the ostrich’s body, the bridle and harness, and even the smug look in the ostrich’s eyes. Great!

It’s an illustration of the Odd-Fish lodge when it’s in the stomach of the giant fish. I love the vastness of the composition, and the incongruousness of the lodge in the weirdly austere innards of the fish, how it feels so dwarfed and yet out-of-place and yet utterly normal. Great!

This is one of the best pictures of the Schwenk that I’ve seen! I can feel the tension in its flapping wings and runnings legs, I can hear the squawk blasting from its wide-open beak, and I’m dazzled by its colorful plumage! And of course Ken Kiang sitting astride the beast, panicked and trying vainly to direct it, is a perfect comic counterpoint for this noble beast. Splendid!

A hilarious, full-of-energy picture of when Mr. Cavendish’s head is flying around the Dust Creek Cafe. The various expressions on everyone’s faces are what make this picture so awesome: Mr. Cavendish looking dazed and intoxicated with freedom, Aunt Lily cross-eyed with chaotic jubilation, Jo with a determined glare trying to catch the head in a net, and of course the grimacing Mrs. Horpness hurling waffles everywhere. Classic!

Here’s Jo Larouche in her waitress uniform. Extremely well done! Jo’s eyes in particular are haunting. The silhouette of the Ichthala monster looming in the background was a masterstroke. Thank you so much, Anna! This is one of the best Jo portraits I’ve received.

Marie wrote that this is a sketch of one of the more glamorous characters of the book, Audrey Durdle, “all kitted up for the Cephalopod Ball.” Oooh! The Cephalopod Ball! Clearly this is a lost Odd-Fish scene waiting to be written. The picture is gorgeous, of course―and Audrey is really working that squid in her hair. I assume it’s alive and just hanging out. Marvelous job, Marie!

These simple but evocative pictures of Sefino and Jo exemplify their characters quite well. I like Sefino’s bug insect eyes and spindly body, as well as Jo’s open-hearted, game-for-anything expression.

Look these striking portraits of The Belgian Prankster and Sefino by VremyaControl! I love the maniacal, unbalanced glare in the Belgian Prankster’s eyes, his jagged teeth, his monstrous ears . . . and that flaming kitten Hindenburg is a delicious detail! And let’s not forget this exquisite Sefino, a scrupulously accurate sketch of what the cockroach butler looked like at the Founder’s Day festival, when he “sported white velvet trousers lined with gold braid, furry pink boots, a puffy blouse, and a sombrero covered in hundreds of blinking electronic lights.” Perfectly depicted!

A great recreation of the hardback cover of Odd-Fish! Quite impressively accurate, all the way down to Lily Larouche’s biscuit-sword and the jeweled eyes of the Odd-Fish ring.

This simple but evocative crayon drawing shows Sefino balancing various dishes in his job as a butler . . . possibly about to scurry on his way to serve them at the Odd-Fish Grand Feast? I love the slightly quizzical expression on Sefino’s face, the just-barely-balanced covered dishes, and the odd beverage or condiment held in his upper left claw. And Sefino looks like an anatomically correct cockroach, too!

It’s the scene where Jo has followed “Nick” into the sewers of Eldritch City, and “Nick” and Ian have just jumped down the hole, leaving Jo alone and scared. I like the ominous green shimmer coming from the hole and Jo’s gasp of terror, and the surroundings are suitably run-down and shabby. Evocative!

It’s Eldritch City gangster boss Oona Looch when she first gets a shine for Jo’s best friend Ian Barrows―and the crucial moment when Jo “saves” Ian from Oona Looch by kissing him on the dance floor at the Dome of Doom. There’s something almost pathetic about Katie’s Oona Looch that I particularly like. The poor lady! Then again, Oona Looch is inappropriately old for Ian. And come to think of it, she did crush that one’s guy skull like a grape. So, okay, let’s not feel too sorry. Still: great work, Katie!

It’s a scene from Aunt Lily’s costume party in chapter 1, and a scene of Jo waiting tables at the Dust Creek Cafe in chapter 3. The sassy boy dressed as a refrigerator chatting up a girl dressed as an earthworm is great fun, especially how “fridge” is spelled out in refrigerator magnets. And I love how the frazzled Jo is overpouring her coffee, and the old lady replies with an irritated >:( emoticon. The fresh and fun energy of these pictures capture the comic feeling of those chapters!

This picture of Fiona Fuorlini is full of attitude and personality! I love the challenging scowl on her face, and the way she’s cocked her leg in an aggressive manner. Making the background the same colors as the Order of Wormbeards (purple and green) was a cool subtle touch too. This is exactly how I imagine her!

I love it when I get a picture like this, of an aspect of the book that doesn’t often get illustrated . . . especially when it’s as well done as this! This is what it must’ve looked like to Lily Larouche when she found baby Jo in her washing machine. The baby is so cute, the woven basket is a thoughtful touch, and I’m particularly amused at how the “wash mode” of the washing machine is set to “dangerous baby.” Clever and well-done!

This is a great illustration of the rude boy from chapter 1 of Odd-Fish, who is wearing a hedgehog costume when he threatens Korsakov and Jo with a gun. I love how complete his costume is, and the threatening glower in his eyes! The spikiness of the hedgehog is really well-rendered too. Excellent!

This ring is so realistic and well-realized, I feel like I could slip it onto my finger! The bejeweled eyes and sinuously curved, interlinked fish bodies with subtle scales are exactly how I imagined the ring in the book. And I appreciate how the inside of the ring is smooth, just as a real ring probably would be . . . and stamped, of course, with Jo’s real name. This picture is a triumph!

I am really impressed by the precise, unique style in which these pictures of Sefino, the foppish cockroach butler, are done. We get to see him in three different expressions (angry, intoxicated, and snarky) and the style of his clothes are perfect (and his body feels like it’s anatomically realstic!). The pipe and rolled-up newspaper under his arm are marvelous touches too. Fantastic!

These sketches perfectly capture the spirit of Colonel Korsakov: his majestic girth, his Russian-ness, and his various moods: in these three sketches, by turns mysterious, choleric, and kindly. The military medals on his greatcoat were a great touch, and the Communist star was a fantastic detail too. I love how when he blows his stack there is steam literally coming out of his ears, in true classic cartoon fashion. A great representation!

This colorful board game takes you all around Eldritch City, from the Odd-Fish knights’ lodge to the offices of the Eldritch Snitch to the set of “Teenage Ichthala” to the lodge of the Wormbeards! And check out the Schwenk peeking in the right-hand side. Superior work, Amanda!

A monstrous and impressive illustration of the nang-nang—the spastic, fingernail-devouring creature that gets loose in the Municipal Squires’ Authority. Wonderfully done! I like how this mirrors the ostriches-with-necks-tangled-up chapter emblems on the cover of the hardback version of Odd-Fish, too. I especially like the taut energy expressed in these two nang-nangs, as they seem on the verge of springing at each other in some kind of combat!

Hanna does a great job bringing out the essences of rivals Jo and Fiona! Jo here looks ready for action in her pink waitress uniform. And I love how cool Fiona looks with her sinister black goggles, yellow scarf fluttering and long coat flaring behind her in epic style.

This tattoo belongs to Katherine Megna, one of the wonderful women who runs the Laurel Village branch of Books Inc. in San Francisco. When I first met Katherine, and she told me she intended to get a tattoo of a line from Odd-Fish . . . and lo and behold, the next time I saw her, there it was! Sir Oort’s line, “It is my job to be wrong in new and exciting ways,” tattooed right below the back of Katherine’s neck! I can’t tell you how honored I am by this. Never would I have dreamed that someone would get something I wrote tattooed on them. And what a beautiful tattoo, too! Thanks so much for this, Katherine. You make me feel legit!

This is a thoughtful piece of Odd-Fish art that Jacob sent me for my birthday in 2014. I love its mishmash, mongrelized All-Devouring Mother . . . that was exactly the vibe I was going for when I wrote it! Pretty terrifying birthday card, actually, the more I look at it!

A wonderful piece of Odd-Fish art I got from Emily Bricker in 2014. I love that Ken Kiang has a candy corn, of course . . . and that naturally Korsakov is the most enthusiastic eater! Fantastic work as always!

I love how Isabelle nailed all the details: not only Oona’s bald head with the mysterious scars, but the sly way she’s looking off to the side, with a roguish smirk. Pure Looch! I love it. Isabelle came to know of Odd-Fish from when I spoke with Lemony Snicket in Chicago back in November. She picked up my book along with his and I’m glad she did! I wasn’t there to sign it (I was speaking onstage at the time), but Isabelle says that Snicket signed it in my stead, “flippantly” as she reports.

This is a truly impressive portrait of Sefino, rich with detail and style. I love how it balances the look of an anatomically correct cockroach with the foppish outfit he’s wearing: a smart top hat, tie, and red-and-yellow waistcoat, smartly accented with a monocle and even a walking-stick! I also appreciate how his many arms are in various positions—akimbo, outstreched, pointing, grasping—giving him even more dynamic character. Outstanding!

This picture of Jo and Ian taking their first elephant ride through Eldritch City is a marvel of lively detail! I liked the different architectural styles of all the different buildings, the various types of vehicle on the road (including the tree-storey red police vehicle following them), the fruits dangling from the tree, and the way the whole picture bustles with traffic and activity!

A marvelous and quite funny picture of Colonel Korsakov and some squires confronting Korsakov’s long-sought-after nemesis, the Schwenk. I love Korsakov’s burly physique, and the way he is pointing at the Schwenk as if to say “Aha!” . . . while at the same time the Schwenk casually glances over its shoulder, as if to say, “Who, me?” The two squires (I’m guessing Jo and Ian) and well-rendered too, and I like how Ian is staring down the barrel of his own weapon, as if baffled about what it does! Great urban background too, complete with sidewalk and mysterious door.

This is a pretty terrifying Ichthala, and quite true to the monter in the book! I love the supernumerary eyes, the ridged wings, the four arms and slathering, jagged-toothed mouth. And it’s clear the Icthala is making quick work of Eldritch City, with various ruins and shattered buildings all around, and the Silent Sisters temple atop the mountain, where thrust up from deep underground. Haunting and expertly detailed!

Beautiful, amazing! I like that it’s an over-the-shoulder POV shot from Chatterbox’s window, cool choice! The Hat of Honor is hilariously elaborate, the joyous cockroaches are both anatomically accurate and yet dressed exactly as foppishly as I imagined, and I love all the spectators peeking in on the situation — including an incognitio Belgian Prankster at the bottom! (And is that the Schwenk flying in the sky in the background?) Masterful, Leonie!

It’s the scene during the victory party after Jo’s duel in the Dome of Doom, when Jo kisses Ian, to the dismay of gangster queen Oona Looch. Miss-Artist of DeviantArt captures the moment quite well—I like Oona Looch’s look of startled disappointment, and how both Jo and Ian’s eyes are wide open. They’re both as shocked as Oona Looch is! Terrific work.

A delightful trio of painted wooden boxes depicting Jo, the ruby palace, and the washing machine where Jo was found. Tracy is an old friend from college, and these boxes are exquisite, subtle—everything I’ve always liked Tracy’s design sensibilities. Tracy said that her ruby palace was inspired by a Frank Lloyd Wright building in the desert. For individual shots of the boxes, and more background about Tracy, check out the original post here (you will have to scroll down a little after jump).