Author Interview: Lisa Brown + Giveaway (US/CA)

Please Welcome Lisa Brown!

Lisa Brown is the illustrator for the haunting historical fantasy book Picture the Dead. I gushed about the knockout combination of pictures and text in my Picture the Dead review. Back story snoop that I am, I couldn't help but ask Lisa about the inspiration and development of her illustrations in Picture the Dead. Check out her answers below!

 There are NO spoilers here!

Portfolio  | Tumblr | Twitter | Goodreads
Picture the Dead Tumblr | Picture the Dead site 

Jennie Lovell
Our heroine

Jennie Lovell, our indomitable heroine. I changed her hairstyle in later versions, after Adele described her hair as lush and curly. Her dress reminds me of the clothing in the "Sound of Music;" that is, made from old curtains.

William Pritchett
Jennie's fiance

William Pritchett. The epitome of "dashing." I'm fairly smitten with Will and his brother. Check out the wonderful Tumblr blog, http://mydaguerreotypeboyfriend.tumblr.com/, for more dead hotties.

Quincy Pritchett
Will's brother, a man with a secret

Quincy Pritchett, my absolute favorite. His original model is a bit too old for the part, so I regressed him to his teenaged self and removed his glasses. He gets even sexier, in my opinion, later on when he sports an eye patch. Arrrrrr!

Mavis
The maid, Jennie's confidant

Mavis, the little Irish maid. Her dress is much simpler than her employers', no pattern or stylishly puffed sleeves. Note how she looks a bit frightened.

Henry Pritchett
Jennie's passive uncle

Uncle Henry Pritchett. I drew him unaltered from his original photograph. Couldn't improve upon perfection. I am especially pleased with the pattern I found for the background, however. All of the "wallpaper" patterns are made from actual Victorian designs that I mostly discovered in clip art Dover books. http://store.doverpublications.com/

Clara Pritchett
Jennie's awful aunt

I honestly had trouble finding a model who was detestable enough to represent Clara in all her vile-ness. I was particularly keen to portray Adele’s incredible description of a “chin that wobbled like aspic.” Nobody during the Civil War era seemed to have such a chin. I tried concocting a composite from several existing portraits, but, in the end, I had to invent Clara out of whole cloth, sketching her out by hand. I gave her the requisite double chin, little girly ringlets, and an air of entitlement. Voila. Aunt Clara.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Lisa! 

Lisa was kind enough to give me a copy of one of my favorite pictures from Picture the Dead. The picture is from Jennie's scrapbook and is of the horrible Aunt Clara--but Jennie has scratched out her face!

I love how clearly Lisa captures all of Jennie's feelings of loathing and frustration for her aunt in that one simple image. And after reading about Aunt Clara, I can totally relate!

Which picture is your favorite? If you haven't read the book yet, which of these characters are you most curious about? 

*~Giveaway~*

I have a copy of Picture the Dead and a PtD t-shirt up for grabs! Both are modeled below (in a photo taken just for YOU!) by Lisa's co-author Adele Griffin (you already know how I feel about Adele).

Click here to enter!

Info for the giveaway:

• As always, you do NOT have to be a follower
• You must have a US/CA mailing address
• You must be 13 years of age or older
• One entry per person
• Your address is not required, but including it will help with sending the book out to you sooner
• I will contact the winner through email and the winner will have 24 hours to reply before a new winner is chosen 
• The giveaway will close December 7th

Ruby has an interview and giveaway today with one of my favorite authors. Click here to join in on their conversation! 

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