L'illustration finale

When producing a manuscript for publication, it is recommended that you put the words, “THE END” after the final words of the story. Seems a bit silly to me, but I suppose it serves the function of letting a publisher know for sure that the story is now over. In the illustrated stories of the past, a small decorative illustration often accompanied the word, “FINIS,” at the end of a book. I am choosing to use this old convention for my illustrated novel.

I wanted my final drawing to match, thematically, the frontispiece of the book, which shows the heroine before the beginning of the story. The final drawing also relates to the heroine, and shows her knife and some details from her life growing up in a Yupik village in Alaska.

Here is my initial idea for the “Finis” drawing for Book I. It’s not yet the way I want it to be, but it’s pretty close.

"Finis" for Book I - WIP
by Sara Light-Waller copyright, 2013.

Each of the books in the series will have a similarly matched set of frontispiece and final drawings. Book II, for instance, will show the hero in the frontispiece and his pistols and sword in the concluding drawing.