Ground Under Repair (1990) – VILLAGER

“…an echo of that music has stayed in my head ever since, an echo that has blossomed and has grown coloured petals, and I have countless times wished I could go back and hear it again in the flesh…“

Extract from the book VILLAGER by Tom Cox

This illustration is very special, it depicts a scene from the book “VILLAGER” by Tom Cox, specifically the second chapter, titled “Ground Under Repair (1990)”

The chapter tells the story of this teenager playing golf with his friend Mark in the village near the Moor. The first thing that hooked me is that it was written in a different style than the first chapter—perhaps because there was a lot more dialogue and not just monologue—but it also took me on an unexpected ride. It didn’t draw me into a sci-fi or fantasy world (which I love), but it worked on me in the way great science fiction does: by transporting me to a different time. It took me back to an age when I saw life differently—one of those ages where most of us feel like we were almost a different person, when we had far fewer things in our head, but the ones we had felt like the whole world to us. The admiration and camaraderie that the protagonist feels for Mark, embodied in the game of golf, depict with emotional accuracy the old friendships of my teenage years—how hanging around with them felt like it would last forever, only for us to drift apart a few years later and become completely different people when we met again.

But it wasn’t just the relatability of the themes or the protagonist’s story that caught me. There was a moment—when the two friends reunite for the first time after three years apart that I found the one phrase that became the most unforgettable line in the entire book to me (the one above, just under the illustration). And while it might lose a bit of its weight when read out of context, I still wanted to share it.

THUMBNAIL SKETCH:

I admit that I only did one exploration sketch. The composition was very clear in my mind since the beginning.

WORKING SKETCH:

Here’s where the corrections, and the people were added with more purpose than just a mere schema as in the thumbnail sketch.

FINAL PENCILS:

In this final piece, I took the time to add more mood to the people surrounding the bonfire, now they look more engaged and more varied in their looks.

FINAL INKS (without effects):

As it can be seen, I removed the floating heads at the bottom, since I noticed they were not adding any value to the composition or storytelling of the scene. I used copic markers to add the non-ink shading.