The Details Dash and Mila Are Hiding in Their Art
Bonus Cover Illustration for Paper Thin Love (hardcover special edition)
She absolutely hated it.
When I showed my sister the bonus illustration for, Paper Thin Love, she did not like it at all.
Don't worry, I’m an indie author, and I’m used to hearing reviews of all sorts. I just recently had a negative review for Kingdoms of Silent Sorrows. The reader disliked the book because they said the characters were on low-carb diets.
There is zero mention of dieting or low carbs, but this is a perfect example of how something in my book triggered that reader to feel uncomfortable (and when that happens, we usually attack others).
Something similar happened when I showed my sister Mila's portrait. I asked my sister why she didn't like it. She said the scars make her feel very uncomfortable. Scars often do, because if we haven't overcome what scarred us, it can still hurt. It's hard to look at old wounds.
And this is your reminder that art isn't always meant to make you feel happy or relaxed. Same with reading.
It's meant to make you feel, and that's a wide range of emotions.
Sometimes the artist intends to make you feel uncomfortable, to make you dig deep within yourself and ask yourself, ‘Why does this make me feel this way?’
Maybe it's tied to an old memory or even a subconscious scenario you don't realize you need to heal from.
As you scroll below, just keep that in mind: Paper Thin Love’s Illustration is a little more graphic. But if you are a dark romance reader, I doubt you will find anything about this jarring.
Dash and Mila’s story is about self-healing.
At the start, Mila has this perfect image of herself she shows the world, she is the ballerina, a daddy’s girl who does everything she is told. When Dash enters the scene, he sees right through her mask, and eventually learns what she does to get through life. He takes this broken girl and gives her a healthier outlet to heal: art. He forces her to stop hurting herself, stop listening to others, and find herself through the paints.
The wings on her back are symbolic (because this is not a fantasy). Her wings (her mask) are gone.
Do you think her hand is trying to reach one, or is it more of a farewell, a final touch before her old fake life is gone?
If you look closely inside the scars, there is actually a quote from the book. I drew the words in her skin color so it would look like it’s knitting her back together from the inside out.
Now let’s look at Dash.
He reaches out his hand, catching a feather, wondering what he's done, because by the end of the book, all the healing he's helped Mila achieve is… oops! I can't say any spoilers.
What I can say is this: by the end of the book, should Dash have let her heal or kept her wings (her mask)?
If you look at the feathers, you'll see some words from the book, but the inky darkness on the edges is intentional because it shows their love for one another tainting the fake image their parents want them to be.
Ink Deep Devotion’s Illustration is one of my favorite illustrations I’ve ever done.
Let's start with Mila’s pose, inspired by the Birth of Venus. Botticelli’s Venus represents the goddess of love and beauty, and isn't that Mila in Dash’s eyes?
Botticelli’s painting represents two forms of love. The earthly and heavenly. Which was perfect for Dash and Mila because they really represent two different forms of love. They have the love their parents forged when they were arranged to be together, but they also have a morally grey love that developed naturally between.
Botticelli’s painting taps into a baptism of sorts, where the soul is purified. By the end of the book, Dash and Mila have their own growth and rebirth.
Mila is on a pile of pointe shoes; she has survived the mountain she had to climb. If you look at her wrist, you will see the ribbon from the pointe shoes that used to tie and hold her down has recently been cut. But by whom?
Do you think it was Dash?
Let me ask you a question. In the end, Mila and Dash each had to heal on their own. Yes, they helped each other, but you have to heal, others can’t make you. So before I tell you who cut the ribbon, let’s look at Dash’s portrait.
He's always been the dark artist, and now he’s blissful in his dreamland, painting Mila as she finds herself and happiness. The boat is made up of pages from the book, but look at what is in his lap.
What’s next to his brushes? Scissors. So do you think he cut Mila free?
You know I love hidden symbols. Go back and look more closely at Mila’s mountain of pointe shoes. Did you find it?
Scroll below to see.
That’s right. Dash pushed Mila to free herself. On her pile are scissors she used, falling open after she freshly cut herself free.
I truly could keep talking about this, but I’m sure I lost most of you by now.
For those who stayed, thank you for diving deep into the art.