Reviewer: Paper Jam Signed
Date: February 21, 2007
Title: Chapter 1: Chiaroscuro
Beautiful. As an aritist, I'm loving all these new DrawingPam! fics. This was lovely. Especially:
He closes the folio and sits looking down at it in his lap, saying nothing. His shoulders slump under the wet wool. Tired. Defeated.
"I can't..." he says. "Can't fight this. Not if you do this..." He looks up and his eyes are a study in contrast: pain and hope, fear and love, those expressive eyes she cannot capture no matter how hard she tries. "I don't know what this means," he says.
"It means I haven't got it right yet, so I keep trying," she says.
It totally broke my heart, thinking about Jim trying so hard to move on, and how close he is all the time to failing at it. And Pam finally telling him he doesn't have to fight it! And the image of Pam erasing her border is wonderful.
Author's Response: Thanks, Paper Jam! I am glad to get the opinion of an artist, because I'm never sure if I'm using a word or describing a technique wrong. I have to admit that Conflicted!Jim is fun to write this season.