Another case of looking at a random mark of paint and seeing something in its silhouette. In this case it was a vague animalistic head.

When I began, I was thinking of the aliens in Michel Faber’s absorbing book Under the Skin. Ever since reading it, I’ve been wondering what the protagonist Isserley looked like before she was surgically transformed into a more human appearance.

This sketch was an approximation of her face, though I see many ways I could come closer to the mark. This is something I will definitely come to again!

The title reflects Isserley’s struggle to figure out the niceties of human speech and behavior, which would allow her to best fit in without revealing her true alien nature.

A note to potential readers: Faber's book is deeply disturbing, containing scenes of graphic violence. That being said, I personally regard it as a masterpiece. Flawed, perhaps in some minor ways, but intensely meaningful and—for me, anyway—searingly compelling. I can’t get it out of my mind. It will never be absent from my bookshelf.