Chapter title comes from two musical sources: The song
"One More one Night Stand" by indie folk band A Weather, and
the
album Lilies by electronic artist Arovane.
Page 2:
- Obviously, the animation won't be in the print version. :v
Chapter title is a lyric snippet from "Peninsula Pomegranate Pendegrass" by (sadly long-defunct) Austin indie rock/shoegaze band Halley - if you're lucky
you can still find a copy of their 2002 album forget the leaves, the autumn will change us. (I highly recommend doing so.)
Many, many thanks to Brendan OSullivan for all the reference photos and video he shot around Brown campus for me. I owe you one big time, man!
Pages 7-18:
- Sangeeta actually has two separate graduation ceremonies to attend: the general commencement ceremony, out on the college green, and the departmental ceremony,
where she'll actually walk and receive her diploma. This second ceremony is the one that Amal and TJ attend.
The English/Literature department commencement takes place in Sayles Hall, which is the building depicted in panels 2 and 3 on page 7. (I'm not sure of the name of the building in panel 1--
by the way, the columns aren't distorted; those are decorative fabric banners hung for graduation.) Again, big ups to Brendan for the photo and video!
- I took several liberties in this scene: 1. It's not likely TJ and Amal would get a seat-- I've placed them at the back of the room for a bit more believability.
2. I'm not sure whether the cap toss happens at the campus-wide or departmental commencement, but
I've used it as a scene transition after the departmental ceremony. 3. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY Amal could have gotten that sweet parking spot on graduation day,
or really, any other day on Brown campus. Blatant Doris Day parking for narrative purposes, here. 4. The line of sight probably would not be this clear, but again,
fudging for storytelling reasons.
Title is paraphrased from Gillian Welch's long, hypnotic song "I Dream A Highway",
off the album Time (The Revelator). I used to listen to this one a lot while biking home late at night.
Pointless factoid: Amal's mother's given name is Priya and his father's name is Aadesh.
Page 5:
- T.F. Green Airport, just outside of Providence.
Page 12:
- Amal's heading north on I-95.
This chapter title comes from the song "Grace Under Pressure" by Elbow,
off their 2002 album Cast of Thousands. It was this song in particular that inspired quite a lot of TJ & Amal, and
inspired the ending itself. I wrote the first draft while listening to it, sitting in my car after a terrible wait shift back in 2008, scratching out thumbnails on receipts and napkins. (The layout
of the final page didn't change much, now that I think about it...)
Anyway, I always imagined this song as sort of background music to this scene, with the end falling just after the drums really kick in. Fade gently to black.
Page 3:
- Heading back into Providence on Highway 1. There's another, larger bridge near this one, but it wasn't completed until 2010. Made photoreference hunting a bit troublesome, haha.
Page 4:
- The coffee shop doesn't really exist, but a similar place does. I've sort of plopped it near the art supply store on Wickenden street... ish. Kinda.
- The dude barista wound up looking like my friend Jesse Dangerously.
Page 5:
- The tattoo means something roughly like "tradition is death", or "convention is death." I imagine she's an art student, feelin' frustrated and rebellious. Pretty happy with that design.
Page 9:
- "...And what's the name of the place?" Well, there you go.
- A couple of real life tattoo artist hat tips: Kazuo's family name is Nakano in homage to irezumi master Horiyoshi III; Cara Hanson is the artist who did the shoulder tattoo I got to commemorate
finishing TJ & Amal.
Thank you so much for reading.