How I made this:

I drew Aeron and Willie on one piece of paper, and all the seagulls randomly around them, where there was free space. Then I drew the frame on another piece of paper. I scanned both, added the frame as a new layer over Aeron, Willie and the seagulls, and then cut out the seagulls from the background and arranged them neatly, resizing them when necessary.

* * *

I just have to mention a recent musical discovery I made. I was listening to the “Tyneside” tag radio on Last.fm, and then I noticed that all the songs that made me PMS-cry uncontrollably were by Bob Fox (songs like Still Growing and She Waits And Weeps). Sad songs sung with a Tyneside accent (he’s from Sunderland), often about working people from the declining industries of the area. In the end, the first music I have ever bought off iTunes are some lovely Bob Fox songs that are very nice and inspiring to listen to while I work on Driftwood.

He even has a song addressed to a character called Willie – All In A Day, a monologue from one shipbuilder to another.

All in a day, Willie, all in a day.
She’s leaving today, Willie, sailing away.

But come tomorrow, Willie,
When the peeping Toms will can their final pictures
And come tomorrow, Willie,
When the cocktail party faces stiffen hard,
And come tomorrow, Willie,
That same steel wind will whistle off the river,
Come tomorrow, Willie,
I’ll see you up at seven in the yard.

Though when I listen to it I like to imagine that it’s something Willie’s father could have said to her back when he was still working in the shipbuilding yards in Newcastle, before they closed down and he became unemployed. :3