The other day, I received a package in the mail with this illustration on it:
The package was from Seattle…and I don’t live in Seattle! How in heck did I manage to go to Seattle, draw a picture of El Deafo on an envelope, mail it, and then get back home in time to receive the package? My mind was blown!
Until I read the return address—it was from David Lasky, Comics Artist Extraordinaire (dude has his own Wikipedia page, so I am floored that he so marvelously colored El Deafo for me).
Inside the package were pages and pages and pages that looked like this:
You see, David not only colored the book, he hand-drew all the shadows, too. And according to the note he included in the package, he risked the possibility of some major up-chucking, too:
Handwriting A+!
He did the shadows because I asked him to. If I had done it, the book would’ve looked like this:
and I would have been crying tears of blood.
Look how much extra mood there is here, just because of David’s shadows!
Please tell David he is awesome AND be sure to check out his own masterpiece, The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song.
Cece Bell 
Just finished EL DEAFO for a grad. school class at Hollins(Roanoke). My first graphic novel. I am honored.
Hi Cindy! Thanks so much for reading the book. I’m honored to be your first graphic novel!