Bates Motel: Jiao's sketchbook.

As illustration jobs go, this one was pretty damned exciting. ^_^

For those that are still catching up on the series, in A&E’s “Bates Motel” airing Mondays @ 10/9c, Norman Bates discovers a sketchbook hidden underneath the carpeting in one of the rooms at the Bates Motel. Inside, he finds Chinese writing and manga sketches, immediately becoming captivated by the drawings. Norman, along with his classmate and friend Emma Decody, begin to dig deeper into the story behind the sketches and stumble upon a bigger mystery than either of them could have imagined. As the season unfolds, more characters from the manga are introduced and more secrets exposed; this book is the story of one of those characters...

Comments

[Jason]

Great work...even if it is in a twisted context. Just got caught up watching "Bates Motel" and kept wondering who the artist was of the sketchbook.

[Emma Vieceli]

Haha,it IS pretty twisted. I know what you mean. But yay, thanks very much. It's been an amazing experience!

[63]

The art in this was really nice but I really don't see a woman in this situation making sexualized drawings of her torment. I mean seriously what were you thinking?

[Emma Vieceli]

Hey, 63,
That's a fair point, and this was in fact a point of discussion early on as I had concerns too. I wasn't working on the show, and in fact the sketchbook was drawn before I'd seen any footage. I'm watching along like everyone else. (and man, it's an amazing piece of work!) In such a case, obviously I put faith in my employers...they know what they're doing on a wider scale far more than I. My job was to work with the writers and draw what was requested, which was mostly the narrative story of Jiao's journey and her cry for help. As it turns out, you'll spot from the download that there are a couple of pages in the middle that I didn't draw. They were additional and created closer to the set by an on-team artist.
The important thing is that the images themselves were never meant to be sexualised, and we talked about this a lot. They're not sexy pictures, no one's having a good time, we see nothing sexual happening; there is fear there. What's twisting them into being something sexualised in the show is Norman's brain.
I hope that explains a bit from my POV at least. I totally understand where you're coming from. Glad you liked the art, though! ^_^

[ClueWhite]

When I saw Jiao for the first time I knew I'd like her alot and her story is just so rich, this art was just a treat on top of all the stuff we get on the show and personally i'd like to thank you for that. I hope we get to see alot more of your work in the future owo

[Emma Vieceli]

Aww, well thank you so much for taking the time to let me know. I really do appreciate it. ^_^ so glad you're enjoying the series!

[Meimi132]

Omg you did the drawings?!!? No wonder they looked weirdly familiar.... So cool. For a big American show. Freaky series, but liking it so far.

[Emma Vieceli]

Haha, yep - it was me! ^_^ I feel so lucky to have been part of something so exciting. Glad you're liking the show!

[Flavio Duarte]

Awesome work! I just started watching Bates Motel and the first Thing I thought after the sketchbook apeared was "Google tell me who is this mangaka?!" :D Is there a possibility to get a signed sketch? ^^

[Emma Vieceli]

Thanks so much. Have you checked out the Ebook on iTunes? You can read the full sketchbook there ^_^
If you're ever at a convention I'm attending, then do come say hi and I'll absolutely draw a signed convention sketch for you!