Is Lindy a grown-up Lucy Van Pelt?
Every so often, someone checks out Autumn Lake and says, "That character looks like Lucy from Peanuts!" That used to mystify me a bit, because Lindy is nothing like Lucy. Lucy was a bossy, crabby, fussbudget. While Lindy has a temper, she's a florist, a magician, and usually quite nice to people. And then there's the other obvious thing; Lucy was like what, eight? Lindy's quite a bit more... er, developed. But people still tell me, "Hey, that chick looks like Lucy!"

While I'm happy to have people equate my lame scribbling with my personal hero Charles Schultz, and while I readily admit studying his style of humor, and how he drew things like grass and eyes, there's something inherently not cool about Character A being seen as a copy of Character B.

Well, this happened often enough that I had to sit down and think about it. Just what is is about Lindy Trefethen that reminds people so much of the crabby Lucy Van Pelt? The more I thought about it, it wasn't that they were saying Lindy acted like Lucy. They didn't say that she was crabby or bossy, but that Lindy looked like Lucy. Since I wasn't out to draw a Lucy clone, I had to study the characters in more detail to see what was going on. What I found was that Lucy and Lindy share certain physical traits, and usually only from the side profile.

Let's take a look at a side-by-side comparison of the two.
Here we have Lindy and Lucy. At first glance, side-by-side like this, they look different enough. There isn't all that much in common between them. Or is there? Folks sure think Lindy looks like Lucy, so let's examine them a little closer. Some points are readily similar; black hair, for instance. But there's a bit more beneath the surface. In this next image, I've outlined in red common points between the two.
On Lucy, I've marked red arrows on the points where Lucy's profile has common traits with Lindy's. Most of these are in the hairline, but there are others; the jaw, the neck, and the ear. Lucy and Lindy both have pointy dips in their hair, and both have a highlight on top.

Now, lets take a look at the differences between the two.
Here we see how Lindy and Lucy differ. Lindy has a pointy sideburn, and a smaller ear than Lucy. The placement of the eye is different, and the shape of the forehead, nose, and upper lip are all less pronounced. The top dip in Lindy's hair is flattened out, and Lindy doesn't have that bottom dip in her hair, or that bun thing in front or in back. Lindy's hair is generally fuller and fluffier on top, while Lucy's looks more pulled back and pinned somehow.

So, why is it that people still say she looks like Lucy? Or do they really mean to say that Lindy reminds them of Lucy? I think the latter is much closer to the truth than the former, since the characters themselves are nothing alike in their outlook on life, and side-by-side you can see they differ quite a bit.  Best I can figure, it's the similar shapes, especially in the hair, that call up the image of Lucy for people. Their brains are "filling in the blanks" to create a familiar shape, in this case, Lucy Van Pelt. The same thing happens when we look at bad or broken handwriting, or even puzzles on "Wheel of Fortune." In fact, if you take a close look at Mark's face, there's a bit of Mickey Mouse in there where his hair and cheek meet below the ear, although I've never had anyone mention that.

Can anything be done about the Lindy/Lucy thing? Well, I like Lindy. I'm satisfied with the way she looks and how she's drawn, and I'd hate to revamp her without a better reason. Barring progressive improvement over time, she's likely to remain a "grown-up looking Lucy Van Pelt..." with (as someone put it), a "pert rack."