Monday 7 February 2011

FAIRYTALE ILLUSTRATIONS


The Dryad's Gift


     This is an image I created for my children's story "The Dryad's Gift", The Dryad is watching the    children coming towards her and smiling as she forms her wicked plan. It features images of Bridgend where my friends and I used to play when we were growing up in the 1970's. My brother recognised this place        
        right away, if you are from Bridgend let me know where you think it is.


The South Wales Dragon Release Program


This was for my story called "The South Wales Dragon Release Program". 
My friend's son Luke now has the original, he liked it so much I couldn't say no. 

Meet Mr Tumnus

Lucy and Mr Tumnus get aquainted, this was the
point where I fell in love with The Lion The Witch
And The Wardrobe. I drew this image onto a
photo I took on the shortcut to Llansamlet Post Office
in Swansea when the snow was down using my
blackberry camera, I am amazed anything came out.




                                       Updated Fairytale Girls


.
Sleeping Beauty goes a little Gaga on her 18th


An alternative to the previous Sleeping Beauty

Little Red Riding Hood and The Wolf
The wolf had better watch out this girl has a can of mace in her wicker knapsack.
Inspired by my friend Michelle Mayor, who is a fab and original artist/illustrator.

                                            The Evil Queen, 
              Snow White's Step-Mother The Evil Queen Step-mother has just 
             asked her mirror, she is not too happy with the asnwer. 
                                    What's an old queen to do?


                                 Snow White and The Wild Boar


           Well what the evil old queen did was send the hunter after Snow White,
                            but she was so sweet he shot the pig instead



                                   Snow White and the Wild Boar 
                           in Colour , Watercolour and photoshop


Snow White's Temptation
Wow! I love those Canadian apples too! Can't fault her.
Hasn't the evil queen heard of hand cream?


Cinderella Escapes from the ball


This is a closer view of the framed version



Red Version


Cinderella with Paparazzi

This is a modern day Cinderella arriving in her
pumpkin orange limo


 

Alternative Cinderella  Goes Gaga at the Ball


The Snow Queen a glacial beauty
Above is the later version I wanted minimal colour
to suggest coldness, but added a smile to the face to 
prevent her from looking too severe. 




Rapunzel lets her hair down version 1


Rapunzel, Version 2

In version 1 Rapunzel was blending into the wall, so I had to rethink the wall and 
the clothes she wore, hair shade and the bricks in the wall, I think it works better now.



Princess and the Pea

Another sleepless night at the palace.

The Little Mermaid and her sisters

The Little Mermaid and her sisters flirt with a young sailor,
trying to coax him to play in the water with them.


The frames on these pieces are inspired by William Pogany,
truly one of the most talented artists from the Golden Age Of Illustration

Rough Sketches


Rapunzel lets down her hair



The Princess and The Pea
"How shall I ever sleep on such a lumpy mattress? monotone too"

Kaguya Hime


This is the pen and ink sketch for Kaguya Hime
According to Japanese legend Kaguya was a great beauty sent to 
Earth as either a punishment or to protect her from 
a lunar war. She was adopted by a childless couple and 
every year she grew more beautiful. She refused the 
proposals of five princes, finally she came to the attention 
 of The Emperor Mikado. The Emperor proposed to her 
but she refused telling him that she was not from 
Earth and would soon be taken back to the moon. 
The emperor said that he would set his whole guard 
to protect her from the lunar race. 
On the night she was to return the emperor sent his guard.
However the guards were blinded by a great white light
and when the blindness receded Kaguya was gone. She left a note
and a potion for immortality for Mikado. Mikado was heartbroken 
and replied to kaguya that without her he did not want to live forever. 
He gave the note and the potion to the guards and told them to take it 
the closest place to heaven and burn them. The Japanese say that this is where 
Mount fuji got it's name from a derivation of the Japanese word for immortality
which is Fushi . It is said that the note from Mikado and the burning 
potion of Kaguya Hime's is what causes Mount Fuji to smoke to this day. In my
 image Kaguya is imploring the Moon People to let her stay on Earth. 


This image owes a great debt to Hiroshige for the scenery.
Though it is not an exact copy, the scenery in this illustration
shows this province as it was at the time of Kaguya's story.
So, Thank You Hiroshige for all your work not just the Meguro Moto Fuji






This is the rough sketch for "The Snow Queen"


Above is the last version before the frame was added

Yasmin of Bagdad
I would like to thank my friend the beautiful
Linda Alias of Baghdad, who was the inspiration for 
Yasmin of Baghdad.


Yasmin in her Pogany Frame

                                                                  The Frog Princess

                                                         Rough sketches of Frog Princess
The Frog Princess

1 comment:

  1. I'd like to thank Tom Ward for showing me how to Blog. You are an Angel Tom x

    ReplyDelete