Inspired by Stravinsky

Tried out some of these gouache brushes from Kyle T Webster, and came up with some pieces inspired by "The Firebird" and "Petrushka", two Russian themes adapted into ballet scores by Igor Stravinsky at the beginning of the 20th century.

Somewhat Mary Blair-esque, but I also wanted to capture some of the bold colours of Russian folk art.

One Thousand and One Nights

Once upon a time...

A piece inspired by The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (commonly known in English as the Arabian Nights), in particular the intelligent queen of stories, Scheherazade. I will admit that I took liberties with culture - it's a mix of Turkey, Morocco, Iran, Oman and Armenia...

The Fisherman and the Genie

My depiction of the poor fisherman who found an enraged and malefic genie in a bottle, from a story found in the story collection One-Thousand and One Nights (commonly known in English by the name of the Arabian Nights).

Tales from the Brothers Grimm: Another preview of things to come

The reason for no posts lately has been partly laziness, partly busyness. Anyway, here's a very small preview of the book I've been working on and preparing for self-publishing...

Tales from the Brothers Grimm: The Wolf and the Seven Kids

I don't want to share too many images from my personal project translating and illustrating some of the stories by the Brothers Grimm, but here is another image I'm particularly fond of, which I finished this past weekend. This picture comes from "The Wolf and the Seven Kids", a predator-prey story with clear echoes of "Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Three Little Pigs" in which good eventually triumphs over evil.

The wolf breaks in

I drew the image traditionally and coloured it in Photoshop. The shadow effect, I feel, works particularly well and adds a sense of menace and drama; having seen it without the shadow, it loses some of its impact.

Throwback Thursday: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Originally posted here, this is something I created this time last year. A Midsummer Night's Dream was the first Shakespeare play I was introduced to. I came to know it through a series called Shakespeare: The Animated Tales - an anthology series of abridged versions of some of the most famous Shakespeare plays, each animated in a different technique. This was a co-production with the great Russian animation house Soyuzmultfilm, renowned for their use of different animation techniques under one building). I saw the adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream from the series as a seven year-old after my grandmother borrowed the VHS from the library. What has always stood out to me, both as a child and as an adult, are the fantastic scenes and the enchanted yet somewhat sinister imagery. Indeed, the fairies here aren't the flittering female creatures from a Victorian fairy story but the elves and goblins of old English folklore - dubious nature spirits of pagan origin feared by a superstitious population. Of course, as a child, I wasn't able to completely get the sexual undertones of the play (only the romantic ones); I suppose this picture was my way of visualising the sensual themes.

Tales from the Brothers Grimm: Cinderella

This is part of a small project I'm working on aimed at self-publishing. Although still far from complete (as a non-professional, it's a spare time thing, and will probably not be ready for another few months), I'm currently preparing some tales from the Brothers Grimm along with my own illustrations. I've chosen some well-known stories as well as some more obscure stories. Here are some of my first completed illustrations for "Cinderella", one of the stories that will be included in the collection.

Of course, this version of "Cinderella" is a bit different to the better known French version by Charles Perrault. Instead of a fairy godmother, Cinderella receives help from a hazel tree planted at her mother's grave and the birds who inhabit the tree. On my old blog, I actually shared some pictures I made of the story and are in some ways a blueprint for these pictures.

These are not the only pictures I've made for the story, but they are probably my favourite.