Mr. Nemo

Who's this? Who is he? How will he feature in the story? I'm afraid I can't say without giving story away but I will say he's based on a good friend of mine. A very good friend.

Summer White

 "Hail, men of grey Arawn! My master comes, the Golden One, he who is ancient yet ever young. He whom no bird's wings can outstrip, whose flame shrivels all feathers, consumes all flesh. Do you hear me, men of the Western World? Then tremble. Nergal comes, the Lord of the Abyss, the Lord of the burning summer sun! He that rises out of Meslam, the Underworld, to blast every green and growing thing. He that of old dragged Ereshkigal, Queen of the Eastern Dead, from her ancient throne by the hair of her terrible head. He that turned her pride to cringing fear and made her the weak receiver of his seed. Even so will he deal with your Brenhines-y-nef, with your Modron, the Mother. Too long has She queened it here, over you gelded weaklings of the West. She shall learn Her place, the woman's place! East and west the dead shall know but one Lord: Havgan the Destroyer!"

"What right had you to seek my death, Lord? I never harmed you; I do not know why you sought my life. But since you have begun to kill me, end it---put me out of this pain."

I must say I've fallen absolutely in love with Evangeline Walton's re-telling of the Mabinogion, the collection of interwoven Welsh medieval legends. While the tales themselves are wonderful, it is really Walton's beautifully entrancing writing style, her use of symbolism and allusion to other cultural myths. I'm afraid much of the meaning and feeling of the quotations above is lost without the rest of the text. But Havgan was so well built up as a particularly vicious figure I just had to. An opponent whom even the Lord of the dead, Arawn, cannot defeat. Who if killed is, more or less, able to recover invulnerable to the one who slew him.

Original: (calligraphy) pen and ink with watercolour and rough pencil background.

Thanks to Evangelin Walton I had such a clear image of what Havgan looked like. A gorgeous youth hiding an arrogant, cruel and deceptively ancient personality. If the battle was really something like the seasonal battle between the Holly King and Oak King then it all the more implies his disruption of an ancient balance. Though he's clearly a very minor character in the Mabinogion he's fascinating in Walton's version and I could go on.

I did a little bit of research to find suitable garb that would fit Walton's suggested connection to the Phoenician god Nergal. The Khopesh swords seemed like a sword I could get away with and it fitted with what I wanted: something that was of an attractive, boastful shape. And from what I understand the Khopesh was often used as a ceremonious sword, buried with the dead which couldn't be more perfect. However, I cheated a bit with the belt since I'm assuming it's kind of impossible to sheath such a sword.

The Village of Flowers

It's very important to me that Carrie Hanaurie's original home feel like a real place with its own history and culture. So I began playing around with the idea of the dress being a kind of special festival clothing based on the theme of flowers (hence the title). Perhaps a celebration of spring or coming of age and such.

Each girl will be adorned with a flower that acts as a family/personal emblem. At the moment we just have the basic design without the flower embellishments (I'll add them in a later post). 

Hanaurie            Blankwytt         Luvokeur          Yaustier                 Anafier
Chrysanthemum         Daisy            Rose Red          Rose White         Lavender  

Essentially this is just a good practice with colour combination (an area I believe is not my strong suit, especially with these kinds of bright primary colours). Personally I'm pleased and it was quite fun playing around with each individual's design. I hope that a little bit of each individual character comes through with a sense that these were likely her fellow playmates. Who knows? I may feature them a little more in depth later...

I have no idea what the boys would wear and this sort of bugs me. If it were some kind of festival a more gender-neutral clothing would be more fitting. Maybe the boys can wear dresses too :D!

Cheltenham Illustration Awards

The Cheltenham illustration awards...

Break the Cutie

Hardly, but the occasional guilt of this makes me feel otherwise...

Astonishingly Carrie did not always live in the Dark Woods. Since this does indeed come up and play a part in the story I'm taking the time to go into it now.

If it wasn't already obvious, the way I design my characters is purposeful. Carrie wears an adult man/woman's work coat that is entirely too big for her over a little girls dress that has become too small (obvious symbolism is obvious) but where did the dress come from?

My previous attempts at something sickeningly girly yet also plain and typical were, frankly, so terrible I refuse to allow them to see the light of day. I realize looking back that there was probably some pieces of my childhood that influences this backstory and the need for something that fit that criteria.

But now I feel the need for something else. So here's to the new design:

Carrie Hanauri: Past

Carrie Hanaury: Present and as cheery as ever!

While I'm personally quite pleased with the dress I'm a little worried that it may be... a little bit too...which I suppose is essentially what I was going for... but...

Heidi?

Gotta get back, back to the past...

Why did I ever wait so long to get into Samurai Jack? I had always heard good things about it but I'm afraid I steered clear... because I was vaguely aware that the series had been cut without a resolution. I immensely regret it but I suppose now is better than never.

No matter what form you take, Aku, you will never defeat the side of righteousness!

 If you don't already know the story... well, it's been pretty well summed up in the shows opening:

"Long ago in a distant land, I, Aku, the shape shifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil. But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose me. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time, and flung him into the future where my evil is law. Now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku."

AKUUUUU!

It's quite unusual having the opening narraration come from the antagonist which, frankly, should be enough of an indicator of the amount of creativity that went into the show. Aside from the story's abundant wit and originality serving as a tender homage to the action genre of older generations (1950-60's?) it's a treat for animators. It indulges itself with constantly changing settings and colours all skilfully chosen and has a wonderful sense of timing and sequence.

Kind of like... a graphic novel...

(All pics courtesy of: Scipsy)

Phoenix Feathers

Rough sketch for figuring out a colours combination for the feathers the Fitcher's Bird character...

Great. Now I can't get my mind off that song by Alicia Keys...