Okay so I'm about to upload a bunch of stuff, however, the FA
upload process requires a lot of one-at-a-time fiddling. So I'm
posting this first (and will come back to it afterwards if need be)
to explain what's going on.

= = =

Back in 2005 I wrote this story, entitled "The Maiden and The Wolf".
I wanted to write something and fairy tales are open source.
They started out as a oral tradition that got passed along and around
and people fiddled with them, leaving certain aspects untouched, but
basically, that was the idea. Then the Grimm Brothers came along
and put their brilliant, but grubby hands all over everything and the
stories became codified and nailed down into written words and so
on. But they aren't holy texts, so they still squirm around and find
new life in new versions and so on. Anybody can create a personal
interpretation. Disney makes millions based on this notion.

So yeah, I picked Little Red Riding Hood and got to it. Almost
immediately it veered into a different narrative, but that's okay.
It's just fiction, after all :)

Anyway, the story was done and done. Years later, I'm a senior
in Art School and working as a Teaching Assistant for the
Narrative Illustration class. In this class, the students basically
make an illustrated storybook. Which is a lot of work, frankly.
Because I'm the assistant, I don't have to exactly do it myself,
but I wanted to show some process and ways to think about certain
things by example. So I dug up the old story and used it.

I picked it because many of the students had these Big Grand
Epic Sagas to tell, which is understandable, but it's only a six week
assignment. It's often easier to pick a story that's already done
and illustrate that, than to get stuck on the fiction writing.

ASIDE: This goes for any of you folks interested in illustration.
Pick your favorite fairy tale or fable and illustrate the story. You don't
have to reinvent the narrative wheel, you don't have to write
War and Peace. A good story bears repeating, in my opinion. And
these kinds of stories are familiar and lasting because they contain
basic human truths. Every year new collections of traditional fairy
tales are published for a reason. You don't have to even tinker with it.
A beautifully done straightforward rendition of "Stone Soup" or the
"Three Billy Goats Gruff" will get you far along. Apply your art!

Okay anyway, so I bring in the narrative, talk a little about concept
design and character design. In this case I had a collection of images
from African textile to the costume design from the film, The Color Purple,
to old Post Office murals from the early 20th century New Deal era.

Plotted out the text into chunks that would each take an image. Then
got started making them. I didn't finish it then because I didn't have
to, I was the TA, not a student, and I was busy also trying to graduate.
I got the book about half done.

Just recently the story got tired of waiting for my sorry ass and found new
life with was1 who included it in his awesome anthology of furry fiction,
Alone in The Dark. He also featured it in his recent fiction podcast, hosted
here on FA. It's crazy awesome good. I'm not even kidding. Peterkatt does
the dramatic reading of the piece and it made me all weepy and happy.

Anyway, the real reason I went back to the work, however was via a
discussion with thomasblue, who mentioned that I don't really emphasize backgrounds
much, instead focusing more on figurative stuff and design. He has a point,
and so I tried doing some intense scenery stuff. But even then, that was too
forced and artificial for me. But then I remembered this story that I was
working on and how much easier and natural that came to me. Conveniently,
the setting is a big part of the narrative. So I went back to pick up the pieces and
finished the work.

The book is available here if you wansit :D

Blah blah blah point is, I'm about to upload first the sketches and then the
images in sequence. If you want to know about the story itself, you can
read it here, or listen to the podcast :)

Excelsior!