Showing posts with label illustration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label illustration. Show all posts

Monday, March 1, 2021

"Once Upon A Time in Japan" Project Makes Us Want To Hunt Down All the Japanese Variants of These Tales

(Please note: credit not given on project page to identify the artist who created the banner)

 "What if fairy tales of our childhood would have happened in old Japan?"

That's the question put to a group of illustrators in Spain for a collaborative project in 2017, which makes for an interesting intercultural study of both fairy tales and Japanese folklore as seen and combined by outside peoples (both the stories, all of which shown here are referring to the German origin in the tales, even more than the American Disney lens, as well as Spanish interpretation of Japanese storytelling, culture, and folkloric characters).

Snow White by Aitor Prieto

There's definitely a subtext here showing how universal the tales of fairy tales are; that they are human stories, but we very much wish this project had included Japanese illustrators in the mix and had been expanded to Japanese writers, so they would write those stories rooted in their culture, as suggested by the illustrations.

Red Riding Hood by Nuria Tamarit

We feel there's a lot that could be unpacked here, in both positive and negative terms, but for now, we are thrilled to see a different lens applied to well-known fairy tales, which helps everyone look at them differently, and reminds people that people all over the world are people and that these tales resonate, no matter what form they take. 

Bremen Town Musicians by Xulia Vicente

It's not an approach without some risk though, For example, it is a little jarring to see a Japanese version of Cinderella as your brain figures out the multiple issues it just hit on. For one, most fairy tale fans these days are aware that one of the oldest variants found was from China (not Japan) and the illustration below isn't, perhaps, as clearly Japanese in style and design as it could be to distinguish this a different interpretation. To add further disruption, the character fondly considered to be the "Japanese Cinderella", Chūjō-hime, is depicted quite differently due to the fact that there is no "shoe" and "prince". Or perhaps that's just us being picky. Whatever the case, these are important conversations to have when considering other cultures, but it's also worth acknowledging that this doesn't make the idea of considering other settings (and how to represent that) as being invalid. The commonality is a love of fairy tales in "different clothes" and that can be very unifying. The important key here, though, is that a common love of something, while good, isn't enough. Using that commonality, however, to open the door to respectful and constructive conversations that aid proper representation can build bridges and bonds where nothing else could. (Yay for fairy tales!)

Cinderella by Alfonso Salazar

It's no secret that one of the big reasons we at Once Upon A Blog love fairy tales so much is that they show us how the human experience is the same all over the world while simultaneously showcasing just how widely variant the flavors of those experiences can be; they celebrate our shared experience as well as our cultural differences, and, as complicated as explaining those two things can be, fairy tales do it simply and clearly, and encourage an appreciation of people and peoples from every corner of the planet.

Continue scrolling down for some more lovely, interesting, and thought-provoking interpretations!

Bluebeard by Marina Vidal
The Wolf & the Seven Six Kids by Cristian Robles
Snow Queen by Aliz Fernandez
Sleeping Beauty by Miquel Muerto
Pinocchio by David Navarro
Puss In Boots by Paco Sordo
Snow White (Evil White) by Raquel Rodenas

There are more illustrations we haven't included here, so be sure to go check out all the various artist's contributions on Behance HERE.

The illustrators involved in this project are: 

Aitor Prieto, Alicia Fernández, Héctor Molina Fernández, David Navarro, Raquel Ródenas, Paco Sordo, MªLaura Brenlla, Elena Serrato, Jordi Villaverde, Michael Sanchez, Miquel Muerto, Cristian Robles, Adrián Rodríguez, Xulia Vicente, Núria Tamarit, Marina Vidal

All the individual portfolios can be found via this project page by scrolling to the bottom and seeing the list of "owners" for the project.

Are you pumped to read some Japanese "fairy" tales? We recommend the book "Once Upon A Time in Japan" by Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nhk) (Author) Roger Pulvers (Translator) Juliet Carpenter (Translator), to get you started, though there are many beautiful individual-tale books and collections out there. [Please note this book has no relation to the project in this post!] Each Japanese tale (told in Japanese but translated to English) is illustrated by a Japanese artist, with an eye to representing their beloved tales and culture beautifully and magically for modern readers. (Amazon has a great preview showcasing the variety of illustrations used for different tales, which you can see HERE.)

Here is the blurb and a list of the tales included:

When wily animals, everyday people and magical beings come together in a collection of Japanese fairy tales, wonderful things are bound to happen.

Each story is brilliantly illustrated by a different talented Japanese artist. The tales recounted here are among Japan's oldest and most beloved stories. Entertaining and filled with subtle folk wisdom, these retold stories have been shared countless times in Japanese homes and schools for generations. Like good stories from every time and place, they never grow old. Kids (and their parents ) will enjoy hearing these stories read aloud on the accompanying CD.

The fairy tales and classic stories in this collection include:

  • The Wife Who Never Eats--the story of a man who learns the hard way the evils of stinginess.
  • The Mill of the Sea--the story of how a greedy man was responsible for the saltiness of seawater.
  • The Monkey and the Crab--the crabs teach a tricky monkey a lesson in fairness and honesty.
  • The Magical Hood--an act of kindness reaps great rewards.
  • Sleepyhead Taro and the Children--a story about what can be accomplished at the right time, and with the right help and the right spirit.
  • The Fox and the Otter--how a fox pays the price of deceit and selfishness.
  • The Gratitude of the Crane--a story about the rewards of kindness and the danger of curiosity.
  • The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter--a girl who starts life very tiny turns out to be big in many ways.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

"The Wound and The Gift" - A Film Screening @Home MAY 16, 2020 w/Illustrations by Victo Ngai

HAPPENING TODAY!!

A special film suitable for all ages, about an animal rescue program inspired by an ancient Japanese fable of a wounded crane.

From artist and illustrator Victo Ngai (all images in this post are by her):

Verified

I created artwork for a very special project back in 2014 called “The Wound and The gift” - a documentary exploring the relationship between animals and humans directed by Linda Hoaglund and narrated by Vanessa Redgrave

The narrative spine of the film is an animated ancient Japanese Fable about a wounded crane, saved by a couple of peasants, and attempts to express her gratitude with a gift. Scenes from the folklore are woven into real-life footage of rescued animals. As the fable and the film unfold, the question begs to be asked is - “who is saving who?” 

The @nikkeimuseum in Vancouver is hosting an online screen of the film throughout this week with a Zoom Q&A session this Sat (May 16). 
The link to the tickets ($5 suggested donation) is (below), 100% of the sales will benefit the museum’s activities. Please spread the word!
LINK:

Here is the lovely trailer with sneak peeks of how the folktale and illustrations are woven in:


It's suitable for ALL ages (no worrisome footage to be concerned about!) and has lovely reviews regarding the cinematography, animation and the weaving together of stories. Here's one review, to give you an idea of the tone and how the project and folktale are woven together:
Saw this... at the Vancouver Film Festival, and it is spectacular. The cinematography is what drew me in from the trailer and I was not disappointed, and the stories unfold within the animated story of the Crane perfectly. And I really appreciated that it wasn't cluttered with information and stats. The film breathes slowly and elegantly. Highly recommended. (review by Saints Rescue)

About this Event

Film: Available for viewing at your leisure online May 9-17, 2020

Meet the director Linda Hoaglund online presentation of stunning still images from filming in beautiful Hokkaido, and a moderated Q&A session.
Saturday, May 16, 2pm PST | 5pm EST
The Wound and The Gift is a film about the animal rescue inspired by ancient Japanese fable about a wounded crane, saved by peasants, that attempts to express her gratitude with a gift - 鶴の恩返し. The fable is illustrated by Victo Ngai. The film is suitable for viewers of all ages. (83 minutes).
The film will be available on Vimeo, and the talk will be hosted on Zoom. 

Official Website: http://www.thewoundandthegift.com/
Director: Linda Hoaglund
Narrator: Vanessa Redgrave
Ceinematographer: Kirsten Johnson
Animation Artist: Victo Ngai
Editor: William Lehman
Music: Satoshi Takeishi & Shoko Nagai
Animation: Joe Wu
Producer: Hashimoto Yoshiko & Maryanne Culpepper
Assistant Director: Takaaki Okada

See HERE for full illustrations, some storyboards & an animated scene preview.

Monday, November 11, 2019

#Folktaleweek Picks of Day 7: "Crown" (Last day for 2019)

IG @sofiamoore_studio - one of the CO-founders of #FolktaleWeek
It's the final day for #FolktaleWeek2019!

At this writing there are 33,039 posts under the hashtag #folktaleweek on Instagram and 13,687 under #folktaleweek2019 (which, although it mostly overlaps with the main hashtag, still has a large selection of artists who are only using that one.)

IG @kath_waxman created a number of crowns
throughout #FolktaleWeek
All the #FolktaleWeek and #FolktaleWeek2019 info is HEREThe link shows the posts collected by hashtag and you can see an enormous sampling of the myriad mediums and styles being created in. (Prepare for lots of scrolling! There are hundreds of wonderful things to see!) 

You can also see a small selection of the MANY posts that have appeared for each day so far here on Once Upon A Blog as both tribute and inspiration:
Monday      - HOME HERE
Tuesday     - SECRET HERE
Wednesday - PATH HERE
Thursday    - SMOKE HERE
Friday        - DARKNESS Part I HERE
                 - DARKNESS Part II HERE

Saturday    - KEY HERE

Note: Expectations for the final prompt were, admittedly lots of princesses and princes, frogs in crowns and swans and ravens in crowns, so we were thrilled by some of the unexpected perspectives on familiar tales and more obscure tale offerings! There was, however, an unusually large amount of fish in crowns and versions of the Grass Snake King and Eglė the Queen of Serpents - a Lithuanian fairy tale ... interesting!)


The last prompt is CROWN.
IG @taranealarts
Artist comment: The prompt for Day 7 of #folktaleweek is #crown and for this we look to the lore and history of the lovely town of #burystedmunds named after King Edmund, patron saint of England. There are no remaining written accounts of Edmund, but many versions of his story were passed down. In one, King Edmund is attacked by Vikings and tortured as they insist he renounce his Christian faith, which he does not, and he endures unspeakable violence. He prays to his god, who has mercy on him and sends arrows down to put him out of his misery. The Vikings behead him and his followers retrieve the head with the help of a large wolf. Generations later, King Cnut builds a shrine to honor the remains of Edmund, and folklore has it that he offered his crown to the enshrined relics as a gesture for all the unjust things that had befallen the martyr. This site became the foundation for the large Abbey of Burt St Edmunds, and a place pilgrimage. There’s much more, but now I need to go rewatch the Viking series because I feel like I missed this part, and I remember Ubba and Ivan Boneless (Edmunds attackers) as main characters.
IG @dilara.arin
Artist comment: Day 7 of Folktale Week - "Crown" - Shahmaran is my favourite tale from Turkish folklore. This image of Shahmaran (Half snake, half woman) is very famous in Turkey and I wanted to draw it in my own style. I'm happy it was fit for one of the prompts!
IG @willemoever_art
Artist comment: Folktale Week prompt 7: Crown - It was the fairest crown he’d ever seen, with the sheen of a thousand suns. “I’m all ears,” murmured the greedy king. “I’m sure you are,” grinned the old hag.
IG @annilim
Artist comment: * F O L K T A L E W E E K * Day 7 - Crown! 💛
IG @maja_illustration
Artist comment: Day 7 #folktaleweek2019 -Prompt: Crown - Mida's touch is the story of a king who had a wish to turn everything he touches into gold... Making gold will be too much for him when he wont be able to eat and eventually when his daughter runs into his arms. 👑
IG @agnesbertothy
Artist comment: #folktaleweek2019 Day 7: #crown ⚜️ - Saint Lucy’s Day is a Christian feast day commemorating a 3rd-century martyr. In the Northern Europe it’s also called a festival of light. Although in Hungary we have a different Lucia, who is rather doing bad things to those who are weaving, cooking or washing their clothes this day. And the person who sit on Lucia’s chair during the high mass could spot the witches in the crowd
IG @violet2519
Artist comment: Snow Queen for last day of #folktaleweek2019 #crown
IG @victoria_fomina_art
Artist comment: N/A
IG @thistlemoon
Artist comment: Last day of #folktaleweek2019 - Crown. The wren was crowned king of the birds when, in a test to see which bird could fly the highest, he hid in the plumage of an eagle #folktaleweek #kingwren
IG @bysuzik
Artist comment: The Emperor had the finest collection of Crowns...he just couldn't decide which one to wear!
IG @ayukotanaka
Artist comment: #folktaleweek2019 Day7 - the prompt ‘Crown’ - It’s the last day of #folktaleweek ! I want to thank the people who had visited my page and the artists who organized this great event👏🏼👏🏼 - My last illustration is again from ‘Sleeping Beauty’. With their love, the king and queen try to protect her daughter from the evil witch. They are ordinary parents even if they wear golden crowns 👑
 IG @charlotte_weyand (click on each pic of the triptych to see larger)
Artist comment: Wow! It is the last day of our #folktaleweek2019 - At the end of many fairy tales end with: and they lived very happily together until their lives' end. - Do you sometimes wonder how the life of our childhood heroes continues when the story ends? Snow White is the queen now. She walks through her castle past a gallery of her friends. Go with!
IG @laia.pampols
Artist comment: Day 7: Crown - Sleeping Beauty 🌹///
IG @amva.creations
Artist comment: Day 7: crown, featuring the Ugly Duckling 🦢👑
IG @samrudddesign
Artist comment: Last day of Folk tale week and this is a fairy tale, The Girl Fish collected by Andrew Lang in 1910. The girl fish has to find the crown of stars to be able to turn back into a human!
IG @lcwright13
Artist comment: Folktale Week day 7: CROWN. The final day! I was looking for a tale where a crown played a prominent role and found ‘The Girl Who Became a Fish’ originally from Andrew Lang’s The Orange Fairy Book. Briefly, a girl who has been changed into a fish has to go on a quest to retrieve the crown of the princess who is living in the sea as a mermaid and queen of the fishes. Only with her crown can she change back into human form and take up her place on land again. There is a lot more to the story than this and it’s well worth a read!
IG @la_matita_gialla
Artist comment: "How the rooster got his Crown" 👑 - By Chinese legend the Earth had six suns. The Yellow Emperor decreed that archers could shoot down five suns. The sixth sun hid and caused darkness, as the best archer in all of China was summoned and shot down the five suns, using a special trick. Animals were called to bring out the sun, but the sixth sun did not respond. Finally, the rooster called the sun out to shine and restore the day light. The rooster was rewarded a crown for his lovely song. 🌞🐓🎶
IG @daryamorozz
Artist comment: N/A
IG @kolkerpics
Artist comment: N/A
IG @curiouszhi
Artist comment: Day 7: CROWN - For the final day of #folktaleweek2019, I’m picking one of my favourite fairytales when I was a child - the Danish 🇩🇰 story “The Wild Swans” 🦢.
IG @katijatomic_artist
Artist comment: Last day of#folktaleweek2019 - CROWN - I thought it would be fun to do a flower crown. I used to make daisy crowns as a kid all the time , but for this challenge I wanted to use most unlikely flower. To make a crown out of dandelion seeds would be pretty impossible, unless you are a wee little folk who knows how to handle these most delicate of flowers that disappears as soon as human hand touches them.....
IG @timjammi
Artist comment: Folktaleweek day 7: Crown. -This piece was inspired by a Finnish folktale called Kruunupäinen käärme (which roughly means "A snake with a crown on its head"). - It's a story about a family whose yard is so filled with snakes they can hardly walk there, so they invite a man to get rid of them. Following the man's advice they light a bonfire and the man uses his flute (made out of a stillborn child's bone) to mesmerise the snakes and make them slither into the flames and die. Then suddenly a great white snake appears, wearing a crown and armor, and it pulls the man into the flames with it. Both die and there's no more snakes seen in the area.
IG @ceecliff_art
Artist comment: CROWN that is earned. The last prompt for #folktaleweek2019 — In this tale all of the birds hold competitions to determine who will be their king. The eagle thinks he’s got the job in the bag, he is so strong and mighty. But the cunning little wren outsmarts him by doing things that the large bird cannot do and wins the contests. The little wren is made the king of the birds, proving that smarts can be your super power. Who doesn’t like a story about an underdog that wins? Alas, folktale week is over, but I think Folklore Friday might be my way to keep this going.It's a quite bizarre story and I feel like there's a lot more into it that has unfortunately been lost in time.
IG @fraeuleineichhorn
Artist comment: Folktaleweek Day VII: "The Adder Crown" 👑 A maidservant is chased away from the farm by her employer because she fed milk to a snake. When she says goodbye to the cows the snake gives her its crown which brings the maid a lot of luck. The farmer on the other hand is down on his luck. // Folktaleweek Tag VII: "Das Natterkrönlein" 👑 Eine Magd wird von ihrem Herrn vom Hof gejagt, weil sie eine Schlange mit Milch versorgt hat. Als sie sich von den Kühen verabschiedet, schenkt ihr die Schlange ihr Krönchen, welches der Magd viel Glück bringt. Den Bauern allerdings verlässt das Glück.
IG @amorphophallus_titanium
Artist comment: in old appalachia, a person who passed to heaven in his sleep would leave behind an “angel #crown” in his feather pillow.... and thus ends #folktaleweek2019
IG @reniametalinou_illustration
Artist comment: N/A
IG @nichtlicht
Artist comment: N/A
IG @ul_zak
Artist comment: N/A
IG @fefercastro
Artist comment: I was inspired by a book my mother had when I was little called "The Emperor's New 'Costume'/Clothes".
IG @painterwitch
Artist comment: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. - Up Jack got and home did trot as fast as he could caper. He went to bed and wrapped his head with vinegar and brown paper. Folktale week has been fun. See you again next year. 🥂  #folktaleweek2019 #folktaleweek #crown
IG @jaimiewhitbreadart
Artist comment: Folktale Week: crown - The goldhorn is a mythical chamois whose blood creates the triglav flower, which conveniently heals all wounds. In the myth a hunter shoots the goldhorn to impress a girl but fails to kill it before it revives itself with the flowers. Then the hunter falls off a cliff. Fair! Remember lads, girls who prefer corpses to flowers aren't worth your time and if you go around killing innocent creatures you'll fall off a cliff and die 👍
IG @leonora_camuso
Artist comment: The last prompt of the #folktaleweek is: crown - In the mountains of the Germanasca Valley, 2400 m a.s.l., lies the plateau of the so-called Tredici Laghi (“thirteen lakes”). One of these is called Lago dell’Uomo (“man’s lake”) and a legend explains why. It’s said that a prince, passing by, saw a beautiful nymph on a piece of ice in the middle of the lake. The two looked at each other and fell in love. The nymph told she was a prisoner and that anyone who tried to enter the waters of the lake died instantly frozen. - The prince, after much research, found the solution and went to Tibet to get incredibly cold-resistant sheep. On the back of the animals he managed to cross the icy waters and bring his beauty to safety.
But the prince did not have time to rejoice, when he heard the desperate bleats of one of the two sheep that had remained in the water and was about to drown. Moved to pity, he went back to save the poor beast, but unfortunately the icy waters swallowed them both. It is said that at the bottom of the lake we can see a silhouette that recalls that of a man, perhaps the prince of this tale.
IG @kathwaxman
IG Artist comment: Folktale 2019, Prompt 7: Crown - Folktale: The Golden Fish
IG @khabibova_alevtina
Artist comment: 7 day/ crown - The Raven king. French folk tale - #folktaleweek2019

IG @echo.ism
Artist comment: Queen of the Snakes - #folktaleweek 7/7, Crown - Snake Crown, a recurring folktale motif in Northern and Central Europe, in which a spoiled princess is turned into a snake for insulting a witch, and her parents make her a gold crown that needs to be worn down to break her curse... Except that crown turns any receptacle it is put in into a horn of plenty (e.g. bottomless purse, endless bag of flour...), so many people try to get their hands on it... Until it gets destroyed by one of these people, by inadvertance.
IG @amanda.enright
Artist comment: The Tiger's Bride
IG @chezubo
Artist comment: Folktaleweek 07: Crown - My last piece for this year’s Folktaleweek. I went a bit off schedule, but it was a lot of fun and I learned some new tales and stories to bore others with :D Here we go, this tale is another one from Upper Austria: „Die Krönlnatter“ („The crown-adder“) - Once upon a time, there was a mighty king who had one child - a daughter. One day, the two of them went for a walk and met an old woman who caressed a little adder. „That’s disgusting!“ the princess said, that made the Woman - a witch by trade - furious. „Since you are so disgusted by it, you shall spend your days as such a poor creature!“ she touched the princess with her wand and turned her into an adder. „I‘ll send you far away, so your father can’t tend you. You’ll have to live the hard life of an adder!“ once again the princess was touched by the wand and flew over the river far away. The King wanted to take revenge, but stopped as the witch pointed her wand at him. Instead, he fell on his knees and begged for mercy. „... I’m not able to cancel the curse. But I will make her queen of the snakes. Forge a tiny crown and bring it here, I will take it to your daughter. She’ll have to wear it until water has weathered it down - then the curse is broken.“ The king did as he was told, and still today there’s an adder wearing a tiny golden crown. She bathes in a creek, sleeps in the sun and waits for her crown to crumble.
* * * * * * * * * *
And as a bonus, below is a collage of all the art created over the week by artist IG @friederickeablang. As you see, while the same style is in evidence throughout, this artist also shows how some of folks approached the week - creating a story by using the seven prompts - these created "new fairy tales" and make for lovely ensemble pieces for a portfolio. Very nicely done!
IG @friederickeablang

And that brings #Folktaleweek to an end for 2019!


Please note, though, that artists are very likely to keep posting for a few days yet. People are still posting from a few days ago and appear to intend to follow through as they can. We had enough trouble keeping up just by scrolling through the thousands of uploads and, despite having private plans to do some of the prompts, didn't get more than a couple done. I cannot imagine how challenging it must have been for folks with fulltime jobs, long commutes and families to keep up. So please keep visiting to give your support to these tenacious and creative people!

IG @shelley_laslo
Folktale Week was brought to you by artists from around the world. We appreciate your support, and hope to see you for our next challenge! Many thanks from:.
@jennifermpotter,  @devonholzwarth,  @sinulee,  @carolinebonnemuller,  @sofiamoore_studio,  @heycasshey,  @rachaelschaferdesigns,  @sandiesonke,  @debrastyer,  @laure_illustrations  @louve.draws,  @matejalukezic  @shelly_laslo  @tanja_stephani  @juliachristiansde  @thebrotherskent