"Hansel and Gretel and the Witch " Rough drawing (study for figurine) by Scott Gustafson
A quickie post to point you to an excellent list of witches from fairy tales and other classic literature by Kate Coombs, also known online as "The Book Aunt".
Strega Nona Written & Illustrated by Tomie dePaola
Her list includes Baba Yaga and Strega Nona, as well as some books for both I also recommend. She even includes the awesome story/book called The Talking Eggs that I found only a few years ago. Please note the actual books she recommends for the fairy tales. I can vouch for the illustrations being as lovely as she says.
Here's the fairy tales she includes:
Hansel and Gretel (with the Gingerbread House architect) Snow White (with her stepmother - or mother, if you prefer) Jorinda and Joringel (with The Witch of the Wood that gturns into an Owl...) The Tinderbox or The Blue Light (with an unnamed witch that gets killed) Rapunzel (with Mother Gothel) Vasilissa the Brave (with Baba Yaga) The Fearsome Inn (Jewish folktale) Strega Nona - she's a good one! The Talking Eggs (Grimm's Mother Hulda)
Also mentioned is Heckedy Peg (which is an original fairy tale by Audrey & Don Woods)
Bony Legs Written by Joanna Cole Illustrated by Dirk Zimmer
You can find Kate's blog and timely list of fairy tale witches HERE.
I found this great little article today title "Spooktakular Sonic Surprises" by the Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and, not only did it have a number of pieces I thought extremely appropriate for fairy tale enthusiasts, readers, listeners and writers, but it made me think of a few of my own.
Rather than repeat telling you about the pieces he lists I'll just list them, add a clip courtesy of YouTube and link you to his fun and very readable article. You'll be able to see the others on the list too - all of which will give you an excellent audio selection, Halloween-style, for your ears. :)
The pieces on his list I thought most appropriate for fairy tale people and stories are:
The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack by Danny Elfman (I couldn't find the music without the vocals but it's fabulous, even without the voices)
Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens
Baba Yaga - The Hut on Fowls' Legs (from "Pictures at an Exhibition") by Modest Mussorkgsky
Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod (you probably know this piece, even if you don't know the title. I love this one!) I found a darling little stop-motion animation for Funeral March of a Marionette which I thought I'd share:
You can read the short explanations about each, and the rest of the article, HERE.
And here are my additions (off the top of my head - I planned on researching more for you but Halloween duties called sorry!):
In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt) by Edvard Grieg I love Ibsen's Peer Gynt tale (which was actually a play)! It's another suite of music I was exposed to as a young child and I didn't need to be told the story to imagine it. You can hear what's happening just by listening. I wasn't surprised to see Wikipedia mention it being used for Halloween concerts - it was the first piece that came to mind. (I apologize the first notes are cut off - it's the best [straight] played I could find where you could actually hear everything happening. It also goes into the next processional piece which I can't remember the name of sorry.)
L'apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) by Paul Dukas I loved this piece and the Goethe story it was based on well before I saw it used in Fantasia. Magical brooms ahead!
The Corpse Bride Theme (combining some pieces from the soundtrack) by Danny Elfman and John August It feels like an air of death or mourning haunts a few of these pieces yet still has a fantastical and hopeful air- especially that lovely piano solo
Midnight from Cinderella(Music for Ballet) by Sergei Prokofiev Ok - I admit I'm a huge Prokofiev fan (His Romeo & Juliet is my favorite) but all those (what I think of as) malevolent notes through the suites and the (what I like too call) "musical resistance" to Cinderella making it away from the ball on time? Delicious for suspense!
Aaaand I have to add another Russian piece: from Stravinsky's Firebird, The Infernal Dance of Kashchei. There are quite a few darker pieces from The Firebird suite but this one definitely fits the fairy-tale-Halloween bill on a number of levels. I found this piece conducted by Stravinsky himself and couldn't resist adding it for you.
That's about all I can think of without pulling out my CDs or doing some research but know I've probably forgotten some obvious ones. If you have fairy tale music favorites that you think would be a great addition to the Halloween playlist here, feel free to chime in!
Torn is no longer available to read at Supernatural Fairy Tales. Instead I have added it to Once Upon A Blog on it's own dedicated (and hopefully permanent) page.
Dorlana Vann of the wonderful Supernatural Fairy Tales site has posted my new short story "Torn", especially for your Halloween reading pleasure.
The genre for this one is dark fantasy and definitely verges on the creepy but isn't horror. (If you're in the mood for Halloween humor, Dorlana's story "Holiday" - also posted there - fits the bill beautifully.)
"Torn" is not a retelling like "Cages" is, but was instead inspired by a fairy tale I've loved since I was a girl. The fairy tale is "The Marsh King's Daughter" by Hans Christian Andersen. You can read the original HERE.
The only problem with "The Marsh King's Daughter" is I never liked the heavy religious stuff that it digresses into at one point before gaining back it's fairy tale form and resolving. It may be one of the reasons I rarely see it tackled. The topic of duality HCA's tale explores, however, I find fascinating - plus it has some awesome fairy tale characters and situations that are begging for more 'screen time'.
My heartfelt thanks to my wonderful @mudsock for creating the awesome illustration at the head of this post for me. I love it and think it suits the story perfectly. (He's all kinds of awesome - go check him out on Twitter and/or Facebook - you'll soon see what I mean.)
Heidi posted an awesome seasonal entry on pumpkin coaches and carriages this week on the SurLaLune blog HERE, showing some gorgeous examples of life-sized fairy tales coaches to drool over. Go have a look, then come back...
As a sort of sequel/addendum to that entry, I thought I'd show you some 'coaches' a modern-day Cinderella might use. Perhaps staying away from a bouffant outfit might be the way to go if she wants to get into these vehicles (and out of the ball in one piece):
(Found HERE at Motortopia The fairy godmother may have forgotten the 'meeting Royalty' factor here.)
'Vintage' Pumpkin Car - always classy (Many dress options with this one though some different curtains would be nice. Found HERE)
Eco-Friendly Superhero Concept Car
(Found HERE - it's powered by bio-diesel fuel and electricity,
both generated by pumpkin seed oil! The only outfits I can think of to compliment this ride are really only suitable for, well, Halloween.)
The FGM 2005 looks awesome - as long as it comes with the top-up. The last thing you need is to re-do your hair just as you're making your grand entrance. The speedy getaway options throughout are very appealing though.
For some steampunk options, watch for my Steampunk Cinderella entry coming next week!
The Pied Piper Linoleum Block Cut by M.S. West (M.S. West also has other fairy tale pieces available to see on her blog HERE)
What if the Pied Piper had no choice but to draw the rats to him? What if this curse was passed on to his descendants? And what if the creatures that followed you were not rats but the undead?
Lisa Kessler is one of those talented people who always seems to be writing new stories. While Urban Fantasy is her first love she's a very versatile writer and so I wasn't surprised to find she'd tackled a fairy tale or two. She regularly sets herself challenges to stretch her writing muscles and this story is the result of one of those exercises.
The Pied Piper is already very creepy but Lisa's given the story a very unusual - and extra creepy - twist...
Says Lisa about writing "The Curse of Hamelin":
This week's topic was Living the Lie and also mentioning diaphoretic sweating.... Hmmm....From that, a nervous OCD accountant popped into my head. Why was he so nervous?Apparently he was cursed... After some research into German history, this story told itself.
She's generously allow me to post an excerpt and link to her very Halloween-appropriate version of the Pied Piper (please note: there's a mild gore warning for this story - but then if you read the 'undead' comment, you probably expected that):
Here's the beginning to put you in the mood:
"The Curse of Hamelin" by Lisa Kessler
They were coming.
He couldn’t see them yet, but he could sense them. The scent of moist tilled earth teased his nostrils, and bile rose in response.
How could this have happened again so soon?
Harold made a frantic dash to the dresser, and yanked open the drawers. He had to get out fast. Snatching up his pressed and folded clothes, he placed them on the tidy bedspread and reached under the ruffled bed skirt for his suitcase.
Lisa is very active with her writing, her BLOG (just a note: you'll need to scroll down past the MySpace ads and banners but she's worth it!) and on TWITTER (known there as LdyDisney . It's also where we met). She's a lot of fun and constantly amazes me with both the quantity and quality of her output. I expect her to get a three-book publishing deal any minute now...
Go read her work and support her journey into print. You'll find yourself very entertained and can rest assured this lovely, generous and talented lady is someone worthy of your time.
A sincere thank you to Lisa for allowing me to do this post. I wish you every success, my friend!
Charles Vess, gifted artist of all things fantasy and fairy and close collaborative friend of Neil Gaiman and Charles de Lint, has a new hardcover art book coming in December. And we get to have a free preview! (This hasn't just appeared but I re-checked today and the preview is still available, though it isn't clear how long it will remain so.)
From the illustrated version of "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
My big, fat art book: Drawing Down the Moon, The Art of Charles Vess has taken a loooooooong while to wind its way from the completion of my initial layouts to actually seeing print this December. And along the way there have been multiple false alarms as to its publication date.
The folks at Dark Horse and I want to apologize for any confusion that these solicitations may have caused.
So, in an effort to make certain that you know that the book will indeed be available this December we are providing you with a sneak preview of the entire 200 pages.
Due to increasing requests for archived posts on various topics and tales I thought I should add some search options to Once Upon A Blog.
In the sidebar you'll find two ways of searching: 1) the 'search this blog' box - enter word or topic you're looking for 2) a (large) list/group of tags I've used to label the posts - tags are 'clickable' and will bring up all posts tagged with that label
The tags cover general topics, tales by title, regular features, artists, writers and other 'fairy tale people' and much more. They're a good way to discover things of interest to you.
For book titles or other specific works I suggest using the 'search' function. :)
I hope you find this useful for finding posts and browsing topics of interest!
And if you're looking for something and still can't find it, please feel free to drop me a mail at fairytalenews AT gmail DOT com and ask. I'm not able to get to my mail every day but I will answer as promptly as possible.
New posts are added daily and the topics and tales are steadily growing. There is much to delve into and discover in the world of fairy tale news!
End piece from "The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault" Illustrated by Harry Clarke
NOTE: *'Cinderilla' is not a typo! It's how the name is spelled in the book the illustration came from.
If you see the file name of the picture above, you'll see it includes Neilsen's name. Please note this is not accurate. The actual artist is Harry Clarke. The illustration is from "The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault" translated by Robert Samber & J.E. Mansion, with the whole book illustrated by Harry Clarke. Click on the image above to go to the Project Gutenberg page to view the book and see more illustrations.
Warning: "Disney meets social issues" topic ahead!
It's almost Princess day for little girls everywhere (better known as Halloween) and I find it interesting that this image is currently circulating the web right before multitudes of princess-ified trick-or-treat-ers arrive at the door. It's enough to give even the most pixie-dusted, pro-princess-patrons pause (Argh! Alliteration! You know it's going to be bad...)
... It's the classic Disney princesses roster -- Sleeping Beauty, Aurora, Jasmine, Ariel, Belle, and Cinderella. Above their smiling faces, however, are their basic characteristics and plot lines. When you boil it down to the basics, the story is enough to make anyone queasy. Snow White's hormones almost kill her, Aurora is married off in the crib for politics and saved years later with a kiss (or sex and slavery when Anne Rice has her say), Jasmine is a pretty girl saved by a street rat, Ariel gets to look pretty and say nothing, Belle works her sexuality, and Cinderella is saved because of her beauty.
Yikes.
And when you click on the picture for a full size to read the text it's even more blatant.
I don't happen to agree that the princesses are a completely lost cause but when you put things like this, it's easy to see why some begin to sound downright anti-(Disney)Princess.
To be fair, it's a little simplistic to summarize the ladies the way they have been in the image above, but nevertheless it's food for thought. But we can't blame it all on Disney. It's not like they haven't drawn daring darlings in the past (more alliteration - I can't help myself!). It IS, though, far harder to get a Mulan costume for Halloween than a Cinderella one.
Speaking of Disney's Mulan, that's one lady I'd like on my team and there are other Disney heroines I wouldn't mind sharing the room with either but we rarely see them. Clearly Disney CAN drawn females of substance. Could it be they just don't know how to market them (at least for substantial profit)? Is it the WDC marketing moguls that force these few and their faults/flaws into regular view, or is it we, the people (a.k.a. consumers), that don't know how to embody dreams and happy endings without the puffy skirts and got-my-prince smiles? Will the much touted character of "Disney's Newest Princess" Tiana, break the trend?
What's more, will there ever be a politically-correct-yet-still-romantic way for those actively searching for their Prince Charmings and aiming for happily ever after, to get PC validation and reach this goal without being seen as a sell out?
The Non-Princess Club by Mimi-Na (which includes some actual princesses) Caption reads: "Can I join? They said I wasn't pretty enough..."
I don't have a good answer. I'll admit I'm one of those who now has a negative reaction to the word 'princess' but I also think we're quick to point fingers (from both sides of the fence) and not sincerely consider our part in it all.
The only thing I can say with any certainty is that Mimi-Na from deviantArt titled her pieces well. (Check her comments on her deviantArt pages - clicking on each image will send you there - for a full roster of names in each piece.)
*Puts away soap box and returns to her regularly scheduled blogging*
Found this odd advertisement for Pizzetta pizza HERE.The text is: "Snow White and the Six Dwarfs - Think twice before you take the last slice."
Soooo... did the seventh dwarf run off with the pizza and abandon his duties or did the others eat him instead? You see the confusion. (You can click on the image for a larger view.. and for any clues...)
The other ads in the series are just as ambiguous. They can also be seen HERE (click on the back-arrow at the bottom of the image).
Note the 2nd: This entry was supposed to post yesterday and I only just realized I had saved but not published - sorry! I'm updating the time references so it makes sense when you read it today (Wednesday).
Note: I see SurLaLune has posted on this topic yesterday too with lots of great links so I'm adjusting my content to minimize the overlap. Be sure to check out Heidi's entry HERE for more information about the film.
After dealing with ongoing Russian resistance to Disney show 'products', The Walt Disney Company have smartly opted for producing an all-Russian cast-and-crew (including some of their most famous and popular actors) family fairy tale film to help smooth the way into the market. With the Russian penchant for home-grown over Hollywood, (as they should - they have an incredibly rich and diverse culture, folklore and history, not to mention volumes of amazing fairy tales), this seems like a good way to help Disney find even more acceptance than they've had to date.Their first piece of Russian film-making will be released tomorrow in Russia (October 29th) and is a fantasy film based on Russian fairy tales and folklore. The title is Книга мастеров (Kniga Masterov) and is translated as The Book of Masters. Unfortunately, the English title translation doesn't appear to capture the spirit of the film at all. Instead of letting the title mar your impression, it may help to remember that a lot of Russian tales tend toward the epic or grand scale when it comes to characters and events. From Russia Info Center:
The Book of Masters is a sort of a potpourri, where characters from Russian folklore, and Pushkin’s and Bazhov’s fairy tales are brought together.
Just take a look at some of these photos here to see what I mean. There's also been one preview scene released that people are calling 'very Lord of the Rings' where the Stone Queen creates an army of stone golems. (You can see that scene HERE.)I've also included some traditional Russian folk art in this post, in amongst the movie scenes from their lovely old fairy tale Ivan and the Firebird, so you can see where some of the inspiration for the characters, designs and ideas come from (there's a note on the influence of Ivan Bilibin further down the post).The posters (and title) are, without doubt, typical live-action Disney in style but there may be more Russian artistic influence than appears in the marketing.
For instance, this trailer here, while still looking a little 'Disney-esque' to me, makes lovely use of illustrative art (echoing the fabulous work of famous Russian illustrator Ivan Bilibin - you can see an illustrated biography HERE which shows you his style), to fade into the scenes. The other trailers I've seen don't seem to use this technique, but if the film includes any transitions or storytelling techniques like this, it makes me all the more interested in seeing it.
Sources: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE (interesting info on the Director at this link) and HERE (quotes from the Russian filmmakers as they started production at this link).
Shiloh Pepin, the brave little girl born with Mermaid Syndrome and known the world over as 'the real-life little mermaid', passed on away on Friday, October 23rd at age 10, from complications of a cold and resulting pneumonia.
Rather than go into details about her condition I will just celebrate her bravery against incredibly odds and mourn her passing. She was courageous and happy and touched many people in her short life, encouraging others to live well and enjoy life. Many other children with life threatening illnesses and great disabilities reached out to her and thanked her for her example and joy. She will be greatly missed.
Her funeral is set for tomorrow (Wednesday) and she will rest next to the stillborn sister she never knew.
For those who haven't heard Shiloh's story or understand the complications of sirenomelia here are some links HERE, HERE and HERE. Here's her FACEBOOK PAGE and one of many tribute VIDEOS.
Rest in peace little one. The world is a better place for you having been here.
I'm going to call today 'odds 'n' ends Monday' with this being the first post (see note below) in a number of random little fairy tale related things I found in the last week.
(NOTE: RE-POSTED DUE TO LARGE CONTENT UPDATE)
To kick things off, here's some lovely fairy tale-type fashion from Russia which reminds me of some Vasilissa illustrations I've seen (the clothing, not the model attitude).
Apparently, Russian fairy tale style fashion influence was a recurring theme on the premier runways for the 2009 Fall/ Winter season. (Found at the UK Telegraph. You can find descriptions of the clothing HERE.)
I also found an article and a video on the fashion series for you. This article talks about the influences and approach of the fashion creator and stylist (which included a matriochka doll as he was starting his Russian style showings this past year). Here's an excerpt:
But fashion would not be the weird and wonderful world it most certainly is without some fairytale element to delight, astound or even just amuse us. This winter the fantasy revolves around a romanticised Russia; land of the firebird, the sugarplum fairy, Zara, Dr Zhivago and Anastacia. Not since Yves Saint Laurent based a collection upon the Ballets Russes more than thirty years ago, has fashion so fallen under the Soviet spell.
You can read more HERE. Here's the video, which is a beautiful little piece to watch, even if fashion isn't of huge interest to you:
Some lovely inspiration. I'm ready to write a Russian fairy tale now. :)
Just in time for Halloween (and because I find this a little creepy), here's a make-up tutorial for how to do your face and hair as close as possible to Disney's cartoon Snow White.
Here's an excerpt from what the make-up artist, kandee, posted on her process of creating the look:
I researched the art and painting of Disney...they mixed and created their own colors! The look of the original Snow White: And the Seven Dwarfs, was soft with, bright lips and grey-brown eyeshadow...I tried to replicate it exactly as the art from the movie.
Here's the original:And here's the make-up:Transforming a person into a cartoon (which was one of her aims) will always result in some kind of de-humanization (for want of a better word). Definitely suitable for Halloween.
Go HERE for more pics, tutorial video (which is excellent if you're interested in make-up) aaaand sing-a-long. (Consider yourself warned).
Last Hansel & Gretel post of the week... I (almost) guarantee it!
I found this steampunk Hansel and Gretel by Montreal artist Donglu Yu a while back when I was researching 'the best steampunk fairy tale illustrations on the web' (see HERE for the last of three posts, which also links to the previous ones) and didn't include it because it didn't really catch my eye as representing Hansel and Gretel very well at the time.
I've since found the artist's overview of her painting from concept to final and I can appreciate the art - and her interpretation of the tale - far more now. I missed some important ones on my first few viewings. I didn't even see the witch up in her lofty room stirring the pot at first.
I'm hoping by showing you some of the development you'll come to appreciate her vision of the story as I have.When you realize what's in the details, this piece becomes very interesting and it's clear why Donglu's work has been recognized by an elite group of digital artists.She and her artist fiancé were featured in the prestigious digital art publication Exposé (7) this year in June (see article HERE), along with a very nice print of Donglu Yu's steampunk Hansel and Gretel (it has better contrast than most copies of this piece I've seen on the web, so the details are more noticeable).From introduction to the artist's project overview:
This is my great pleasure to discuss about the creation process for my latest work “Hansel and Gretel”. This image is originally created for the Steampunk Challenge hosted by CG Society. Right from the beginning, I had the intention of making a whimsical image which can remind us certain magic moments that the old folklores and fairy tales have brought us during our childhood. Hansel and Gretel has been one of my favorite bedtime stories: I can still remember how I was imagining those two little kids walking through the forest to arrive at the witch’s house which is deliciously decorated with all kind of confections. I want to recreate that feel of wonder that I have experienced longtime ago with the proper visual language.
Here's the final image, which I've saved till after the other details so hopefully you'll be able to appreciate it as I do now. (Click to enlarge)You can see a MUCH larger version HERE, which will zoom you in on all the details but you'll probably need to scroll up and down to see the whole piece, so you don't the impression of the story as you do from the smaller version shown above from the Exposé 7 article.
You can see many more development pictures and read about her process on this project HERE. The project is shown step by step, almost as a tutorial, though not quite. I'm so glad the artist decided to share!You can see a lot more of her work HERE at her online portfolio with the CG Society and in this excellent interview, in which she talks about her process HERE. I look forward to seeing more of Donglu Yu's work in future.
I found this graphic novel reviewed at The Graphic Classroom and though it came out last year it's very appropriate for the end of Hansel & Gretel week.
Here are a couple of excerpts from the review, which is aimed particularly at teachers and parents:
I always wondered: (as a child reading/or being told the story of Hansel & Gretel) could this happen to me, too? How would I survive if I were left alone to my own devices? Which brings me to this graphic novel version of the classic tale and I can say that this Stone Arch version, adapted by Donald Lemke and illustrated by Sean Dietrich, is strange and odd and creepy in every way you would want the story to be. HANSEL AND GRETEL make good use of the graphic novel format as we see the fragility of the situation etched on the faces of the kids.
...One huge bonus to the Stone Arch fairy tale collection is that in the back of the book, there is a nice overview of where and how the story originated (in this case, the Grimm Brothers may have heard the story of Hansel and Gretel from a woman named Henriette Dorothea Wild, Germany, in the 1800s). The book also features three discussion questions, three writing prompts and then urges readers to explore more about the story on their own. These additions are a nice touch for teachers and students using graphic novels in the classroom.
You can read the rest of the review which looks at the content, the artwork and the suitability for children and for use in the classroom HERE.
The book is by Stone Arch Books graphic novel arm, Graphic Spin, and is one of a series of retold fairy tales. (You can find out more about Graphic Spin and their Fall 2009 releases HERE.) Below are all the fairy tale covers I could find. You can find the amazon list - which includes the Spanish versions - HERE. There is also a complete set available through Stone Arch Books and Amazon.Personally, I love the range of illustrative styles and non-traditional (or non-Disney-esque) representations of the characters and stories. I'm putting a couple on my wishlist to check out the writing and interior .
Hansel and Gretel: The Graphic Novel is available at Amazon HERE.
Strega Nona
Bony Legs
