Chinese Goldilocks'

"Ingvard the Terrible"

There's an artist I recently discovered whose style I just love. He is "Ingvard the Terrible! (Illustrator-Warrior-Dude)", also known as Sean Ashby.

 He's interested in creating different-and usually-funny takes on the familiar, which I love and appreciate greatly. Among them is this Chinese Goldilocks-using-pandas idea. Although it LOOKS like a book, don't get your hopes up just yet. He'd love to illustrate the story in this vein but needs a writer savvy in Chinese history who also knows how to sell it to a publisher first. This image is actually a composited version of his illustration in a live background - just for fun. I really hope someone gets him the gig!

His wonderful blog is HERE and includes this awesome link list of books for boys.

This also recently appeared on my illustration radar and as it's the same concept, done entirely differently, I thought I'd include it here.

Billy Nuñez

I gather the artist, Billy Nuñez, is a student and this was done for an assignment. While I'm definitely drawn to it, it sort of feels like the first draft of a great idea. Personally I'd like to see a little more tension in the scene so it tells more of a story (including the "what if" factor), even if it were only to add some "waft" from steaming rice or special pancakes and a slightly more dynamic pose for the girl (that is, a stronger pose suggestive of thought and possible action). I like where it's going though and I'd love to see a reworked version. Mr. Nuñez's gallery is HERE.

On the subject of Goldilocks and pandas, there is also a fairly new ebook called The Three Pandas by Valerie Mih: an "interactive animated tickle book for the iPad".

Here's the blurb:

A modern take on "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" features a charming style of animation and a lovable family of pandas.  

The Panda Family takes a break from its breakfast of bamboo leaf porridge to take a walk in the bamboo forest. While they're gone, a young girl named Mei Mei walks through the familiar home-intrusion routine that most children will recognize. She finds Baby Panda's porridge to her liking, deems his chair most comfortable (but not before breaking it) and ends up in his cozy bed. What could have been a lazy retread with pandas and a distinct Chinese influence is instead made fresh with the app's animations, which combine photo collages, a live-action actress portraying Mei Mei (in a red dress and black Mary Janes) and movement for the pandas when the reader "tickles" each of them, as the app advises. The app can be experienced in English and Chinese (in both the text and optional narration), and a portion of the proceeds from each app sale goes to Pandas International, which has partnered with the publisher. Except for two letters that are exchanged at the end bringing the pandas and Mei Mei back together for a happy ending, the story is not much different from what readers expect from a "Goldilocks" story. 

But the design is clever, and the visuals (along with the unfailingly adorable pandas themselves) make it worth a look. (iPad storybook app. 2-7)

It looks cute and nicely done overall, though I haven't seen it in person. Appears perfect for little kids to enjoy and learn from.


Here's one more illustration by Cathy Pavia, this time with Goldilocks having "goldy" locks. It's not my favorite of her work - I like her The Zen of Oz illustrations a lot (check for a blog post showing those soon) - but I thought I'd include it since we're on the topic and it's sort of surprising there aren't many more panda variations on Goldilocks.

Cathy Pavia