Mika Hirasa's Appliquéd Aesop

Mika Hirasa, also known as MICAO, 'draws' pictures using fabric and free motion machine embroidering techniques*, along with appliqué, fabric paint and other techniques as inspired. She regularly uses antique fabrics, lace, different types of thread and kimono fabrics and her use of space and color makes for some striking scenes. Cutting out bold shapes and stitching them as she goes, there's a certain inspired spontaneity and whimsy in her work, something free, unlike much embroidery which feels controlled and stiff. Her techniques mark her as a master, and one who is clearly so confident in her techniques that she can create as she goes. As a result her appliquéd illustrations for Aesop's fables bring a whole new way of thinking about the tales. 

Take a look. Can you tell which fables have been depicted?

You can see many more of her fabric illustrations HERE. It's also worth looking at her Red Riding Hood set HERE. So unique, yet recognizably LRRH. (Red Riding Hood is a featured character in much of her work.) And there was a limited line of clothing for kinder and preschool teachers, with a fairy tale theme you an see HERE.

*Free motion machine embroidery is becoming a more and more popular tool for fabric artists, each resulting in an individual style that is unique and not dissimilar to freehand line drawing. You can see an example of free machine embroidery HERE, by performance textile artist Harriet Riddell. (Start at the 3 minute mark to get right to it.)

Advertising: A Very Different Take On "The Tortoise and the Hare" for Transport for London Ad

This is a completely different take on Aesop's fable. Usually you see it with portrayed with (essentially) a laugh track - this... notsomuch. 

This is a sobering modern retelling, released in March this year (2015).

And it's very effective.

Here's the double-up poster - hare one way with a warning and a tortoise the other with an affirmation

                                   

                                               A not very healthy-looking hare

A happy looking tortoise

                  

In case you hadn't guessed, the campaign is, indeed, marketed at teens, with the idea of #ThinkSlow. 

I hate that we seem to need these sorts of PSAs at all, but I'd rather put up with PSAs, knowing they might even save one life, than have the alternative.

Pippa MacSherry, head of marketing operational at TfL, said the work is a natural extension of the long-running ‘Don’t let your friendship die on the road’ campaign. 

“By encouraging a more considered approach to crossing the road, we hope to reduce the number of pedestrian road related collisions. The campaign updates and re-imagines the classic tale of the hare and the tortoise – to show how ‘slow’ wins out,” she said.

Ed Palmer, managing partner at M&C Saatchi, commented: “It’s perilously easy to patronise and finger wag with this audience. Putting a modern twist on a well-known fable allows us to land our message without resorting to the more well-trodden type of cautionary tale to which this audience has become inured. The creative approach was to make safe roadside behaviour more appealing and aspirational for this audience.” 

The campaign will run across video-on-demand, cinema and social from early March and builds on neuro-scientific research which suggests the target age range is less likely to exercise restraint.

Advertising: Mercedes Benz's "Fable"

Stories about speed: what comes to mind? Pretty much just one, in my experience: The Tortoise and the Hare.

Although it's been out for a good couple of months now I only caught it on TV about a week ago and thought I should investigate further for you. This is the Mercedes Benz take on Aesop's well known fable, and they do a stellar job, I have to say.

Here's the ad (see if you can see the cameos by other common Aesop animals throughout):

Poor raven! (Nice story touch, though, I have to say.)

This was an ad that premiered at the Super Bowl in February this year (2015) and the company loved their characters so much they set up Twitter accounts to show the rivalry  - and character differences, and jokes and 'specialized products' - between the contestants.

Here are a few of their photos and you can find the witty repartee HERE for the Tortoise's half, and HERE for the Hare's.

I'm going to include the making-of video as well because, for those filmmakers and storytellers out there, I want you to see what a difference the on-location of an actual forest, with weather, makes, as well as this beautiful scene-building sequence made of a bunch of different elements, broken down so you can see them all added in a little magical sequence of it's own. (Animation buffs, you'll like this whole video too.)

The storybook scene building sequence begins around the 40 second mark and they show you the on-location forest and weather stuff a bit later.

Enjoy!

(You can read and see a whole lot more from the behind-the-scenes process HERE.)
And as a bonus, here are some fun screen shots:

Aesop and the 'Invention' of the Fable

Aesop's Fables Poster (Found at AllPosters.com)
Artist Unknown

Of course there were fables before Aesop - in fact, according to THIS article fables are thought to be the second oldest source of stories known (myths coming before then) but apparently many think fables were all Aesop's idea.

It seems funny it should even need addressing but this article I found is a nice read with a lot of interesting things about ancient stories and when they were written down so I thought I would share.

Aesop: Fox and a Sick Lion Color Woodcut
by Joseph Low

Please note: this article does not make mention of ancient forms of story recording by Mayans, Egyptians and Australian Aboriginies among other ancient peoples. From time to time a new way of looking at these surviving 'art-writings' or 'visual stories' (in murals, cave paintings, pictographs, pottery etc) reveals our 'translation' of these artforms has been incomplete or crude. The beginnings of writing and recording stories is one of those topics that get academics a little steamed so I don't presume to present the complete historical fact for you here. Just thought I'd mention the omission.

Aesop's Lion & the Mouse
by Paned Expressions

In addition, there's a little bit of information about Aesop himself too. Here's an excerpt:

As nothing in that era was written down (except the exploits of a King or warrior), it is impossible to know exactly whether Aesop thought of the fables himself, or whether he was a wandering storyteller who collected fables. In the days of such widespread illiteracy, it is likely Aesop could not even read or write. Some have suggested he may have been blind, as Homer is suggested to be. The earliest reference to written fables we have is from the Greek historian Herodotus from around 300 BC. Unfortunately, Herodotus seemed to think everyone knew Aesop and his fables so well that he did not need to give any details of Aesop or his work.

You can read the whole article HERE.

The Gnat and the Bull
(from The Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables)
by Don Daily

For more information on Aesop himself, WIKIPEDIA is a good place to start.