Showing posts with label Enchanted Pig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enchanted Pig. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Girl in the Iron Shoes by Chris Beatrice

After posting on "The Enchanted Pig" today I though it would be a good time to dig up an illustration I found a few years ago also based on the story. The artist picks out details of the tale which are both intriguing and inspiring.

(By the way, if you're unfamiliar with the Romanian fairy tale, you can read the story HERE from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book and see some relevant links HERE in Wikipedia.)

Chris Beatrice, a digital illustrator and member of the CGSociety, generously breaks down his process in both the thinking and the execution for this piece. You can see working sketches and preliminary color experiments HERE, (there are two pages) as well as read an explanation of the steps.

Here's an excerpt about the tale's inspiration:
As soon as I read “The Enchanted Pig“, I was drawn to its main character - a young woman who undergoes a host of trials in her quest to find her husband (who has been transformed into a pig), and return him to human form. She must wear out three pairs of iron shoes and blunt a steel staff in her travels. She visits the mansions of the moon, the sun and the wind and even has a baby along the way.
With this picture I wasn’t so much trying to tell a story as fuse a variety of disparate elements in a way that would arouse the viewer's curiosity as to what was going on. The bundle of chicken bones, the knife, the baby, the bandages, the steel staff, the two pairs of metal shoes, all play important roles in the story.
The way the girl handles her predicament was what inspired me to do this piece in the first place, and getting her character right was also my biggest challenge.
I saw this image pretty clearly right from the start, and banged out a very quick thumbnail to capture it. I wanted to depict the girl striding along with a deliberate, unwavering gait, and a determined look on her face, yet no sign of weakness, fatigue or complaint. She is entirely unfazed by her situation.
A strong female figure on a journey that changes her and her understanding of what love really is - tell me you don't want to go read it again right now!
The artist also gives a large-sized download link of the final image, which would be great to use for a desktop picture.

Mr. Beatrice has also illustrated quite a few other fairy tales (Peruonto, Snow White & Rose Red, Donkeyskin [this is a very unique portrayal - a must see!], The Frog King, Red Riding Hood, Faithful John, The Magic Jug [a wonderful Russian tale rarely illustrated], Jack the Giant Killer, The Donkey [male version of Donkeyskin without the same family issues], The White Bear [East O' the Sun], Sun Moon & Talia [one of the earliest Sleeping Beauty stories recorded], Porziella [The flea from Il Pentamerone], Joringel [and the witch], The Golden Fish - seriously awesome stuff!), which you can see in his portfolio HERE.

True Love Put to the Test in "The Enchanted Pig"

Does the story of the woman who wore out three pairs of iron shoes, looking for her true love sound familiar? The tale is "The Enchanted Pig", a Romanian fairy tale. It has much in common with "East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon" and a critically acclaimed family-friendly, musical theatre/opera production is currently playing at the New Victory Theater in New York.Here's the promo blurb:
Once Upon a Time, three princesses unlocked a secret door... and opened a grand adventure.
In this off-beat and funny fairytale of an opera, beauty meets the beast once again when Princess Flora, the youngest of three gangly, gum-chewing sisters, learns her betrothed is a boar. Swept off to the north, she discovers (of course!) that her hoggy hubby is hexed and only she can break the spell. Follow Flora from palace to pigsty in this twisty tale of mud and marriage. Sometimes, a girl's just gotta go out and rescue the prince for herself.
The review from Theater Mania has a good synopsis:

The show, by Jonathan Dove and Alasdair Middleton, has a playful, cheeky beginning that lures the audience in to what will eventually become a story of romantic heroism. Three princesses get the key to a forbidden room in their father's castle. There, they find the Book of Fate, which decrees the oldest daughter will marry the Prince of the West; the middle daughter will marry the Prince of the East; and the Youngest Daughter will marry a Pig (amusingly stated as "From the North").

When the horrific Pig/Man (Simon Wilding) arrives to demand his wife, the light tone of the musical takes a sharp right turn into the viscerally dark. The youngest princess leaves with the Pig, crying all the way. At night, the Pig turns into a handsome prince, who explains he's under a witch's curse, and if she is just patient and trusting, her love can save him. Except she isn't patient and trusting; she wants what she wants and she wants it now. When her attempt at immediately overturning the curse on her husband backfires, she learns that the only way she can win him back is to travel to the ends of the earth and wear out three pairs of iron shoes before she will ever see him again.

By now, she is so much in love with her Pig that she will, in fact, wear out three pairs of iron shoes, travel to the source of the North Wind, as well as the Moon and the Sun (all represented in human form by members of the company). And finally, she will have to win away her spouse from an evil witch who intends to marry the handsome prince off to her extraordinarily spoiled daughter.
You can read more about the production HERE and YouTube has a couple of trailers if you're interested in a preview.

"The Enchanted Pig" has been a hit since its first run in 2006, continuously touring the UK ever since. The current production at the New Victory Theater in New York, USA, runs till February 21st, 2010. You can find schedule and ticket info (the prices are very reasonable) HERE.

If you live in New York, this sounds like a fun Valentine's show. All you'll need is to find somewhere for dinner. :)