Fairy Tale Art by Julie Dillon

Frog Prince

The piece above, Frog Prince by Julie Dillon, is one I've been meaning to post for quite some time now. Apart from being an amazing illustration, it's one of the few in which the actual transformation from frog to man is shown. Plus I ADORE transformation stories and am fascinated by what someone might see if a transformation from beast to man (or man to beast) happened right in front of them.

Treasure From the Deep - not specifically a fairy tale piece but I can think of a few tales this reminds me of

Since Ms. Dillon is also featured on the tor.com website today (with an illustration for a short science fiction story, Uncle Flower's Homecoming Waltz) I thought I'd showcase some of her fairy tale work here too.

Snow, Glass, Apples (Interior) for Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's booklet/perfume set with Neil Gaiman's short story. There is a very dark cover HERE as well.

Reassurance - again, not specifically a fairy tale piece but there are a few tales it would work with, including Beauty & the Beast

She has quite a few Alice pieces, both from Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I love the lion and unicorn one.

The Lion and the Unicorn

Alice

Alice and the Queen of Hearts

As you can see, her style lends itself beautifully to both fantasy and science fiction. Her work pops up everywhere, from magazines to covers and more and I think we're only going to see more from this talented artist. 

Surface - not specifically a fairy tale piece but it instantly made me think of The Marsh King's Daughter

Ms. Dillon has a large gallery on deviantArt HERE and her personal website is HERE.

"The Marsh King's Daughter" Illustrations

The Marsh King's Daughter by Anne Anderson

I'm finally posting my slow-growing collection of illustrations for The Marsh King's Daughter (by Hans Christian Andersen) illustrations. If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know that this is one of my longtime favorite fairy tales, despite all the heavy handed religious aspects of the second half. I haven't included every single one if there were multiple pictures by one artist so if you look at the links (each name should link you to their work or the image source).

Papercut - Maria Dorte

Anne Anderson

Brochure - Artist Unknown

Contest "Disney's New Musical" Winner by Ashamyn

Dugald Stewart Walker

Harry Clarke

Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908)

Frølich's drawings really feel like they fit the story in mood and story telling style.  I really like them.

Postage stamp -  Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908)

Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908)

Lorenz Frølich (1820-1908)

Esben Hanefelt Kristensen

Arnold Thornam

The Walt Disney Company

Kay Nielsen

Kinuko Y. Craft

Book Illustration 1926 The Marsh King's Daughter - Artist Unknown

Arthur J. Gaskin
I wish he had illustrated more aspects of the story. I love this style of illustration.

Ricki Klages

Marsh King's Daughter, Egyptian Princess - Artist Unknown (can't find image source either)

Dugald Stewart Walker

Tiziana Gironi

Volquartz
This looks really interesting! There is a whole section of the site dedicated to this production. Only problem is it's in Danish (I think).

W. Heath Robinson

Avi Katz

Oscar Klever
This is one of my favorites in the collection here. It really seems to fit the mood of the story and  manages to incorporate many of the elements without feeling like a mural.

Rex Whistler
I really like this one too.

amytaluuri
This looks much nicer large but I wish the artist had dug a little further into the story and incorporated more key elements.

drawmeapicture (silk dye on silk)

W. Heath Robinson

W. Heath Robinson

I can't find Andersen's own papercut work for The Marsh King's Daughter online, and my H.C. Andersen fairy tale collection book which is printed with his original papercuts as the illustrations, is packed away in storage right now. I do know that it has a stork, a baby and marsh reeds and it isn't a "mirror image" or snowflake-type cut. When I find it - or find my book - I'll add it to the post.

There was also at least one animation made of this story which I remember seeing somewhere back in the 70's too. Not all of it seems to be on YouTube but what parts there are, are below:

I'm surprised there aren't many more illustrations floating around for this story. There are so many things going on in this one, it's rich fodder for an artist's imagination. (This illustration HERE by Beatriz Martin Vidal isn't based on the fairy tale  - which is why I haven't included it in the collection here - but it would work well both for Frog King or for The Marsh King's Daughter.)

I'm certain I saw some illustrations in my childhood that have helped keep this story so vivid in my imagination all these years - especially regarding scenes the beautiful but scary and out-of-control wild child Helga, of the transformation from vicious Viking girl to toad-like creature and of the nurses kindness. Either that or the story really spoke to me strongly at the time and I created my own in my head!

I have a favor to ask: if you find, create, make any new or different illustrations from those posted here (ie by other artists), please email me or put a comment below and let me know - or send me a copy (with artist credited if at all possible). I'll add it to these and give you finder's credit/artist's credit (whichever is appropriate).

Also, as per my previous post, I recently realized my Marsh King's Daughter inspired short story, Torn, was no longer available to read on the web anywhere, so I've made a dedicated page here at Once Upon A Blog so it will have a (hopefully) permanent home.

by Tom Mazzocco

You can click the tab labeled TORN under the Once Upon A Blog header or just click HERE to read.

Fairy Tale Inspired Writing Pages Coming

The Carlo Collodi Fountain Pen nib detail

It's come to my attention that almost all my fairy tale inspired short stories, podcasts and other work have been slowly disappearing from the web due to personal site upgrades, defunct blog programs and various other things...

So:

I am going to be adding pages to the Once Upon A Blog site when I can so some of my fair tale writing can have a (hopefully permanent) home here. :)

First cap off the rank:

Torn

(A short story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Marsh King's Daughter)

It was originally written for as a Halloween story for Supernatural Fairy Tales, a great site which has recently had an upgrade. (Note: This is STILL an awesome site full of fantastic fairy tale short stories by Dorlana Vann and other wonderful finds. At last look, my two-part article on True Love and Fairy Tales is still there.)

You can read more about the initial publishing HERE in the announcement post on this blog (which I have also updated with the new page link).

The direct link to the story is under the header next to the About InkGypsy page or you can click HERE.

And, since we're on the topic of fairy tale writing, what better than a fairy tale pen? Look at this lovely, lovely Montblanc Carlo Collodi Fountain Pen I found recently. (They come in rollerball and ballpoint pens too apparently, but you need to contact them for prices. I'm guessing $$$!) It was released just in time for Christmas last year (2011).

Though I haven't been able to write (or blog or be online!) much at all the past year or so, I am beginning to write again and just the thought of this pen is very inspiring. Though it will likely take me a little while to publish anything new, I am excited to go dig up some fairy tale bits and pieces of my own and share them with people again.

I hope you enjoy the pages to come.

:)

Happy National Tell A Fairy Tale Day!

February 26 is National Tell A Fairy Tale Day!
Yep - that's today in the US.

Officially:

This day celebrates Fairy Tales! On this day we are encouraged to have fun reading fairy tales and discussing fairy tale stories!

This is the first time I've heard of it too (if you look at the link you'll see it's a little hard to verify an official source except that a lot of people are celebrating it) but hey, sounds great to me!
There's a nice little article posted today by Hannah Boyd titled "Why Fairy Tales Matter" HERE.

So: if you could pass on ONE fairy tale ONLY to the next generation, which one would that be and why?

I know - impossible question. I have trouble answering that one too.

Let's try this one instead:

What one (or two) little-known fairy tale do enjoy?

I'll start:
"The Cat on the Dovrefell" also known as "The Trolls and the Pussycat"
Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe.
Trolls, a polar bear and a lot of humor. Love it! (Text HERE.)

"The Lame Fox" or "Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye"
Serbian fairy tale collected by A. H. Wratislaw (also in Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book)
A very patient (non-trickster) fox helps a boy win a golden horse, a golden tree and a golden girl. (Text HERE.)

And one more (because once you get me going it's hard to stop...):

"The Day Boy and the Night Girl"
by George MacDonald (one of my favorite fairy tale writers)
Opposites attract and help each other overcome their fears and the "witch with the wolf inside". (Text HERE.)
I also enjoy Jorinde & Joringel (Grimm's), The Tinder Box (H. C. Andersen - this is more popular than the others I've mentioned) and The Marsh King's Daughter (also by H.C. Andersen), which you probably know already if you've been reading this blog for a while. :)

Your turn.
Note: All images are of more familiar tales by the amazing Kinuko Y. Craft. SOURCE.

"Torn" - A New Fairy Tale Inspired Short Story for Halloween (by me)

UPDATE 1/3/12:

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. 

(See the tabs under the header of click HERE.)

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'.

You can go read my short story
HERE.

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.)

Enjoy - and Happy Halloween!