Lovely Graphic Design for 2 (Unused) Fairy Tale Covers

Here are a couple of fairy tale book covers I found recently by graphic designer Oleksandra Korobova (a.k.a. l-e-s-k-a on deviantArt).

I just love these!

They were to be part of a series but as far as I can find, have not ever been used. Such a shame! They would have had me picking up the books in an instant.

You can find more of her art and photography HERE.

Custom Fairy Tales

Once upon a time in the desert city of Yuma, Ariz., one young woman found a way to turn her passion into a business - and now she's on her way to a happy ending.

So begins an article at the YumaSun.com about local woman Tricia Romant who is creating custom fairy tales for people. These aren't like the 'insert-your-name-here' tales and books we've seen in the past either. Tricia gathers information about the people she's writing the tales for and from there she writes a new and unique story.

From her website:

Creative Tales was created in order to serve a need. We take your stories and memories and create a fairy tale based on your life. It is our goal to give our consumers a gift that they can pass down in their family that will live on long beyond their time.

You can read the rest of the Yuma Sun article HERE, which also has a lot of information about her process and options or you can see how to order your own custom fairy tale and/or read some of the ones she's already created HERE.

"Little Red in the Hood" Comes to Dothan, Alabama

Dothan, Alabama gets a chance to see a very special version of Little Red Riding Hood tomorrow, Saturday September 12, 2009.

Ed Vaughn, a born and raised Dothan local, has written a play based on LRRH with the aim of showing how youth can make a difference.

There's a personal agenda too - he wants to bring the 'neighbor' back his neighborhood and wants to illustrate just how to do that.

From DothanEagle.com:

This modern version, which is also a musical, tells the story of Little Red and her best friend, Ayanna, and their efforts to clean up their neighborhood, which has been overtaken by trash and “thugs.” The thugs are led by a man known as the Wolf — played by songwriter and producer, Jemmie “Fingerz” Watford, who was raised in Dothan and returned here to live about five years ago.

Jemmie “Fingerz” Watford, left, pretends to be Little Red’s grandma as Ahmazia Hardrick, right, listens.

...Little Red is played by 8-year-old Ahmazia Hardrick, a third-grader at Ashford Elementary School. Twelve-year-old D’Nasa Mitchell, who attends Beverlye Magnet School, plays Ayanna, Little Red’s best friend. Like the classic fairy tale, Little Red takes her grandmother dinner every day. But along the way, the young girl works to change her neighborhood and reform those going down a bad path.

...“I want people, young people, to be aware of what’s happening today,” Vaughn said. “Little Red and Ayanna —they prove that children can be the catalyst for cleaning up a neighborhood.”

You can read the rest of the article and get more information about the play HERE.

The play, "Little Red in the Hood", will be performed on September 12, 2009 (tomorrow if you're reading this entry when it goes live), at the Dothan Opera House. Tickets are on sale at the Dothan Civic Center box office. You can call 334-615-3175 or 334-714-4128 for more information.

NOTE: Painting by sphynx_ink. You can find more of sphynx_ink's work HERE.

Disney's Rapunzel Cast & Story News + "Rapunzel's Revenge"

The big news the past few days has been the confirmation of the cast for Disney's Rapunzel. While I'm sad to hear Kristin Chenoweth will not be the heroine as was previously rumored, the new leading lady, Mandy Moore, has grown some decent acting chops in the past few years and her singing voice will sound more along the lines of the classic Disney heroine (get ready for lots of "Mandy Moore lets her hair down" headlines). Her leading man, who's name has now been revealed as "Flynn Ryer", will be played by Zachary Levi (best known for his appealingly nerdy-heroics in ABCs "Chuck").

Here's a quote from empireonline.com, which also reveals a little more of the plot:

Rapunzel. It's Disney's first computer-animated fairytale, and stars Mandy Moore as Rapunzel herself and Chuck's Zachary Levi as Flynn Ryer, a roguish bandit. Alan Menken's writing the music for another musical tale, and Moore will of course be doing her own singing. We were also assured that this particular damsel will not be sitting around waiting for her prince to rescue her, but instead uses her 70ft of hair as a tool, a means of escape and occasionally an Indiana Jones-style whip.

Note in the concept art above how her hair trails along the path. I'm wondering if they ever address the cleaning and tangling issue...

And from The Hollywood Reporter:

"Disney's new Rapunzel picks up with the princess, famous for her 70 feet of golden hair, after she's been stolen from her parents' castle as an infant and imprisoned. Now a teenager, Rapunzel escapes and goes on the run with a bandit, as her captor pursues them."

Anything sound familiar? Specifically the lasso skills of our long-locked heroine? (Please note: I'm not accusing Disney of plagiarism - if you spend some time musing over what to do with really long hair and "make a lasso" is bound to come up at some point!)
If you haven't heard of "Rapunzel's Revenge" by Shannon Hale (yes, the same Shannon who wrote a retelling of "The Goose Girl"), then you're about to. Her red-headed version (Disney is using the traditional 'golden', though it is a little on the strawberry side if development art is any indication) uses her tresses to both escape her situation and save a whole lot of people from a bad situation, Old West style!

Oh yes - and it's a graphic novel. Now, I must admit, this is the very thing that turned me off. I love graphic novels but I'm super-picky about what I read and the art in this GN just isn't in a style that appeals to me (please note: the artist, Nathan Hale - no relation to Shannon, did an amazing job but, personally, I would have liked to have seen the pencil renderings for the panels.) Here's a preview:Regarding the story, here's one of the Editorial reviews/summaries from Amazon.com:

This is the tale as you've never seen it before. After using her hair to free herself from her prison tower, this Rapunzel ignores the pompous prince and teams up with Jack (of Beanstalk fame) in an attempt to free her birth mother and an entire kingdom from the evil witch who once moonlighted as her mother. Dogged by both the witch's henchman and Jack's outlaw past, the heroes travel across the map as they right wrongs, help the oppressed, and generally try to stay alive. Rapunzel is no damsel in distress–she wields her long braids as both rope and weapon–but she happily accepts Jack's teamwork and friendship. While the witch's castle is straight out of a fairy tale, the nearby mining camps and rugged surrounding countryside are a throwback to the Wild West and make sense in the world that the authors and illustrator have crafted. The dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original, and the illustrations are magically fun and expressive. –Cara von Wrangel Kinsey, New York Public Library

I took my time purchasing the book and then took even longer to read it, even though I love Shannon Hale's storytelling. I wish I hadn't waited so long. I really enjoyed it and even though I'm more of a 'woods and rivers' girl than a 'sand dunes and desert' gal I thought the Wild West context worked really well. In fact, I would have happily read more (there is a sequel coming by the way). You can find a lot more information about the graphic novel HERE and by clicking on the comic images in this post (the cover will take you to where you can purchase it).Here's an interview with Shannon in which she discusses her love of fairy tales and writing books based on them. "Rapunzel's Revenge" is discussed too and there's a brief preview of some of the artwork from the graphic novel.


After two popular renditions of Rapunzel cracking her braids into action, you DO have to wonder what the Rapunzel Princess costumes are going to be like when the movie comes out in December next year though...

The Ballad of Nessie

OK. It's not exactly a fairy tale but it is a myth and there are fairy tales with 'loch monsters' so I'm exerting my Fairy Tale News Editor prerogative here and including note of it at Once Upon A Blog. :D

Disney is working on a traditionally animated (ie. hand-drawn) short, presumably for theatrical release but as of this date no decision has been made as to what film to show it with (that's been released to the media anyway).

This little film will be a Disney take on the origin of Nessie , a.k.a. The Loch Ness Monster. The directors are Steve Wermers and Kevin Deters and the film is rumored to have completed animation in 2008 with the plan to release it some time during this year. (Steve Wermers, referenced on Wikipedia as Stevie Wermers-Skelton, and Regina Conroy are credited for the writing.) The completion of production was halted to work on a short called "Tic Tock" to release with "The Princess and the Frog" but then apparently things got switched around and "The Ballad of Nessie" will now be the short film shown before the fairy tale when it comes to theaters. (See? I worked it into fairy tale news after all!)

From the Walt Disney Animation Studios site:

With art direction evocative of the 1940s and 50s, "The Ballad of Nessie" is the honest to goodness true tale of Loch Ness and its most famous resident.

On a similar topic, in case you're not aware, there is a fairly new fairy tale story, written about Sleeping Beauty's daughter, called "Alinda of the Loch" which blends the legend of the monster with the fairy tale we know and love. You can find more information, including a chapter preview and an audio book preview, HERE.

Zelinsky's Rapunzel & Other Award Winning Fairy Tale Picture Books on DVD

In May this year, Scholastic released a lovely collection of beautifully illustrated fairy tales on DVD with a stellar cast of narrators to complement.

All of the books contained in the volume are illustrated by award winners.

Here are the descriptions from Amazon.com:

RAPUNZEL (Retold and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky, narrated by TK) A unique retelling of the story of Rapunzel, the girl with the long, golden hair.THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER (Retold and illustrated by Jim LaMarche, narrated by Patrick Stewart) A pair of elves secretly create an amazing pair of shoes for a poor but kindly shoemaker.THE TALKING EGGS (Written by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, narrated by Danny Glover) When a young girl befriends a mysterious elderly woman, magical things happen.THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF (Retold by P. C. Asbjornsen and J. E. Moe, illustrated by Marcia Brown, narrated by TK) Follow the adventures of three billy goats named Gruff as they bravely hunt for fresh green grass to eat.LON PO PO: A RED RIDING HOOD STORY FROM CHINA (Written and illustrated by Ed Young, narrated by B. D. Wong) This Asian version of the classic fairytale brings lessons about strangers, trust and courage.PRINCESS FURBALL (Retold by Charlott Huck, illustrated by Anita Lobel, narrated by TK) A king falls in love with a princess after she hides her identity under a coat made of a thousand furs.This looks like a lovely collection. If anyone has seen the DVD please do let us know how the presentation comes across.

You can click HERE to see more details.

New Anthropological Study Confirms Fairy Tales Are Ancient In Origin

My thanks to Diamonds and Toads for finding this article and posting about it! You can find Kate's post HERE. I couldn't help but join in to spread the news... :)

The UK Telegraph just published an article on a study by anthropologists that's 'revealed' the 'origin' of fairy tales is far older than was previously thought. There are many who already believed fairy tales have an ancient origin but this is apparently the first time this has been systematically studied with a scientific system. Quote: "the researchers adopted techniques used by biologists to create the taxonomic tree of life, which shows how every species comes from a common ancestor...".

Essentially this now proves fairy tales existed in some form in ancient times (in as much as proving such a thing is possible) - well before Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm's grandparents were around.

Here are some other quotes from the article, showing how they used the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the many variants to do their research:

A study by anthropologists has explored the origins of folk tales and traced the relationship between varients of the stories recounted by cultures around the world.

...Dr Jamie Tehrani, a cultural anthropologist at Durham University, studied 35 versions of Little Red Riding Hood from around the world.

Whilst the European version tells the story of a little girl who is tricked by a wolf masquerading as her grandmother, in the Chinese version a tiger replaces the wolf. In Iran, where it would be considered odd for a young girl to roam alone, the story features a little boy.

Contrary to the view that the tale originated in France shortly before Charles Perrault produced the first written version in the 17th century, Dr Tehrani found that the varients shared a common ancestor dating back more than 2,600 years.

...He said: “Over time these folk tales have been subtly changed and have evolved just like an biological organism. Because many of them were not written down until much later, they have been misremembered or reinvented through hundreds of generations. By looking at how these folk tales have spread and changed it tells us something about human psychology and what sort of things we find memorable.

You can read the rest of the fascinating article HERE.

Red Riding Hood by Sanjai Bhana

Dr Jamshid (Jamie) Tehrani of Durham University presented his findings at the British Science Festival on Tuesday in his talk "Fairy Tales and Chinese Whispers: Towards a Darwinian analysis of descent with modification in oral traditions", during the Darwin's Theory and Cultural Sciences event. (If anyone has access to the talk, - video, notes or report - I'd be very interested in looking at it!)

If this subject interests you, you may want to check out the article on "The Quest for the Earliest Fairy Tales: Searching for the Earliest Versions of European Fairy Tales with Commentary on English Translations" (by Heidi Anne Heiner) and the Fairy Tale Timeline at SurLaLune.

I also recommend the book shown below, "Fairy Tale in the Ancient World" by Graham Anderson. Here's the description from Amazon.com:

Graham Anderson examines texts from the classical period which resemble "our" Cinderellas, Snow Whites, Red Riding Hoods, Bluebeards and others, and argues that many familiar fairy tales were already well-known in antiquity in some form. Examples include a Jewish-Egyptian Cinderella, complete with ashes, whose prince is the biblical Joseph; a Snow White whose enemy is the goddess Artemis; and Pied Piper at Troy, with King Priam in the role of the little boy who got away. He breaks new ground by putting forward many previously unsuspected candidates as classical variants of the modern fairytale, and argues that the degree of cruelty and violence exhibited in many ancient examples mean such stories must have often been meant for adults.

While well researched and excellent for students of fairy tales and folklore it's a quick and enjoyable read for non-academics too. I recommended it. You can buy it HERE.

NOTE: I couldn't find the artist to credit for the European tole (?) painting in the center of the post. If anyone knows please let me know so I can correct this.

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea- Miyazaki's Little Turtle-Mermaid

I've had this Ponyo post in the works for ages, hoping to verify which tales ACTUALLY inspired Miyazaki-san's story but can find nothing quoting him as confirming one main source of inspiration the other. Instead this post will refer to you what is being said by sites who are well versed in Miyazaki-san's work (as well as the man himself). After that, you get my opinion. :D

You can also read SurLaLune's post on the movie (which includes more of what it's about) HERE. Please note there are some interesting comments on that post worth reading by Miyazaki-san 'fans' too.

So, regarding the majority of reports/articles/etc floating around the (Western) internet and media, Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea (崖の上のポニョ, Gake no ue no Ponyo) is being called Hayao Miyazaki's* version of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. Others are saying Miyazaki didn't reference The Little Mermaid at all but instead (probably) used the popular traditional Japanese folktale Urashima Taro (a Japanese Rip Van Winkle variant that takes place under the sea with the turtle being the daughter of the Sea King who rewards a fisher boy for saving her. I think it falls into the category of 'fairy tale' but I'm not certain).

Instead of siding with one or the other it seems the most reputable sites (who generally have the 'inside track' on Miyazaki's work and Studio Ghibli's films) are saying Ponyo was loosely inspired by The Little Mermaid AND Urashima Taro. Wikipedia states Miyazaki-san as saying The Little Mermaid was his inspiration without a source that I can verify, but this interview HERE with Studio Ghibli's former President and Executive Producer Suzuki Toshio, sheds some interesting light on a popular Japanese collection of nursery tales, Iya Iya En, that also influenced the film's beginnings. (Miyazaki did, in fact, animate one of the Iya Iya En stories in a 16 minute film called Kujiratori (くじらとり, lit. "Whale Hunt") in 2001. It's only shown only in the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan.)

Miyazaki-san at ComiCon 2009

With this is mind it's easy to find parallels from both the mermaid and turtle stories in Ponyo but then again, if you thought Miyazaki was referencing another Japanese mermaid story, The Serpent and the Sea Queen**, you'd find a lot of parallels there too - especially with regard to the visuals (eg the masses of teeming fish/sea creatures, the undulating 'animated' sea [the waves have eyes], the giant goddess/mother, the island and more). Mind you, I haven't found any mention of this tale in connection with Miyazaki but, being one of the more popular tales and the fact that he's a well read man of both Eastern and Western stories, he's likely to be aware of it, even if only subconsciously.

Whatever the case truly is, in the tradition of fairy tales, it would appear Miyazaki-san has created a new tale using classic elements. It's also very likely this tale will have it's own unique influence in both Western and Eastern cultures (helped along by the marketing and distribution power of Disney), just as My Neighbor Totoro has to date.

But let's get to the film itself, with a couple of things you may not have read or heard in other reviews or articles.

THE TECH STUFF

Miyazaki did some experiments with currently trending CG animation before deciding to stick with the traditional hand drawn method, saying he felt he could get more expressiveness and subtlety. (You can see some images in this post of him working directly on the art for the film along with the storyboards - the latter being something which, I understand, is done almost exclusively by himself.)

Miyazaki-san working on some development art for Ponyo

While he obviously made an excellent choice in choosing hand drawn animation as the medium for the film, I have to say, he really put his animators through their paces. I found it difficult to see any animations cycles (re-used drawings) anywhere, even in the 'obvious' places. No shortcuts for these guys!

From Wikipedia, quoting other articles:

Miyazaki was intimately involved with the hand-drawn animation in Ponyo. He preferred to draw the sea and waves himself, and enjoyed experimenting with how to express this important part of the film.^[LINK] This level of detailed drawing resulted in 170,000 separate images—a record for a Miyazaki film.

More development art from Ponyo and Miyazaki-san

A note regarding the above quote - I saw somewhere that approximately 80% of this film takes place underwater. Considering he already does the storyboards essentially solo - that makes for a very busy man!

You can find a lot more technical details HERE.

Regarding the name "Ponyo" here's what Miyazaki said at ComicCon this year:

The name, Ponyo, comes from sort of onomatopoetic…When you touch something, and it goes boing, poing, poinyo, poinyo…That kind of soft, squishy softness.

Cute huh?

Ponyo transforms to human with the help of her goldfish sisters

THE STORY
(here's the opinionated part)

I was fortunate enough to see Ponyo for the first time in Japanese, with NO subtitles and, if you haven't seen it already I strongly suggest this is THE way to watch the movie.

Why? The animation tells you all you need to know. This has been noted by a few critics and is a testament to the mastery of the animation - that the film can stand alone without needing any dialog at all.But there's another reason to watch it in Japanese only: quite frankly, the English dialog - subtitles included - doesn't seem to line up with what's happening visually. I have the distinct impression the English audio (and subtitles) go 'beyond' translation and try to 'retell' the story for Western audiences and that this waters down the story substantially (though it does have a lovely poster for the US version!).
Please note, I have nothing to base this opinion on (of Ponyo being rewritten for an American audience) except my own viewing but when the English dialog is superimposed on the visuals there's a definite disconnect (despite the fact you don't need any help from dialog exposition to understand what's happening or how characters feel).

Ultimately I see the English version as having two problems:

1) the amazing voices of acting luminaries such as Liam Neeson and Cate Blanchett, while gorgeous to listen to and beautifully acted, are SO recognizable it pulls you right out of the story.
2) the dialog just seems wrong - it's heavy handed, explaining things that are right there on screen (not typical of Miyazaki at all) or saying things that are at complete odds with what appears to be going on.

The English trailer makes it out to be a story of 'goldfish girl saves the world' but even if that's in any way part of the original intent, it's not the feel, nor the focus, of the movie at all. The story is about the magic of friendship and it's 'plenty powerful'.

Take a look at this French trailer (there's no dialog in this one) for a different taste of the movie - one that's much closer to my overall impression of the movie than most of the other trailers:


The essence of 'fairy tale' comes through beautifully in the visuals. I'll be getting the Japanese version for my son to watch as he grows.
NOTE: *Sometimes you will see Hayao Miyazaki written as Miyazaki Hayao - this reflects more the way his name is said in Japanese. The term Miyazaki-san is an honorific, essentially meaning 'Mr. Miyazaki', something which is said to show respect.
** If you click on the link to read The Serpent and the Sea Queen please note it has annoying music that plays automatically on loading so turn down your sound! It also has trails of fish that follow your mouse around (remember when they were popular?). The fish fit the website/story well but can still be annoying. Just a heads up. :)

New Fairy Tales - Online Magazine

There's a very special online magazine I'd like to bring to your attention:

New Fairy Tales is an online magazine dedicated to publishing new fairy tales that are suitable for all ages. We are passionate about fairy tales, about good writing and beautiful illustrations and about raising money for an important cause.

This magazine specializes in, not retellings of fairy tales but newly written fairy tales. Based in the UK the magazine nevertheless has contributors from all over the world. I highly recommend you take a look at the lovely presentation (and variety) of art and read the quality stories in each issue so far. You will not be disappointed!

From their first issue:

We don't believe the fairy tale canon is complete or that we should only retell old stories. We believe there are many new tales out there waiting to be written and read and loved.

...we aim to provide a home for original fairy tales and fairy tale art on the web.

From the 1st issue

Following the oral fairy tale tradition, this magazine also has an excellently produced AUDIO component to their offerings in which the original tales are read for your listening enjoyment.

While this magazine has a high standard of excellence for any writing and art to be included in the issues, submissions are open to anyone and Claire Massey encourages anyone interested to try. Submissions for the current issue close on October 20th (details are HERE).

From the 1st issue

Regarding accepted works please note the magazine is run on a voluntary basis and unfortunately can't pay contributors but they do ask readers and listeners to consider making a donation to support Derian House Children's Hospice*, "as a way of valuing the work of the writers and illustrators whose work we feature and of helping to raising money for a good cause."

This is a truly unique magazine and one I'm so excited to see available. Even better, their issues will now be available twice a year, which means more stories and art for us and more opportunities for fairy tale artists and writers to have their work published in a noteworthy collection.

NOTE from the website regarding the charity they support: We support Derian House Children's Hospice, which is based in North West England.They provide specialist care and support for children with a terminal or life threatening illness. There is suprisingly little help from central government for a children’s hospice such as Derian House. With less than 10% of their funding coming from official sources, the reality is that they are open 52 weeks a year and receive statutory funding for just nine of those.

New Disney Story Books Using Concept Art for Illustrations

There are some new Disney storybooks out that are using illustrations done by concept artists during the development of the films. With three books so far and one more one the way, this is looking to turn into a series.

The most recent release (August 18th) is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with illustrations by Gustaf Tenggren.Others in the series so far have used artwork by Mary Blair and include:

Alice in Wonderland - text by Cynthia RylantCinderella - text by Cynthia RylantComing on October 13th (or possibly September 22nd according to a Disney Press report) is Peter Pan, also illustrated by Mary Blair, with text by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson.

My only gripe is that the printing could have been better and done more justice to the beautiful artwork. Because the reproductions aren't handled as well as they could have been and are somewhat muddied and cropped, these volumes are really more for interested adults than children. Nevertheless, I think these are worth grabbing a copy of before they disappear.