Fairy Tale RoundUp For SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con) 2013!

My favorite of J. Scott Campbell's new Fairytale Fantasies illustrations - being released at San Diego ComicCon 2013

I haven't had much time this week to stay up to date on all the San Diego ComicCon fairy tale related goodness but I wanted to at least list it for you so that you can investigate more for yourself if you're interested (or already going) and to make it clear that fairy tales are big business right now - whether main stream, indie or in the Geek universe.

Here's a run down, in no particular order. All the links take you to pages with more information about when during SDCC they will be appearing, the times, booths & rooms and any extra preview info (note: if you can't see the show you clicked on at the top of the page they will be further down in the line-up list):

• Once Upon A Time, ABC series (going into season 3)
• Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, ABC limited spin-off series (premiere)
• Grimm, NBC series (going into season 3, including sneak peek of Dracula - new series)
• Beauty & the Beast, CW series (going into season 2)
• J. Scott Campbell Fairytale Fantasies 2014 (comics, calendars and illustration)
• *Grimm Fairy Tales Comics and Animated Pilot Premiere, Zenescope (comics and new animated pilot/possible series)
• Ever After High - Mattel (new toy line with animated webisodes, debut appearance)
• Spotlight on Ruth Sanderson, fairy tale illustrator and storyteller (presentation/interview & panel)
• Lost Girl , Syfy (going into season 4) (Why have I put this on the fairy tale list? Because it makes excellent use of folklore and fairy tale creatures in a witty and gritty "Olde Worlde meets Nu". Not for kids though.)
• Fine art poster company, Mondo, will be having a limited release of new designs for Miyazaki films Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke among others.
• There will be a limited release of Guillermo del Toro's character El Fauno from Pan's Labyrinth this year as well (last year, 2012, it was The Pale Man. 2013 is for the Faun). You can pre-order at the link and they will ship after SDCC.

*The animated pilot is getting a lot of buzz and interest. Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales use fairly tales and set them in a largely horror genre. They've had many, many issues and been popular for many years but the animated series is a first. More on that in a bit.

Other Fairy Tale Friends at SDCC 2013:

The Faun: Limited release at SDCC 2013

• Acclaimed indie filmmaker, Lisa Stock of InByTheEye will also be there from July 17 to 19th, promoting her new film Hell and other projects. A true mythmaker, Lisa creates myth and fairy tale films and other works (including a stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass Apples) and has much more fairy tale related goodness underway that I hope to be sharing very soon.
• Speaking of Neil Gaiman, he will also there on the 19th and, as usual, in great demand over everything from his comics to his books. He will be speaking on panels and presentations, including talking about his new "fairy tale for adults" book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
• Joss Whedon will be there for Dark Horse comics talking about what's next for him (including the Buffy movie rumors).
• Other topics and shows that may be of interest to fairy tale people: Game of Thrones, The Hobbit II, Seventh Son, Sherlock (apparently this is a very popular among fairy tale fans!), Doctor Who (don't you think the Doctor makes for a very different sort of Beast? ;) and The Walking Dead (yes - this is also popular among fairy tale people. I may have to post on why one of these days...), Hannibal, True Blood, Supernatural, Arrow, the pilot of Sleepy Hollow (Ichabod Crane gets thrown into the future) and Dexter.

In case you are wondering Bill Willingham (Fables) will NOT be attending SDCC this year so we're unlikely to get any further scoops on the Fables film in development at this time.

Hollywood giant, Disney, is also (largely) MIA at the San Diego ComicCon this year with only having a presence via their newly acquired Marvel properties and the ABC series OUAT & OUATinWonderland. Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks will be spotlit at Disney's own expo D23 in the following week or so.

If you have any other tip off for fairy tale folks attending, please put them in the comments and I'll send out a FB and Tweet to let people know as well.

Spotlight on Ruth Sanderson NOON TODAY at ComicCon!

From The Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold & Illustrated by Ruth Sanderson

Ruth Sanderson is in the spotlight at ComicCon today! And yes, she WILL be talking about fairy tales and very specifically, according to the program. I hope those of us who can't be there will be able to get some notes or see a video excerpt of the presentation and panel.

From the official ComicCon Schedule:

A Token Of Love by Ruth Sanderson

Thursday July 18, 2013 12:00pm – 1:00pm 

Spotlight on Ruth Sanderson 

Award-winning illustrator and Comic-Con special guest Ruth Sanderson (The Twelve Dancing Princesses) will give a visual presentation on her career as a fantasy artist and fairy tale author/illustrator, and on her move to a more graphic format for a fairy tale for older children. Ruth’s work has appeared in fantasy magazines and on many book covers, and she has illustrated over 80 books for children. Her artwork can be seen in Spectrum, and she was the 2011 Artist Guest of Honor at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego.Room 91: Programs, Art and Illustration, Comic-Con Special Guest Spotlights & Appearances, Science Fiction & Fantasy

from The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Ruth Sanderson

Here's a recent interview with Ms. Sanderson HERE on how she views retellings, what she thinks of "too many princesses" and a change in style she's working on. The preview below shows one of her illustrations for George MacDonald's fairy tale "The Golden Key". (Click on the link HERE to see more of the amazing things she's been up to including more on this tale.)

Scratchboard illustration - preview of The Golden Key illustrated by Ruth Sanderson

Ask Baba Yaga: Will Lost Love Be Regained?

Baba Yaga by ARTofANT

Baba speaks from the heart, or, of the heart anyway... 

This week's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

My favorite responses to date:

• Oh good time for my weekly "sob-gasp along to Baba Yaga's oddly-cloe-to-home answers." (SarahP)
• These make me so happy-sad. (JanieS)
• "If your heart spoils give it to a dog". Story of my life <3 i="" nbsp="">ValleyGirl

)

Was actually pondering an attempt to regain a lost maybe-love whilst scrolling. Is The Hairpin psychic, or am I? (PomoFrannyGlass)

I am totally with ValleyGirl on this one!

What do you think of Baba Yaga's advice?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

There's now an email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.

"The Grimm Project" by Trish Lavar - 2 Tales

I found the beautiful projects below by Trish Lavar fairly recently (first one or two then tracked down the sequences) and just adore the sketchy imagination drawn into the scenes!

It's not animation and it's not a live-action with animation crossover. It's beautiful photography with a little extra to make it something unique (and extremely fairy tale like). The impression we have is that we get a glimpse of what the character herself is really looking at, but that, even so, it remains a little hazy to us.

I completely relate to this...

First up: Little Red & the Wolf

See the next tale after the jump.
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When You Wish Upon A Character... (How Design in Disney Movies Affects the Way Fairy Tales Are Perceived & Why We Should Care)

Tangled Concept Art with earlier versions of Mother Gothel & Rapunzel

Note: This post is very image heavy and I've had a devil of a time trying to get the images to stick where I put them. As I'm now out of time, I want to apologize in advance if there are any weird formatting issues through the post!

For me, I know I just have to catch a glimpse of certain H.J. Ford drawings and I'm in love with that tale all over again. The same goes for Rackham and many other illustrator's fairy tale work.

Disney images, however, aren't as subtle as sitting in a book waiting for us to open it again. They tend to work their way into our everyday lives via toys, marketing, spreading through pop culture and social media, and, as a result, tend to be a little more insidious in making their impressions on people (especially people who have no basis for comparison because they don't read/were never read many tales). Because of this, it's a good idea to take a hard look at the difference between the characters we love in fairy tales and how Disney (and other popular entertainment - movies & TV in particular) portray them to see just how big the gap is between.

What is the pop culture impression and what's missing? Because for a lot of people that "is" the tale. Though that is never the real intent of the creators of these films, the effect can be to (almost) erase any lingering non-Disney ideas and associations, rather than the effect illustrated books used to have, which was open the world of imagination further than ever beyond the text (ie. the complete opposite).

Can you tell who these characters are from their early concept drawings?
Click HERE to take the quiz...

It's one of the reasons I think it's important for concept art to get out there - to show people what could have been and, if the information is available, why these alternate/early designs were created in the first place and why they were ultimately replaced with something else.

Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) 1

Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) 2
The fairy aspect is a lot clearer here with the antennae

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Teaser Trailer Released for "The Tale of Princess Kaguya"

A few days late on this sorry but we now have a teaser trailer for Studio Ghibli's latest fairy tale! The style is really nice blend of modern animation with a calligraphic feel. Looks lovely so far.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya (OT: Kaguya-hime no Monogatari) tells the story of a bamboo cutter who finds a thumb-sized baby inside a piece stalk of bamboo. What he doesn’t know, is that he hasn’t just found any tiny baby: she’s a princess!

Please note: it is a teaser only - not a full trailer - and it was released to a Japanese program so includes the "live audience reactions" window in the top corner. (Ugh.)

So charming!

I'll let you know when more appears.

Snow White (& More) by Miss Mindy (Filmic Light)

A preview of a lovely fairy tale doll post over at the wonderful Snow White blog &Archive, Filmic Light:

Filmic Light - Snow White Archive: Snow White by Miss Mindy
Miss Mindy is an artist living and creating in the Los Angeles area. On December 15, 2012, her work appeared in the "Good vs. Evil" exhibit at the WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney, Anaheim. Among the limited edition, one-of-a-kind MM pieces was her stylistic Snow White sculpture.

Click on the link to see more!

Breaking News: Lots of Beauty in Stills Just Released From Gans' "Beauty and the Beast"

If we had any doubts, these new stills from Christophe Gans' Beauty and the Beast make it clear that this is going to be one very beautiful movie. It's also quite an ambitious (big!) film. (No wonder the Director has said this is his biggest challenge yet.)

One interesting thing to note is that the film is said to echo more of Hayao Miazaki's approach and style than either Cocteau or Disney. Given there are a lot of fantasy elements in the story, this no doubt provides a lot of opportunities to break with the norm in terms of effects and the way the narrative is delivered, so this is sounding more promising than ever.

Here's some more Beauty for you:
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Scottish Ballet Create A New "Hansel & Gretel", Leaving Breadcrumbs of Inspiration Along the Way

The Scottish Ballet have a reputation for not only beautiful ballets but a creative approach to their productions, often producing truly lush images - and imagery - as well.

I haven't seen a family friendly but adult/professional production of Hansel & Gretel before so I'm curious as to how this is staged. And, although I appreciate opera, I can't handle much unless it's the chorus pieces BUT I tend to love almost all opera music so am also wondering if they will use Humperdinck's score without songs. (One of my favorite classical albums is Opera without Words - the music just transports me.)

One of the most unique things about this particular ballet, however, is how the company has gone about creating it, taking special care to leave "breadcrumbs of inspiration" along the way, but I'll show you that in a bit. Right now, take a look at their brief but lovely trailer:

From the website:

Unwrap a tasty new Christmas treat with the world premiere of Christopher Hampson's fantastical Hansel & Gretel. 

A 1950's town, all the children have disappeared. Plucky Hansel and Gretel embark on an exciting adventure venturing deep into the enchanted forest to find their friends. 

This delightfully inventive brand new Hansel & Gretel takes creative twists and turns inspired by the Grimm Brother's famous fairy tale - and the stories and imagination of the people of Scotland. 

(More on the production and the creative process after the jump.)
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If the Shoe Fit, Why Did It Slip?

It's the Cinderella question you perhaps-not-so-secretly wondered about. 

While we ponder this (with some help from Tabled Fables and The Guardian) I thought I'd showcase the GORGEOUS illustrations by Errol le Cain (that I could find) for Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper. I've never seen them all in one place or in sequence so I thought it might be nice to simulate that somewhat. Enjoy! And now to the (sticky?) question:

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