And So It Begins

The pencil rough of this "Grimm" piece (This is probably how I will be referring to this piece until I decide on the title.) for the Femme Thou Art Collective's upcoming Grimm's Fairy Tales themed auction was finally transferred to a good paper and inking has begun.  After a dismal turnout in last month's themed auction, the admins have decided that this will be mandatory participation for all member artists this month.  I'm not a big fan of mandatory anything, but I am curious and excited to see what other artists will come up with. ^_^  I've already seen a few Snow White inspired pieces, along with a Rapunzel and Red Riding Hood.

The pencil 'scribble' of the concept.  I'm not a neat artist when it comes to sketching things out.  On top of that, my pencil pressure is so light, photographing/scanning my scribbles is generally difficult.  ^^;

Just as I usually do with all of my Enchanted Visions pieces, once I know the theme, "Grimm's Fairy Tales", I go looking for inspiration.  This is my research/brainstorming phase.  I love doing this kind of prep-work for art.  It's probably my favorite phase in a creative process.

I was looking at a Wiki list of Grimm Brothers' tales.  I knew I didn't want to do something that are familiar to most people (which is probably not the most commercial approach, but if I'm producing an artwork that is not a commission, I want to do what I feel like doing and have fun) like Snow White or the Sleeping Beauty.  Luckily, the list of titles is quite extensive and there were so many that I've never heard of.  And a few of which caught my attention as a possible candidate to take inspiration from.

"The White Bride and the Black One" was the title of the tale that caught my attention.  I did additional reading on the basic English translated version on different web sites that specialize on Grimm Brothers.  To my 'grown-up' taste, the tales are all so simplistic, vengeful, and somewhat predictable.  Putting that aside, there are certain charms in the collected tales.  If anything, these folk tales are the windows to the culture and the history of people, and that is what I take from them.

As an artist, when trying to create a piece of artwork inspired by one of the tales, I have always been drawn to 'predatory female'.   Rather than focusing on the protagonists of the tales, I tend to be more attracted to the antagonists, who, for various reasons, commit acts of evil, in these stories.  Plus, after doing a lot of cutesy illustrative work for the fall season, I'm ready for venturing into the dark side once again. ^_^

Inking with a roller pen rather than my usual tool (ballpoint pen).  The viscosity of the ink in a roller pen is different, so the look is a bit different, but I like it for a piece this size (8.5" x 11").

This will be the Black Bride, who is the step sister to the protagonist of the story (the White Bride).  After refusing to show a raggedy stranger a way, this woman, along with her mother, was turned "as black as night, as ugly as sin".  (Seems a bit harsh, don't ya think?)  But with the mother's black magic, they manage to sneak this woman into the castle as the king's bride (Of course, the royals in these tales are always such simpletons... ^^; ).   After I finish inking the lines, I will be adding watercolor to this piece, but the colors will be limited to black (maybe subtle hints of other colors like indigo and purple...).  I want this to be rather stark, with shades of grey.