The Snow Queen: 3 of 7

Honestly, I drew this quite a while ago for the third chapter of The Snow Queen.  I didn't put much time into it, and I meant to do something better for the blog.  However, this being sort of cute in spite of itself, and me wanting to move on, here it is.  Consider this my obligatory "Hummel Figurine" drawing.  Although, Hummels aren't normally crying inky, black tears from piteous, empty eye sockets.

Third Story:

The Flower Garden of the Woman Who Could Conjure

“I will give you my red shoes if you will give him back to me.”

[Ink & Watercolor on Weekly Planner]

The Snow Queen: 2 of 7

I regret that I still cannot weigh in on The Snow Queen as a whole, as I still have yet to finish reading it!  The first installment describes a sinister mirror that reflected things that were good and honorable unfavorably, and evil things beautifully.  The second story documents how fragments of that mirror lodged themselves in the eye and heart of a little boy, and how he was changed as a result.

Second Story:

A Little Boy and a Little Girl

“'Have they a queen bee?,' asked the little boy, for he knew that the real bees had a queen."

[Graphite on Moleskine]

The Snow Queen: 1 of 7

The Snow Queen is a tale in seven stories, so I deemed it worthy of seven drawings.

Story the First,

Which Describes a Looking-Glass and the Broken Fragments.

"...the people became hideous, and looked as if they stood on their heads and had no bodies."

[Grapite. Moleskine. ~2x4"]

What is it about drawing terribly ugly things that I find so satisfying?

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving.

The Pine Tree

The Pine Tree (or, The Fir Tree, if you like) was an especially depressing read for me.  I find it nearly impossible to summarize the moral of this tale without spoiling it completely, so I won't try.  I encourage you to read it yourself - a recommendation that I make startlingly seldom on this blog.

Thus, without further ado, I give you my chosen quote (taken entirely out of context of course, just to be silly, and because it mentions bacon - [what's more popular than bacon these days, eh?])

"It is a particularly uninteresting story.  Don't you know any about bacon or candle stumps?"

[Graphite. Paper. 7x4.5"]

The Hideously Ugly Duckling

Everyone's heard some incarnation of The Ugly Duckling, so I won't bore anyone with the content of the story.  My illustration today doesn't exactly resemble a duckling or a baby swan, but I'm pretty sure I nailed the "ugly" part.

"...that is not a turkey; how well he uses his legs, and how upright he holds himself!"

[Graphite. Moleskine. 4"x6"]

The Sweethearts

... Or, The Top and the Ball, which leaves (regrettably) less to the imagination.

I read three different translations of the final two lines of this story, and the clear winner is as follows:

"You get over it when your beloved has lain in a gutter and oozed for five years.  You never recognize her when you meet her in the garbage bin."

[Haugaard translation]
[Ink / Copic. Sketchbook paper]

The Nightingale

"In China, you know, the emperor is a Chinese..."

What a great first line.  

I read The Nightingale a long time ago, and I can't fully remember how it went.  I started re-reading it, but when I got to the bit about the clockwork nightingale, I knew what I'd be drawing, and didn't feel like reading the rest of the story again.

I guess he's a little bit of a throwback to my Unnatural Miscellany series from last year.

"...the artificial bird sang only waltzes."

[Graphite. Paper. Smallish]