Rewards, Part 2

in which our hero shares four more original art prints

Dear Readers,

With the exception of a single postal snafu, shipping Kickstarter rewards went off without a hitch. I’m still missing one person’s address and waiting to see if the one missing package (the aforementioned snafu) turns up in my P.O. Box tomorrow morning, but I feel pretty good about how that rollout went. I don’t know if I should flip the status of my Kickstarter project yet, from “Fulfilling all rewards” to “Fulfillment complete,” but maybe I’ll find more clarity on that over the weekend.

In the meantime, I wanted to use this week’s newsletter as an opportunity to finish sharing the set of postcard-sized prints I began to unveil last week. And remember to let me know if you think these should remain exclusive to the Kickstarter or be put up for sale so anyone can grab them.

And now, without further ado…

Ella and Her Dancing Shoes
While the pose, props, and set came easily here, figuring out the costume was a challenge. I adore how it came out, but I do remember struggling with how to make her look less like a woman from a certain time period and more like someone from a timeless fantasy realm. Figuring out how to convey the quirks of my mash-up setting without bogging down the reader is never more difficult than when I’m dressing the characters.

Gretel: Out of Her Element
My version of Gretel (from Hansel & Gretel) grows up to be an accomplished huntress and crime-fighter. Because of this, there’s no place where she feels more out of place than on the throne. That’s what I wanted to capture here with Gretel in regalia contemplating a gingerbread house reminiscent of where her childhood ended in an encounter with a cannibalistic witch.

Marnie: Queen of the Mashup
Figuring out how to represent Marnie, whose backstory blends elements of “Rumplestiltskin” and Arthurian myth, was probably the biggest challenge of the set. Literally nobody guesses “the girl from ‘Rumplestiltskin’” when they’re trying to rattle off the seven queens they think I must have chosen for the book.

Anyway, this one and the one of Gretel are my least favorites of the set. I just don’t feel like they fit in with the rest. But I got them done and put them out there and sometimes finished is better than perfect.

Sadie Loves Birds as Much as Dwarves
This one was a bit easier, because the outfit already existed and the width of her throne allowed for all sorts of options. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was how to hint at her fairy tale roots. I didn’t want to include the dwarves, as none of the other prints featured more than one character. I tried the poisoned apple, then thought why would she have that?! And so, what I settled on was a little birdie perched on her finger—something to signal her lovely relationship with wildlife.

Little did I know that the birdie would be so tiny in the final image and that it would get lost a little bit, its red tones conflicting with the red tones of Sadie’s jacket. But again: finished is better than perfect.

And that’s all for this time. I’ll see you again next week, perhaps with some Thanksgiving-themed something or other.

Yours,
Chris