Oh heck no, not today...

[secondlina]

Well, today started amazingly. And by amazingly I mean not. Seriously, you know when some days just feel like they are actually out to get you, dispensing annoyances and misery with what seems to be a metaphorical machine gun? Yes. Today decided it was putting a bounty on my head and collecting it. Thank god it's bloody Friday.

Anywho...

DRAWINGS!

Due to a conversation with the extraordinary torreadora, I started re-reading my "Bone" comics (by Jeff Smith). I adore everything about that comic. The story, the art, the characters... It's basically "Disney" meets "Lord of the Rings" with mystical fairy tales about dreams thrown in and that is indeed as cool as it sounds. I actually own a black and white collected edition. It's starting to get really damaged though. The soft cover is peeling and can barely contain the 400 or so pages anymore. Many of the pages have stains, FOOD and high-lighter stains, which are definitely not done by me. In any case. My book is stained and somewhat damaged. Makes me think maybe I should buy a better hardcover version soon enough.

I'm not really the "collector" type (most of my books are far from pristine), but the damaged softcover actually makes the book somewhat difficult to read. You kinda need to put in on a table. So you can't lounge about and read it on a couch anymore. And by god, that's where I do most of my reading!

Re-reading this epic comic made me want to draw the two main characters, Fone Bone and Thorn. So here they are.



Lately i've also been toying with new comics and book ideas. Jabberwocky is finished, so i'm going back to work on Psychopompes, but I also want to start developing a new project (since developing and perfecting scenarios takes forever with me). I'm having ideas with werewolves, fairy tales, and mostly animal transformations.

I was thinking it would be neat to do a gender-reversed version of the Beauty and the Beast tale. Aka, the beast would be the girl. This kinda makes the point of the fairy tale a little void. In fairy tales, "full-time" animal metamorphosis are usually a guy thing. Female characters usually have a "part-time" metamorphosis (they turn into a creature only during a specific part of the day or the week). The reason why? Transformations in tales are usually a symbol for puberty. Guys "change" permanently (they get... hairy and have urges). Girls only "change" on a specific schedule, which is a metaphor for that time of the month. The girl stays "pure" until she changes the guy back to a "normal" human. That segment is of course, a metaphor for sex and marriage, "taming" the dude and making the girl loose her "innocent" status and enter the "princess" status as a wife.

Fairy tale metaphors - they aren't very subtle.

I still think I can kinda work with that.

I started working on a design for the "beast girl". Her face are inspired by Bali masks. Her hair kinda serves as a cloak. That is inspired by "Tangled", and also by Aisling's animation in "Secret of Kells". It's also somewhat still inspired by the Bali masks, that usually have a ton of "hair" covering the mask-bearer's body. Hummmm. I might need to make the girl somewhat less cute for this to work. Then again, cute monster girls. Everyone loves them.





That's all for now!

- Isa

Comments

[amelia-seyroon.livejournal.com]

I collected all the volumes of Bone when I was in Mississippi, thus mine are only a few months old.

...Thorn is hot. Especially when she gets that warrior look. >>;

And I'm disappointed that the movie idea failed to become a reality.

Genderbending Beauty and the Beast...I'm not sure what to say to that. :OO

Female characters usually have a "part-time" metamorphosis (they turn into a creature only during a specific part of the day or the week). The reason why? Transformations in tales are usually a symbol for puberty. Guys "change" permanently (they get... hairy and have urges). Girls only "change" on a specific schedule, which is a metaphor for that time of the month. The girl stays "pure" until she changes the guy back to a "normal" human. That segment is of course, a metaphor for sex and marriage, "taming" the dude and making the girl loose her "innocent" status and enter the "princess" status as a wife.

Wow. I never thought of it that way, but it makes a whole lot sense!

[miss-maggiemay.livejournal.com]

En fait dans la première version de la belle et la bête, la bête était la femme. C'était une créature mi serpent mi femme qui possédait des lèvres énorme (symbolique sexuelle + + +) . C'était assez grivois (comme pas mal tous les contes) à l'origine je crois.

[miss-maggiemay.livejournal.com]

finalement je te dis peut être des mensonges parce que je ne trouve rien sur le net à ce propos mais je me rappelle d'avoir lu ça lorsque je faisais mon travail d'université sur la belle et la bête de Cocteau

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Ah. Dommage. Ça aurait été génial.

Hé, est-ce que tu as encore ton projet sur le film de Cocteau? J'aimerait bien le lire!

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Oh? Tu parle de Mélusine? Ou Abrade? Ou les vouivres? Mais selon ce que je souviens des histoires, leurs transformations était quand même sur un cycle, non?

Si je me trompe et que c'est un conte ou la transformation est permanente je serais VRAIMENT intéressée à conaître le nom du conte! Les transformations permanentes féminines sont plutôt rares!

En fait l'idée male = permanent et femme = cyclique est l'idée commune dans les contes. Mais il y a sans doute des exceptions. Si tu m'as trouvé une exception, je serais vraiment heureuse!!!

Je me souviens que tu aimais bien se genre de contes. Si tu as des infos pour moi ou des livres à me suggérer, merci de me les envoyer!

(ah pars ça, le portfolio, ça avance bien?)

[miss-maggiemay.livejournal.com]

mmm je sais pas tout se que je me rappelle c'est que c'était un peu comme la belle et la bête sauf qu'à la place de la belle qui réussit à tamiser la bête, c'était un chevalier qui conquérait la pute monstrueuse pour la transformer en princesse vierge docile. Je vais essayer de chercher. Pour mon travail je dois lavoir encore sur mon ordinateur.. tu peux bien le lire si tu veux mais je ne jure pas de la qualité. en gros je devais comparer la belle et la bête au cinéma expressionnisme allemand.

[angelchan-2004.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I hope the day gets better, Isa!

Ah, I've never read Bone. D: It sounds like something I'd really enjoy, too!

...omg. I actually really love that idea. Gender-swapped Beauty and the Beast! I love the designs you've started for her, but I do agree--a little less cute would really make this work amazingly. ;D

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I hope your weekend makes up for your crappy day. *hugs*

I have the same giant Bone black&white omnibus. And, even though mine is in good condition, it's hard to cuddle up on the couch with a book that large (and forget leaving it open to reference a pose or whatever!).
I've been meaning to collect the colored volumes that Scholastic has been putting out. Don't get me wrong, the original B&W pages are gorgeously inked. But I first discovered Bone when it was published in color in Disney Adventures magazine back in the 1990s and my inner child is demanding to see it that way again!


I'd love to see you tackle a gender-swapped version of Beauty and the Beast (your twisted imagination could do wonderful things with it). And I think crazy long hair is a good design choice (surprise surprise ~_^). However, I think the story would probably be more effective if you toned down the cuteness of the Beast Girl's design. Unless she's supposed to be very young at the time of her transformation, making her super cute negates the whole "Oh no, I'm cursed to be ugly forever! Poor me!" thing that was a big part of the original story.

[elirrina.livejournal.com]

She is an awfully cute monster. I'm curious about how you would run the story!

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

Yuck, that sucks. At least there will be a new pony episode tonight.

I need to re-read my Bone comics, they are so awesome. Thorn is probably one of my favorite female comic characters. I own the coloured versions, which are nice, but are no doubt more pricey than the black and white. I'll be getting The Quest for the Spark novel for my birthday next week. I'll let you know how it is. ^_^

That is true about fairytales, especially when you think about Swan Lake and such. The female beast story sounds cool and hey maybe sometime in the future we can do that little mermaid's sister wanting revenge story I mentioned a while ago. XD

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

Fone Bone!!! :DDD and I've always kinda wondered what he would look like as a human. Not that he isn't perfectly fine just the way he is, but my mind works in weird ways sometimes...

And I like the idea of the gender-swapped 'Beauty and the Beast'. It is definitely something that is different. And the idea of a cute best girl is fun! And I like the design you have for her.

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

I loved Bone, but hated the lack of resolution between Fone Bone and Thorn at the end. :\

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I agree. That sure was anti-climatic...

Fone: Hey. You get to be a queen now! That's awesome!
Thorn: I know!
**hugs**
Fone: ....well, bye!
Thorn: See ya!

[anna-nimmie-tee.livejournal.com]

Steeleye Span, an old folk-rock group in England can provide a musical example with "King Henry" on their BELOW THE SALT album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrsGpPA5TBA&feature=related
It's one of my favorite Halloween appropriate tunes.

[putri-nih.livejournal.com]

Heeeeyyyy someone wants to visit where I live XD

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

I haven't thought of Bone in forever! Cool fan pic ;)

A female beast is a very awesome concept to play out! I like the idea of a 'cute monster girl' to :P The mask is an interesting reference. Looking forward to seeing more of your ideas to come for your next project! :)