turtlesoup: a green-haired girl in a collared shirt & vest holds her fingers up to her head like devil horns (magic is shiny - collaborative)
[personal profile] turtlesoup
Good morning! It's snowing here in Vermont (already. again.) ... and finally, I have a longer comic to share! A fantasy comic at that, which I've been wanting to do for ages.

The following was my answer to our "bibliomancy" assignment: we had to put our fingers down at random in three places in a reference book (loosely defined), and use what we found (words, phrases, even images) at predetermined points in a four(ish) page comic to move the story along. I'll list mine for you after the comic!

I don't have a proper cover for this at present (I'll make one later, for the print version), but this is called "The Swamp Bride."

swamp bride page one


swamp bride page two

swamp bride page three

swamp bride page four

swamp bride page five

swamp bride page six


Also here's the ... unofficial epilogue. (I'm not sure I'll include it in a print version.) I had two endings for the story and couldn't decide between them, so I wound up polling quite a large selection of my friends and classmates. While I eventually decided on the above, several people (including me) really enjoyed the alternative, so I finished it as well:

swamp bride page seven


I came to the conclusion that, fun as that is, it also kind of takes away from the main thrust of the story by making the Swamp Bride back into a sexual object. Sex is great, but this really wasn't the comic for it, alas ... I'll have to see what I can come up with in future!

Anyway, the book I used for this assignment was Marina Warner's From The Beast To The Blonde, a text on fairy tales leftover from my undergraduate studies. My three story elements were:

1. "quoth I" (the beginning of the comic)
2. "a nervous or even anxious woman" (the entrance of the girl at the bottom of page one)
3. a cropped version of this painting (our first sight of the real swamp bride)

None of these gave me a subject, really, and as I was in something of a rush, I grabbed a random illustration I made a few weeks back and ran with that. I'm fairly happy with the way the art on all this came out, but I'm a little shaky on the storytelling ... various classmates had difficulty following some of the things I was trying to say. I may wind up considering this a draft; I've grown attached enough to the story that it'd be nice to make a slower, more careful attempt at telling it well.

If any generous commentors have a minute and wouldn't mind leaving me their take on what's happening in the above pages, I'd be deeply appreciative! ♥

Apart from the above, I'm mostly wrapped up in finishing a twelve-page story and helping to design and edit the anthology it'll be a part of, but here are a couple of odds and ends.

totally self-righteous


I pulled a ridiculous all-nighter to get the Swamp Bride comic done, and then I had to do my diary assignment for the week ... ironically, the above was a compositional rush job with a whole bunch of cut corners on the inking. Can anyone even tell, I wonder? The truth is, I do need to find a bit more balance, while remaining dedicated.

And finally, I actually drew some of my ongoing characters for a change:
spying from a railing


Luce and Mickey, patiently waiting their turn (it'll come, I swear). Drawn for a postcard exchange with my amazing friend Dea (you can see us walking & talking in the background).

That'll do for the moment, I hope ... back, quite literally, to the drawing board with me. If you're in the U.S., have a lovely Thanksgiving; if not, just have a great week!

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-23 02:55 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] chaiminda
I think the swamp bride comic would be easier to follow if you had picked a less obscure fairy tale...it's hard to parody/explore something when the audience isn't familiar with it. I love the art!

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-23 03:16 pm (UTC)
ataratah: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ataratah
Yay, SWAMP BRIDE! It's fabulous!

I've always loved those folk tales, and I love even more when they get turned on their head, the way you did here. Seriously, I was so sad when the rusalka died in Quest for Glory, so this is basically cathartic for me.

Also, swamp bride is adorable!!! <3

Comments from Laura

Date: 2011-11-23 03:52 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Hey Allie,

Comments!

First off, yay for fairy tales (and I wholeheartedly approve of using lesser-known ones).

In the first panel, you might want to make the sign on the tree a little clearer, and/or show the sign on one of the trees in the third panel. Just to make it clear where the words are coming from.

I'd like to see a few more panels with both the distraught maiden's story and the confrontation with Bryant (I'm always a fan of more detail--I'll be the first to admit that sometimes my desire for detail is excessive).

Also, I think you made the right choice with the last panel...though I definitely did enjoy the alternate ending as well!

Keep up the good work,

Laura

Re: Comments from Laura

Date: 2011-11-26 01:06 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
I kind of thought so, but it also struck me as a bit Russalka-esque, so I thought there might be a variation I wasn't familiar with. Though of course I knew the lovely lady with the sword was your own invention :)

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-23 09:41 pm (UTC)
rhivolution: David Tennant does the Thinker (Default)
From: [personal profile] rhivolution
I liked it! I liked it a lot. A bit more expansion of the main character going through the woods (a sense of how far, etc.) and perhaps what they're talking about?

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-23 10:50 pm (UTC)
rhivolution: David Tennant does the Thinker (Default)
From: [personal profile] rhivolution
The one at the end--I don't know, it just feels a touch abrupt.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-23 11:08 pm (UTC)
rhivolution: David Tennant does the Thinker (Default)
From: [personal profile] rhivolution
Oh yeah, totally! Fear not, I think it's pretty darn good as it is.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-24 07:33 am (UTC)
archersangel: (approved)
From: [personal profile] archersangel
the swamp bride comic was very interesting.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-27 07:55 pm (UTC)
holyschist: Image of a medieval crocodile from Herodotus, eating a person, with the caption "om nom nom" (Default)
From: [personal profile] holyschist
What I thought happened in the Swamp Bride comic: Warrior is walking through the woods/swamp and finds Sad Maiden, who is upset because she thinks her fiance was taken by the evil Swamp Bride. Warrior finds Fiance and Swamp Bride, but Fiance is actually about to rape (or at least harass) Swamp Bride? So Warrior kicks his ass and sends him packing back to Sad Maiden, and then chats with Swamp Bride.

I didn't assume it was a take on a traditional fairy tale, and I liked it a lot.

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-29 05:29 am (UTC)
holyschist: Image of a medieval crocodile from Herodotus, eating a person, with the caption "om nom nom" (Default)
From: [personal profile] holyschist
I think that came across, too!

(no subject)

Date: 2011-11-28 06:16 pm (UTC)
epershand: A rainbow of colored pencils. (rainbow)
From: [personal profile] epershand
I enjoyed swamp bride a lot--very fun play on the tropes of fairy tales without following a specific one. And yay for rescuing Swamp Bride from boorish fiance!
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