For the dissertation I had known from day one I wanted to use it as an opportunity to create some work. The reason being I felt that it would allow me to develop my skills and to apply a practical element to the dissertation. Initially I thought I might have done 2/3 illustrations but with time constraints and keeping to the word count, for the dissertation I ended up completing one illustration. I ended up on choosing “An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales” to illustrate the same pages I discussed in the dissertation, so I could then compare my adaptation to that of the illustrator Kate Keiper.

Initial ideas into character design and colour 

First initial exploration into using same double paged spread that I discuss in the dissertation. I was going to include the Goshawk in the background but ended up taking that away to put focus on the emotions in the scene.

Final outcome:

To get some background information for the comparison I will carrying out I have some some reading into the book Words About Pictures by Perry Nodelman.

Source:

Nodelman, P. (1988). Words about pictures : the narrative art of children’s picture books. Athens, Georgia: University Of Georgia Press.

I have found some biographical information (at last) on Alexander Lindberg on this website. I have had to google translate it to get information from it, but it has been helpful as it talks a bit about his style, inspiration and work methods.

Some background information on Russian folktales from The Russian Folktale.

Sources:

‌Kuvittajat. (2017). Aleksander Lindeberg – Satutaiteen mestari. [online] Available at: https://kuvittajat.fi/kuvittaja-posts/aleksander-lindeberg-satutaiteen-mestari [Accessed 19 Nov. 2020].  
​

Propp, V., Forrester, S.E.S. and Zipes, J. (2012) The Russian folktale by Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

I have found some interviews with the illustrator Kate Leiper who I will be comparing in my dissertation with Alexander Lindberg. They are helpful in understanding how they work as artist to bring the folktales to life, as well as why she likes to illustrate folktales.

I have also found some background information on Scottish folktales from the book Thistle and Thyme that I originally wanted to use to compare.

There is also helpful information at the history press for Scottish folktales and their history, mainly focused on Perthshire, but can apply to the whole of Scotland.

Sources:

Neil, V. (2016) Creative interview with artist and illustrator Kate Leiper - video dailymotion. [online] Available at: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2oafiq [Accessed 18 Nov. 2020].

The Nation. (2016). In Conversation with Kate Leiper. [online] Available at: https://nation.com.pk/10-Jul-2016/in-conversation-with-kate-leiper [Accessed 18 Nov. 2020].
‌
‌Floris Books Blog. (2014). #FlorisDesign Illustrator Interview: Kate Leiper. [online] Available at: http://www.florisbooks.co.uk/blog/2014/10/29/florisdesign-illustrator-interview-kate-leiper/ [Accessed 18 Nov. 2020].

‌Words & Pictures. (2019). CREATIVE SECRETS Kate Leiper. [online] Available at: https://www.wordsandpics.org/2019/05/creative-secrets-kate-leiper.html [Accessed 18 Nov. 2020].

Leodhas, S.N. (2014). Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland. [online] Google Books. Open Road Media. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vDcaBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 18 Nov. 2020].

Hope, C.A. and Gibb, L. www.thehistorypress.co.uk. (n.d.). The History Press | Finding the folk tales. [online] Available at: https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/finding-the-folk-tales/ [Accessed 18 Nov. 2020].

​

For the past while I have been changing my mind on what tales to compare. At first I was set on choosing animals, but now I want to focus on women who are the main character within the story. Also I wasn’t able to get a copy of Evaline Ness’s book Favourite Fairy tales from Italy, so I have gone with Theresa Breslin’s Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales, illustrated by Kate Leiper. This has worked out though, as it is a contemporary book, with illustrations that are more different to Alexander Lindenberg’s than what Ness would have been. Also it is Scottish folktales so has more of a personal connection to me. 

From Russian Folk Tales translated by H.C Stevens and illustrated by Alexander Lindberg. 
​A classic fairy tale and this rendition it is no different, the frog princess ends up with the Prince. Yet what I felt this version did was put the princess in the main role, she is one doing all the work of each task to impress the Prince Ivan son of Tsar. Ivan is simply ignorant of what she is doing for him and ends up burning her frog skin once she has revealed her human identity as Princess Vassilisa. His foolish actions force him to have to find her again by overcoming trials. From my perspective if would be more interesting to have the Princess leave having to restore her frog skin or by breaking the curse herself if there was one, instead of the Prince saving her, as she leaves kind of randomly without a full explanation. But obviously this is from a modern view and the book was published in 1967, so things have certainly changed since then. So, I have chosen this tale as I like the general story, but the illustrations that go with it also have lots I can compare and discuss.

From Scottish Folktales and Fairy Tales compiled by Theresa Breslin and illustrated by Kate Leiper.
This tale has been adapted from Sir Walter Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders. Most takes on this story have the male hero saving the maiden, yet the take on it by Breslin is that the heroine, Jean, saves herself. The story has a sort of Romeo and Juliet vibe, with English Jean in love with a ‘enemy’ Scotsman. She fakes her own death so her father, as he promised, would take her over the border to a chapel. There is a happy ending with Jean and her beloved together in the chapel after the procession left. To me it felt a bit under developed, wouldn’t her father find out she lived and now was with the enemy? Or the fact he needed little persuasion from Jean to let her body rest over the border. Maybe I am thinking too much into it, it is just a story! Yet I think it would be a good choice for myself to adapt further with illustrations. 

Sources:

Stevens, H.C. and Lindberg, A. (1967) Russian folk tales. London: Paul Hamlyn Ltd.
​Breslin, T. and Leiper, K. (2012) An Illustrated Treasury of Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales. Consortium Book Sales & Dist.

I found this book to be informative, in that it gives a more theoretical approach to how works have been adapted. I can use this book to quote and help my argument of folktales being valid as an adaptation into illustrated books.

Source: 

​Hutcheon, L. and O’flynn, S. (2013). A theory of adaptation. London: Routledge.

The book The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre written by Jack Zipes, is a fairly recent publication that gives a more modern take on the genre of fairy tales, say compared to Vladimir Propp whose writings and lectures were from the earlier half of the twentieth century. It can be applied to my dissertation in the sense that there is little differences in fairy and folk tales, they both are stories originating from word of mouth, being spoken. Then as human development of technology advanced they went into printed books, adapted into collections, illustrated by artists. 

With more of a structure to my dissertation now I feel more focused and know what I need to research to back up my writing. I have done some reading into Vladimir Propp’s academic writings in the book The Russian Folktale. Although the name of the book suggests just Russian folktales, it is a good source for defining a folktale and giving context around its meaning. 

Source:

Propp, V., Forrester, S.E.S. and Zipes, J. (2012) The Russian Folktale by Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

After doing some research into finding academic/ literature sources, I have been able to find some articles on Journals of Illustration that may help in my dissertation. After thinking about it further I think the focus on folktales/ legends/ fairytales helps narrow down the topic, with it leading to a comparison of two books. Again I have chosen the book Russian Folktales illustrated by Alexander Lindberg and one by Evaline Ness - either Thistle and Thyme: Tales and Legends from Scotland or Favourite Fairytales from Italy, depends what one I can get my hands on! Preferably the Thistle and Thyme one, though I can only find black and white images and Ness has such a wonderful use of colour that I might have to go with the Italy one as it is more readily available to buy as well. I thinking putting less focus on printmaking helps to be able to compare the woodcut prints of Ness and the traditional mediums of Lindberg. Then I will explore their techniques to illustrate a folktale myself, as I want the dissertation to be a help to my development as an illustrator in some way and not a mass of text that doesn’t benefit me.

After having feedback I need to narrow down my dissertation theme even further than I thought! 
I want to write down some ideas/ ways I could go with it now, and I hope it gives me a clearer idea of what to do.

Discuss on illustrated folklore books that use similar themes within their stories, which could be around animals, people. Comparison of two/three illustrators, their way of illustrating the stories, how their methods/materials add to the visuals and text of the story. Then myself explore illustrating versions of the stories I have talked about with similar methods used by the illustrators, but make it my own style. Two illustrators I really want to talk about are Evaline Ness and Alexander Lindberg as they have illustrated folklore stories and I love their styles of illustration. I have the Russian Folklore book Lindberg illustrated and I am currently trying to buy/ source a copy of Thistle and Thyme, a book on Scottish folklore that Ness illustrated. If I can’t get a version of the book then I might have to use images online and buy the ebook, but hopefully I can find a copy, as I really want to use that book if I take this route with my dissertation. Also there is very little background information on Lindberg but it doesn’t matter too much if I am only talking about his work, I am just not entirely sure how he made his work. It looks similar to collage or pochoir, yet I think he used traditional painting methods with some kind of resist with the paper to get certain textures? Ness used woodblock/ lino printmaking methods to achieve her style of shapes and lines which then transfer to a limited colour palette.

I have thought about exploring literature in how books aimed at pre-teen / teenagers have been illustrated inside and on the covers with printmaking methods, probably a focus on relief printing methods compared with traditional/digital drawings. Again I would use 2/3 book series to talk about and compare their styles with each other. I know I would want to talk about the His Dark Materials series, there have been a few different styles used over the past twenty five years since its release, so I might just focus on one book series and how it’s book covers have been interpreted over the years. John Lawrence was one woodblock artist who did prints for the side books Lyra’s Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North, and I feel his work really encapsulates the other worldly feel to the books. Also there is the Harry Potter series as an option, it has been a lot more illustrated, and one illustrator Claire Melinsky did linoprints for the covers about ten years ago now I think?

Focusing on children’s picture books with a theme of animals and/ or people, as well as stone form of either screen printing or woodblock/ Lino being used within them. Again a comparison of 2/3 illustrators style and how it represents the stories with the printmaking and drawing techniques used.  Some illustrators I have considered for this idea are Beatrix Potter, Evaline Ness, Edward Bawden, Sara Oglivie and Oliver Jeffers. I would also experiment and illustrate some ideas for a children’s picture book. Either one already written or possibly one of my own ideas. 

It has felt good to write all these ideas down and have them in one space, as they have been in my head for awhile, so I am glad to have finally done so! At the moment I like the first idea of folklore the most, but I am going to have a look for some more academic texts/ books that could help me in all three ideas.