Hello Friends!

This is a drawing I did over the last couple of nights. I recently found a small booklet called “Rackham’s Fairy Tale Illustrations” that was put together and edited by Jeff A. Menges and published in 2002.

When I was a little kid in the 1960s, I know I saw Arthur Rackham’s illustrations in old books of Grimm’s fairy tales. He also did illustrations for other books such as Snowdrop and Other Tales and Hansel and Grethel and Other Tales both published in 1920.

I find it interesting that Menges says, “Creatures of fantasy, legend, and fairy tales represented the core of Rackham’s output. His imaginative interpretations of witches, elves, giants, and fairies have influenced many of the images that have been produced ever since.” This is exactly what I have been hoping to do – create fairy tale images from MY imagination!

My drawing is a combination of my own imagination and copying Rackham’s giant from his illustration from “Jack and the Beanstalk.” However, as you can see from his illustration, I changed mine quite a bit! For instance, my giant doesn’t have animals hanging from his belt!

My perspective is different, because I wanted the giant to be looking down at a hole in his floor where Jack is climbing up the beanstalk which, of course, did not happen in the written story. But this is my version! There’s a lot about the angle that isn’t perspectively correct, but I actually hadn’t planned on it being a finished drawing. I was just sketching in ink and then decided to use my brush pens to add the color. But it was too fun to keep it to myself!

Have a wonderful day and give someone you love a big hug! 😀