Folded Fairytales
Classic stories over a single page
In these single-page, comics landscape and story combine as you follow the journey of iconic fairy-tale heroines through their classic tale.
Adapting fairytales makes for an interesting creative challenge because the reader already knows and has an attachment to the story.
About the Project
I wanted to experiment with incredibly short comics, working on a single page. Fairytales are a really interesting inspiration for this challenge. On one hand, I can count on the reader to fill in a lot of the blanks. But, at the same time, I know there are expectations about the key scenes and moments that simply have to be there. The creative challenge is walking the line between what I must include and what I can trust the reader to bring to the story themselves.
When I began planning out these stories, I found that the setting and landscape of the stories seemed to become the most important part of the project. I found myself drawn to stories where the heroine has a ‘there and back again’ journey. This meant that rather than focusing on individual panels, I could create a landscape that the heroine moves through. Each story in this series therefore plays with this idea of landscape and story combined: these two elements inexorably intertwined.
Little Red Riding Hood
This is the ultimate ‘don’t go into the deep dark woods’ story. I chose to work with the Brother’s Grimm version of the story, including the ending where the wolf ends up with a belly full of stones after the family is rescued
The woods and trees are the real heart of this story, with the tale wending and weaving its way between them. The entire back of the page is dominated by the deep dark woods as the setting and the folds are designed so that the wolf peeks over the top when it’s folded shut.
The red cape is the guiding colour that helps the reader navigate the page, following from story beat to story beat, and ultimately guiding you safely home again.
The Little Mermaid
The tragic original story of The Little Mermaid - so unlike the animated version it inspired - was part of my research for my last project, ‘Through the Depths’, so the tale was very much in my mind for this current project too. Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale is huge, and it was a real challenge to pick which beats had to be included versus which ones to leave out.
This is a story of land versus sea. The landscape is a huge portion of the page, so the mermaid becomes this small figure, moving through the great big world. Bubbles capture and connect each beat of her story as she moves between these two diametrically opposed settings, as well as the liminal spaces between them.
Cinderella
Referencing Perrault’s classic Cinderella, I chose to make this a story that is more about interior spaces than the outdoors. The home and the palace are the central locations, so I needed to get them feeling just right for this piece. I drew inspiration from the cut-through drawings of buildings and homes that I enjoyed as a child in so many picture books.
Cinderella’s journey is also about the transitions from day to night, so the page also captures this shift in the colours chosen. Cinderella herself is a glowing beacon of warmth as she navigates her world and the challenges within it.