The Harpy's Curse
Not a lot of people know how much I love mythology and local legends. Over time, I began collecting my own minor myths; all of them original, yet retaining a flavor of the myths and tales we all grew up with.
This fall, I gave myself a challenge to illustrate one of these stories in just ten days and the result is The Harpy’s Curse.
Once Upon A Time
Until recently, I worked in traditional media like pencils, paper, and opaque watercolors. I loved it, (and still do,) but the processing was annoying. Scanning the image was followed by cleaning it up in Photoshop (which I’ve never liked using) and then a lot of unpleasant post-processing of the image. Now, I work directly on the iPad and though some elements of my new drawings don’t quite hum like my older images, they are so much easier to make that I knew it was time to start using them to tell more stories.
The Book
Sometimes I make images and later start thinking of stories about the characters. In this case, I created a whole series of myths and legends with no intention of ever drawing the characters. In fact, I think I love the idea of very minimal images letting the listener sort of fill in the details. It’s the tricky thing about story telling, how much do you show and how much do you tell. Despite enjoying drawing, I actually like to leave a lot of the image from the story up to the reader’s imagination.
The Story
Long ago, the good king and queen of the hill country were killed when an evil harpy poisoned the minds of the people against them. Their daughter survived and being young, and therefore innocent, was immune to the harpy’s dark power. Unable to destroy the girl, the harpy banished her to the Slender Mountain. If ever the girl were to step foot on the ground, she would instantly turn to ash. Her only hope of escape are the heavy, magical flagstones at the bottom of the mountain and the only person who can bring them, a young woodsman who lives upon a high mountain plane.
This is a story of hard work, self sacrifice, and the satisfaction that comes from persistence and hard work.
Now, these characters are just waiting for you to bring them home in this full-color illustrated story. I’m sure you’re going to love it.