Neon’s A Doll A Day… Again (2020)

[davidd]

The illustrations look beautiful! Are those 19th century illustrations in this version?

Did books you owned and loved as a child influence the style of your own art?

[Lejays17]

That's a lovely illustration that Darling is posed in front of.

Is the book only Czech fairy-tales, or are they also translations of other fairy-tales from around the place? Like versions of Grimm or Andersen?

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much, everyone!!!

The illustrations look beautiful! Are those 19th century illustrations in this version?

Did books you owned and loved as a child influence the style of your own art?

No, they're from 1910s - 1920s (I can't find the exact date of their creation / publication, my book is from 1969), by Czech painter and illustrator Artuš Scheiner. 

Definitely, but I'd say my mom and my grandma (and to a degree my great-grandmother) were the most prominent influence. All of them share(d, great-grandma moved on from this world long ago) the same, rather dark sense of humor, appreciation for the dark, morbid and macabre, and love for literature and art. I naturally soaked all of it in by simply being ex-posed to it in fun ways when I spent time with them.

Is the book only Czech fairy-tales, or are they also translations of other fairy-tales from around the place?  Like versions of Grimm or Andersen?

Czech only. It was the era of Czech National Revival, and I don't want to type about it in detail, because there's a lot to type, but it was era of reclaiming our status and identity as a nation after two centuries of Habsburg domination, during which Czech were treated as inferior ethnicity and the language and culture were being erased from everything official. Collections of fairytales back then were less childrens' books and more of a proof of our own folklore and culture, so foreign fairytales, eventhough well loved, simply didn't have a place in these books.

As for traditional Czech fairytales, there are some unique to us, and some that are slightly changed versions of well-known european fairytales. Those are really old tales that found their way into floklore of nations across the whole Europe, so you'll find slightly different versions of them in all European countries. That means some of our fairytales are very similar to what you'd find in Grimms.

I'm leaving Andersen out of it, because he changed stories a lot and some of them were his originals, whereas Grimms were collecting the folk tales as they were, and only edited them for quality of language purposes, though they did include some of Perrault stories, and Perrault also changed the original folk tales quite a bit, but I'm going off on a dangerous tangent here, so I'll stop.

Whew, sorry for yet another rant.



Day 272

Inspired by Lejays and davidd, I also wanted to take some fairy photos, but I was immediately stopped by three obstacles - lack of a garden, abundance of rain outside (thank goodness for it, though, the land needs all the rain it can soak right now), and finally, low numbers of fairies in my collection. Only two of my faries have wings, but Faybelle's are actually a part of her necklace and the little blue fairy is mostly made of papier-mâché, she's very fragile and not very poseable. The rest are fairies by virtue of being part of Azone's Lil' Fairy line. So I made the best of what I have, and I guess we now have a photographic proof that fairies' natural habitats include lightboxes, too.





Monty doesn't really feel like a fairy, to be honest, but he'll have to accept it. Nothing stops him from being a dark fairy, though.

[werepuppy]

Oh this is fantastic.

Also it feels lik Faybelle has gotten stuck with the babysitting and she's not best pleased about it

[Alliecat]

A cute collection. You can get a lot in that light box!

[Lejays17]

It’s so suitable that your fairies live in the light box

Fay Belle looks distinctly unimpressed to be surrounded by all the little ones - which are tiny! I forget how little they are when they are by themselves.
Nothing wrong with being a dark fairy Monty! You need the dark to contrast the light!

[Elfy]

Your fairies look to be enjoying life in the light box. The filtered photo is perfect for this type of shot. It echoes the Cottingsley fairies.

[neon_jellyfish]

Oh this is fantastic.

Also it feels lik Faybelle has gotten stuck with the babysitting and she's not best pleased about it

Thank you!!!

Haha, yeah, she's not, looking after little kids isn't her style. She might be in for a surprise though, if a magic fight broke between them, I'd bet on Lil' Fairies. They are quite a capable bunch. She'll be fine if she just leaves them alone...

A cute collection.  You can get a lot in that light box!

Thanks! Well, these are quite small. The most I managed to cram in there was 11 dolls, 5 Pullips and 6 MH dolls.

It’s so suitable that your fairies live in the light box

Fay Belle looks distinctly unimpressed to be surrounded by all the little ones - which are tiny!  I forget how little they are when they are by themselves.
Nothing wrong with being a dark fairy Monty!  You need the dark to contrast the light!

The lightbox is like a living room here (this flat only has kitchen, bathroom and bedroom), most exciting things happen in there...

She tends to look down on them (well, on everyone), but she's underestimating them...

Yup, they're my tiniest dolls. I should take a size comparison photo like werepuppy does some time.

Your fairies look to be enjoying life in the light box. The filtered photo is perfect for this type of shot. It echoes the Cottingsley fairies.

Thank you! That was exactly what I was going for! I hope to revisit the idea in better weather.



Day 273

A Total Doodling Failure A Week #38

...I actually didn't want to post this, because I botched it, but I don't have fuel to draw anything else, so I'm posting it anyways.





So I wanted to make a sortavintagemovielikekindaposter for davidd's Sally LaSalle, because I love that character, but I'm obviously way too out of shape for that.
The base drawing wasn't that bad (still pretty bad though), it did resemble the doll a (very slight) bit (the hair is different on purpose, because center parts weren't much of a thing in 30s), but I completely destroyed it when I started lining and coloring. I didn't even finish it, because lipstick on a pig, right? She doesn't look like herself at all. I hate this thing and I think I'm going to burn it.

I'm sorry for doing this to your wonderful character, davidd!

[werepuppy]

Apple looks ridiculously excited to see the movie.

I think it looks really nice!

[davidd]

DON'T BURN IT!!!!! I sent you an email!

Your illustration of Sally is not only beautiful, it is PERFECT! PERFECT!

No, I'm not exaggerating. The style looks just like a paper doll illustration from the 1930s. In fact, not long ago I posted a picture of 1930s paper dolls on Instagram with the comment that I wished I could draw in that style. You can draw in that style! A style that is perfect for the character of Sally LaSalle.

Additionally... you're psychically lurking in my brain! This is what Sally LaSalle has always looked like in my mind! Even from her days as a Candy Pop doll, this is what she looked like in my mind's eye! I mean, this is exactly what she looked like!

You are, of course, correct about the side part in the hair. I'm hoping I can restyle the hair on the figure I'm currently using... to more closely resemble this illustration.

And as werepuppy says, Apple looks excited to see the movie! I'll be right there in line with her! I'm excited to see it, too!

I'm also excited to see your fairy post from yesterday! How did I not see it? (Well, busy day, but never mind.) That is an incredible image! It looks so much like the Cottingley Fairy photos that I am stunned! There's something about the slightly artificial way the figures are separated from the background, and the not-quite-right sense of scale, and the odd levitation of the flying figures, that captures the sense, the feel, the impression of those original photos!

Orlok lurking there in the corner is a fun touch!

Two photos in two days contending for my VERY TOP FAVORITES of your ADAD for the year!

Oh, but that drawing!

(She's even wearing her pink scarf!)

[Alliecat]

Botched, WTF?
Maybe it doesn't look like what you envisioned, but I think anybody else would say it's terrific. Faces are hard!! And this is really good! She is so cute... you're going to be getting commission portrait requests....
I think someone wants this one.

[Elfy]

I can’t see how it’s botched. If I saw a pic like that as an advertisement for a film, I’d want to see that movie.

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much, everyone, I feel much better about it!


Day 274

Last rose of 2020



Last rose is special. It's summer passing the baton to autumn. I usually leave the blossoms on the bush until they wither, then I cut them off, but when there's only the last one remainng, I cut it while it's still pretty and put it in a vase. I don't do the first rose, because she never has one first blossom, there's a few of them each spring, but when autumn arrives, she produces one last blossom as a closing ceremony of her season.

And I had to filter it, of course.

[davidd]

That blossom is stunning! Closing down the season in a blaze of glory!

The colors in the filtered version remind me of faded old art prints that were stashed away in the attic at my grandparents' house when I was little.

[werepuppy]

You really do get a sense of ceremony from this picture. Like the Lady of Flowers laying down her tools for the beginning of Fall and the Harvest...