New Stories

I have been searching for more fairy tale writers and have come across a collection of Han Andersen's Fairy Tales, translated by Erik Haugaard. I have read several of these stories and am interested in The Little Mermaid and Inchelina. They have sections of description or elements that I am excited about illustrating. I am now going to study them thoroughly see sketchbook and create a summary of the sections I am interested in.

The Little Mermaid
The scene I am interested in is the very first in the story. The description is of the clear water and the mer-king's castle, as well as some of the surrounding area.

• Water - "as blue as the petals of the cornflower and as clear as glass"
• The Castle - walls made of coral; long pointed windows made of amber; roof is oyster shells that are continually opening and closing, in each shell lies a pearl
• The Little Mermaid - "complexion was as fine as the petal of a rose"; "eyes as blue as the deepest lake"; "no feet; her body ended in a fishtail"
• Surrounding land - "a great park"; "fiery-red and deep blue trees" "their fruits shone as though they were the prest gold; their flowers like flames"; "the earth was the finest sand, not white but blue, the colour of burning sulphur"; "blue tinge to everything"; "the sun appeared like a crimson flower"
• Other features - "the strangest plants and trees"; "big and small fishes"; "weeping willow; long soft branches bent towards the sand"

Inchelina
There isn't one specific scene that I am looking to illustrate from this story, but I am interested in the alteration in scale because of the size of the character. I would like to create an image from Inchelina's view point, perhaps looking out of a flower. I will combine several sections of the narrative in order to create a full composition.

I am now thinking of adding subtle symbols that relate to the story into my compositions. For example, the veins of a leaf could show a witch's claw. This is just one initial example of the sort of thing I am considering. I think this will add some interest for my audience, and help them to link it back to the original narrative.