Myths and Legends of Russia: the Illustrations
Let us have more pictures, shall we? Several of us are experiencing December blues and quite unable to rouse ourselves to the spirit of the season. I hope these may provide a few moments' entertainment at the very least.
I never did manage to post these illustrations here. I did post a link to my dA gallery instead a few months ago, but links are no fun. Besides, there are fewer illustrations there. These are all of them.
Cross-posted at told_tales and storybookland I feel so silly and awkward sometimes, posting these things in communities; especially having to sign off with my name as the illustrator. (*wrinkled nose*)
'She waved her right hand, and lakes and woods appeared; she waved her left hand, and various birds began to fly about'
Illustration for The Frog Princess.
'I'm Rumbling Thunder! I'll tumble you under! I'm Bear Thicklegs!'
Illustration for The Castle of the Fly.
'Ivashko too walked and walked, and met the three-headed dragon'
Illustration for The Three Kingdoms.
‘The fox is carrying me away … Cat Cotonaevich, rescue me!’
Illustration for The Cat, the Cock, and the Fox.
The motif of the cock being carried away by the fox may bring to mind the fables concerning Reynard the Fox, Chanticleer the rooster, and his hen, Partlet - most particularly, The Nun's Priest's Tale, from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Unlike that tale, however, in which Chanticleer manages to outwit the fox in the end, this one does not end happily for the cock. In spite of having to be rescued by the cat twice and being warned not to be deceived, he eventually falls prey to the fox in his third attempt.
'She boiled water and poured it into the barrels, thus scalding the six robbers to death'
Illustration for The Wise Maiden and the Seven Robbers.
This tale is the wonderful Russian variant of the more famous Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the Thousand and One Nights; except here there are only seven robbers in total, and whereas Morgiana uses boiling oil in the Arabian Nights tale, here, the wise maiden uses boiling water.
'The crane pecked with his bill, knocked and knocked at the dish, but nothing got into his mouth, while the fox lapped and lapped the gruel until she had eaten it all'
Illustration for The Fox and the Crane.
This is one of two of the earliest illustrations which I completed. I did not have my own scanner at the time, so a photocopy of the original was sent to eolhchtur to scan; apologies for the poor quality as a result. I still don't have the original back to make a new scan from that. My signature in the corner was also omitted in the final published illustration. It was there merely as a trial to begin with.
'Then devils came from all directions and assembled under the oak'
Illustration for Right and Wrong.
'A fox came by and asked: "Why are you weeping, Snow White?" '
Illustration for Snow White and the Fox.
'Next morning the seven-year-old girl took off her clothes, donned a net, took the quail in her hand, sat upon the hare, and went to the palace'
Illustration for The Wise Little Girl.
This is another one which was scanned for me by eolhchtur a long ago from a photocopy of the original artwork, when I did not yet have my own scanner. Apologies for the poor quality. I'm afraid I don't have the original back yet from which to make a new scan. Again, the signature was omitted in the final reproduction.
'She bade him leave his horse with her and ride on her own two-winged horse'
Illustration for The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life.
The embroidery on the knight's cloak is almost directly inspired by an Ivan Bilibin illustration.
The horse's head appears to lose itself in the red cloak here: I would like to point out that this is a piece which, in the original artwork at least, suffers from the paleness of the ink against the strength of the gouache. This is not a problem in the actual reproduction (please see the next picture below for this).
This is a scan of the proof and is just to illustrate that the final printed illustration shows the horse's head clearly against he red cloak with no difficulty.
'She threw her comb - and there grew up a deep and terrifying forest'
Illustration for Baba Yaga.
This is just one of a myriad of tales in Slavic folklore to feature the marvelous Baba Yaga, by turns wicked and benign. This one happens to be one of my favourites of these tales. Can you spot the comb?
'The sorceress was waiting for her, seized her, tied a stone around her neck, and cast her into the sea'
Illustration for Sister Alionushka and Brother Ivanushka.
'She became a terrible lioness, but when she was about to swallow the good youth, his magic steed came running and took hold of her with his mighty legs'
Illustration for Two Ivans, Soldiers' Sons.
'He mounted his horse, waved his hand, pushed his feet into the stirrups, jumped up to the third storey, and kissed the king’s daughter on her mouth'
Illustration for The Golden Bristled Pig, the Golden-Feathered Duck and the Golden-Maned Mare.
'The feather turned into a bright falcon and flew into the open field'
Illustration for The Feather of Finist the Bright Falcon.
'But he could not hold the firebird herself; she tore herself from his grasp and flew away'
Illustration for Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Grey Wolf.
Scan of the Folio Society's brochure and prospectus page for the book.
A reminder of how the binding design was created.
The book's page on the Folio Society's website.
I never did manage to post these illustrations here. I did post a link to my dA gallery instead a few months ago, but links are no fun. Besides, there are fewer illustrations there. These are all of them.
Cross-posted at told_tales and storybookland I feel so silly and awkward sometimes, posting these things in communities; especially having to sign off with my name as the illustrator. (*wrinkled nose*)
'She waved her right hand, and lakes and woods appeared; she waved her left hand, and various birds began to fly about'
Illustration for The Frog Princess.
'I'm Rumbling Thunder! I'll tumble you under! I'm Bear Thicklegs!'
Illustration for The Castle of the Fly.
'Ivashko too walked and walked, and met the three-headed dragon'
Illustration for The Three Kingdoms.
‘The fox is carrying me away … Cat Cotonaevich, rescue me!’
Illustration for The Cat, the Cock, and the Fox.
The motif of the cock being carried away by the fox may bring to mind the fables concerning Reynard the Fox, Chanticleer the rooster, and his hen, Partlet - most particularly, The Nun's Priest's Tale, from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Unlike that tale, however, in which Chanticleer manages to outwit the fox in the end, this one does not end happily for the cock. In spite of having to be rescued by the cat twice and being warned not to be deceived, he eventually falls prey to the fox in his third attempt.
'She boiled water and poured it into the barrels, thus scalding the six robbers to death'
Illustration for The Wise Maiden and the Seven Robbers.
This tale is the wonderful Russian variant of the more famous Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from the Thousand and One Nights; except here there are only seven robbers in total, and whereas Morgiana uses boiling oil in the Arabian Nights tale, here, the wise maiden uses boiling water.
'The crane pecked with his bill, knocked and knocked at the dish, but nothing got into his mouth, while the fox lapped and lapped the gruel until she had eaten it all'
Illustration for The Fox and the Crane.
This is one of two of the earliest illustrations which I completed. I did not have my own scanner at the time, so a photocopy of the original was sent to eolhchtur to scan; apologies for the poor quality as a result. I still don't have the original back to make a new scan from that. My signature in the corner was also omitted in the final published illustration. It was there merely as a trial to begin with.
'Then devils came from all directions and assembled under the oak'
Illustration for Right and Wrong.
'A fox came by and asked: "Why are you weeping, Snow White?" '
Illustration for Snow White and the Fox.
'Next morning the seven-year-old girl took off her clothes, donned a net, took the quail in her hand, sat upon the hare, and went to the palace'
Illustration for The Wise Little Girl.
This is another one which was scanned for me by eolhchtur a long ago from a photocopy of the original artwork, when I did not yet have my own scanner. Apologies for the poor quality. I'm afraid I don't have the original back yet from which to make a new scan. Again, the signature was omitted in the final reproduction.
'She bade him leave his horse with her and ride on her own two-winged horse'
Illustration for The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life.
The embroidery on the knight's cloak is almost directly inspired by an Ivan Bilibin illustration.
The horse's head appears to lose itself in the red cloak here: I would like to point out that this is a piece which, in the original artwork at least, suffers from the paleness of the ink against the strength of the gouache. This is not a problem in the actual reproduction (please see the next picture below for this).
This is a scan of the proof and is just to illustrate that the final printed illustration shows the horse's head clearly against he red cloak with no difficulty.
'She threw her comb - and there grew up a deep and terrifying forest'
Illustration for Baba Yaga.
This is just one of a myriad of tales in Slavic folklore to feature the marvelous Baba Yaga, by turns wicked and benign. This one happens to be one of my favourites of these tales. Can you spot the comb?
'The sorceress was waiting for her, seized her, tied a stone around her neck, and cast her into the sea'
Illustration for Sister Alionushka and Brother Ivanushka.
'She became a terrible lioness, but when she was about to swallow the good youth, his magic steed came running and took hold of her with his mighty legs'
Illustration for Two Ivans, Soldiers' Sons.
'He mounted his horse, waved his hand, pushed his feet into the stirrups, jumped up to the third storey, and kissed the king’s daughter on her mouth'
Illustration for The Golden Bristled Pig, the Golden-Feathered Duck and the Golden-Maned Mare.
'The feather turned into a bright falcon and flew into the open field'
Illustration for The Feather of Finist the Bright Falcon.
'But he could not hold the firebird herself; she tore herself from his grasp and flew away'
Illustration for Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Grey Wolf.
Scan of the Folio Society's brochure and prospectus page for the book.
A reminder of how the binding design was created.
The book's page on the Folio Society's website.