My current project involves illustrating a narrative. I have chosen a Japanese folk tale entitled 'The Sparrows gifts'. We needed 4 final images, but that was just too few to tell the story. Hopefully it'll all be complied into a book by the weekend... PRESSURE!! My dead line is the first. So here are my final images and a bit of sketchbook work for you to oogle.
Basic plot : Woman nurses injured sparrow, this sparrow then brings her a seed, she plants it, and delicious gourds grow from it. The dried gourds even contain rice and the family become incredible wealthy. The neighbours are jealous and harass their mother to be just as successful so she injures a few sparrows and then nurses them back to perfect health. However these are some pretty spiteful sparrows, and she gets her comeuppance. They bring her seeds but these gourds are disgusting and the dried ones are filled with snakes and wasps, which eventually sting the woman and her family.
Moral of the story : don't anger the birds.
