Archive for May 19, 2010
The Neverending Story, part 1
The Neverending Story starts with the theft of the book named The Neverending Story by Bastian Balthazar Bux; a fat little boy who was hiding in an antique bookstore from the bullies that chased him home every day. Finding himself fascinated by an old leatherbound book with two serpents entwined on the cover he surprises himself by putting it in his schoolbag when the store’s owner, mr. Koreander isn’t looking.
Realising he is now a thief, he decides he can never go home anymore and hides himself in his school’s giant disused attic. He puts an old musty blanket over his shoulders and starts to read the mysterious book.
Which whisks him away to the land of Fantastica, where a Will o’the Wisp named Blubb is making his way through the vast Howling Forest to the Ivory Tower of the Childlike Empress. In the woods he meets a Rock biter: a giant whose kind eat nothing but stone, a night hob and a tiny. All three have come from different regions of Fantastica with the same mission, to tell the Queen about the Nothing that is eating away at their land, and to ask for help.
Sitting in the forest they share stories of how the Nothing suddenly appeared. Where once there were lakes, trees and hills, there is now absolutely nothing. The eye can’t even see it. Scariest of all is that those who come close to these areas find themselves irrevocably drawn to the Nothing, coming closer and closer until they are swallowed by it.
Phew!
I have huge shoes to fill here, and this drawing is not what I had intended my first illustration to be. Unfortunately, the past few weeks I’ve been swamped with assignments and I wasn’t able to give this project quite the time I would have liked. So when I found out that my idea wasn’t working the way I had intended I didn’t have enough time to fix it. So here’s the drawing I made without all the terrible terrible colours I inflicted on it.
Once I’ve finished a version that I am satisfied with, I will of course unveil it forthwith.
posted by: Chuck Groenink
