The Seven Ravens

When I was looking for story ideas for this project one of my friends Suggested the Seven Swans. As I worked on researching the story, I came across the Seven Ravens variation, which I thought was much more compelling than the swan version. It's a fantastic tale of compassion, determination, and sacrifice and my friend Leighton Connor did a fantastic job retelling it.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.