Evertales Part Four

Evertales Part Three

Evertale Part Two

An Ongoing Morality Tale

This is from a series of segues from upcoming FVH stories, woven in as a sort of poetic narative. Seeing how I have left the "will FVH ever come back?" question as of yet unanswered, I thought I'd atleast share with you the little interludes. Enjoy here, page one of what I've been calling the 'Evertales'.

Aaron

Hello, hello!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post - I've been extremely busy. As I know exactly how convenient that is to say on the 'net', I have been rather strapped with duties. Aside from that, I will say that my best effort will be made to return to this sketch site with some regularity.
For those of you who write and wish corespondence, (Hi, Jes!) please write to me at: aaron@squirrelworks.com

For my first entry for this long while, I wanted to share with you a pet project that I've been working on for years and years. Acutlaly, it's older than FVH. For over a decade, I've wanted to animate 'Salome', the Oscar Wilde play. Here's a sketche of the direction I'm leaning towards.

There are three artists I have looking at for inspiration: The two famous for their own visions of 'Salome', Aubrey Beardsley and Alastair and also Al Hirschfeld. For those unfamiliar with the work, it's a one act play loosely based on characters from the Bible (Mark 6: 14-30). In one, there was a king, King Herod who had captured John the Baptist, a prophet of our Lord. He was fearful of such a man and kept him locked away in a cistern. He was the brother of the true king, and took his place when he was killed in battle. Herod also lusted after his daughter-in-law, Salome. The story takes place when, during a banquet held by Herod, Salome leaves the party for a moment, disgusted by Herod's advances. There, she hears John the Baptist's cries and investigates. She falls for him and asks to kiss him. John forbids it and she tells him that she will kiss him. Herod, followed by other party-goers, finds her in the courtyard and begs her to dance for him and the others. She says no and he promises her anything she wants if she will. She agrees, dances and then asks for John's head brought to her on a silver platter. The king attempts to persuade her into anything else, but she is insistant. He orders his beheading and Salome then kisses John's severed head. The king, disgusted then orders the guards to do away with her as well. End. Here's another couple sketches.
It's dark and twisted but the thing about it is that it is indeed literature, not a big, farting troll. I remember when animation was about something meaningful, a fact that has, for some reason, faded over the years. Why is it that people now hate Disney? Why do people hate movies with songs? For some time, I've been trying to get to the root of these questions. Well, 'Salome' wouldn't be a traditional Disney piece, regardless. It's about greed, envy, decadence, debauchery and lust. But again, it IS classic literature and MAN is ther room for some killer acting. The first line Salome delivers as she enters the courtyard is to the guards and she asks them why her step-father looks at ther the way he does then states that, in truth, she knows why. Such great stuff there. Anyway, before I talk your ear off, here's a rough sketch of King Herod.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there is an obvious Disney reference in the King and if you know it, shut your yapper :) I can say that I honestly designed him before I realized the similarity. All in all, though, I do like the design and really, it's far enough from the suorce to worry about.

Well, I'm gonna' go but, as I said before, I'll try to update on a regular schedule. Take care, all!

Aaron