Notes About "The Wild Hunt" - Part I, The Three Dogs

Detail of "The Wild Hunt", still in progress.

Almost every year my church here in Houston has a kind of week long art camp.  Kids who have finished Kindergarten through fifth grade come in everyday and do dance, art, music and drama workshops.  It's high stress (for the adults), super crazy and fun and crazy fun (for the kids and the adults).  About a month ago, some of the people on the planning committee asked if I was interested in painting something over the course of the week in front of the camp kids.  The idea being that the kids would get to see the painting change and grow over the week.  

Obviously I said yes.  

The final drawing.

The (very loose) value sketch.

Some of the issues when painting in front of kids are 1) the piece needed to be a size that won't be hidden in front of me as I paint, 2) action oriented, and 3) that it calls for a level of detail that would capture the imagination and interest of the littlest ones.  I spent the two weeks before camp rushing around getting reference and wondering if I was capable of finishing a 20 x 24 inch painting in four days (flash forward to the present: I didn't).

Where the painting was at the end of the camp. 

Thank you to Mandy, Eliana, Tahlia, Lindsay, Jason, Sarah, Storm, Katherine, and Emmet for being so flexible and letting me come over last minute and take reference photos!

The piece grew out of a concept I've been exploring for a couple of years now.  I'm calling it "The Wild Hunt" (yes, it is a very loose reference to Norse mythology) and I've got several ideas and characters that are going to feature in the series of pieces I eventually create.  I felt there were correlations between my concept of "the Wild Hunt" and the camp's theme of "magnificent adventure".  Which means it was more like, "Quick! There's an idea! Grab it and RUN, I mean, DRAW SOMETHING!!"

Over the next week or two, I'll be doing a series of posts that focus on some of the elements, or characters in the painting.  

Some of these characters are in the painting intentionally; they had meaning and purpose beyond looking right in the space.   Some are there because they felt right, or represent things that are important to me.  And then there are a few I added because I needed a shape to fill that space.  But whether or not I intended for all of the pieces of this painting to have meaning, they ended up taking on a life of their own.  The more I thought about the piece and prepared before the camp, the more meaning I saw in all the different characters.  

The Three Dogs

I felt like there should be dogs in the painting; I love dogs.  Once I knew I was doing a painting of a whole host of kids and animals running through a forest, I planned on fitting in a dog somewhere. They feature in more of my work than I'm always aware of.  They weren't the first thing I added, but they were close.  These three are a breed I have never actually interacted with: I'm just in love with the idea of these dogs.  Rhodesian Ridgebacks are the Navy Seals of dogs.  It's true, there's a Dogs 101 clip on YouTube that says so, so it's obviously a real thing.  They're very courageous, strong, tough dogs.  And they look so freaking cool.

I hope you are get the idea: I really like these dogs.  I love the way they move, I love how strong they look, I love their color and I love their history. Get this - they were originally bred to hunt lions. They were trained to track down the lion and then keep it at bay until the hunter could come up and make the kill. I know I might have just lost a few of you.  I can hear your protests: "But Sara, you can't put Aslan-hunters in a painting for a church camp!!" 

Hang in there if you can.  I'm going somewhere with this.  

After I decided to put these dogs in the painting, I started fixating on this story from Genesis in the Old Testament about a man named Jacob, who was one of Isaac's sons.  For those of you who go to church or maybe grew up in Sunday school, you might have heard of this story, but for those who might not  . . .  Here's a recap.  

Jacob's the guy who tricked his older (twin) brother out of his inheritance and then tricked his dad into giving him the eldest son blessing (which was a big deal).  Ran away, fell in love with a girl, worked for her father for seven years so he could marry her, was tricked into marrying her sister and then had to work another seven years for the girl he really wanted to marry.  It's a long story, you can look it up if you want (starts around Genesis 25:19).  After a while (and for a multitude of reasons), Jacob decides to pack up his (now very large) family and move back home.  Where his brother still lives. His older brother, who could be (justifiably) still angry with Jacob.  And in Genesis 32:22, Jacob goes off on his own one night, worried about his upcoming meeting with his brother, Esau.  He ends up wrestling with a man, who turns out to be God, all night long.  And God changes Jacob's name to Israel (always pay attention when God changes someones name in the Bible) "for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." (Gen. 32:28, ESV).  

So every time I think about these dogs, I think of this story.  Jacob wrestling with God, not letting God go.  And I start to see the correlation between these dogs, and I start seeing them as almost as a representation of a people who are trained to hunt the Lion, to pursue Him without fear, without rest.  Which led me to Isaiah 62:6-7:

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest,  and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. 

That word "watchmen" then made me think about the other part of the R.R.'s purpose: to guard the family home.  A guard dog's purpose is to always alert and aware of what's going on around them.

Part of what I wanted to give the kids with this painting was a visual representation or reminder of what I knew they were going to be learning about all week in camp.  It was exciting and humbling to find this piece with the R.R. had meaning and purpose beyond my conscious intention.  This was another piece of what God was speaking over them.  Some of you may not understand, that's okay.

It's really intimidating putting all this out there; I don't usually want to tell everyone the meaning an "story" behind the pictures I create.  And I don't know if I have better words to explain all of what I felt I wanted to give to the kids in this piece.  Maybe I'll get better at this as these post get written.

So that's one of the things that found it's way into the meaning behind the painting - I didn't intend for it to be there.  There are other things that I'll talk about in later posts: things I did research and put in the painting intentionally. But I thought I'd start here with one of the ones that found it's way in on it's own.

Ari's War: The Coming Storm

I've reached one of my deadlines for the first piece in Ari's War and I guess it's time to tell you more of what I am planning for this project.

I posted a rough outline of the story behind this project a while back.  The plan is to refine the story outline a bit and paint four illustrations from the story.  During the whole process of developing the illustrations (which I've already started), I hope to have a bunch of sketches and miscellaneous development work to collect into a sketchbook that I can sell on Etsy.  I'll also sell several different sized prints of the final artwork in the Etsy shop.

Meanwhile, I'll post every week here on the blog, as well as Facebook, Google+, and Tumblr.  I'll be share progress on the work as well as talk a little of  the inspiration behind everything. There may or may not be snapshots of progress on Instagram as well.  

I'll also be using the series as promo material to send to publishers (postcards, brochures, booklets, etc.).

The goal's to have all of the art and the sketchbook layer out by the beginning of April.  I want to take some of the promo pieces to Kansas City with me for Spectrum Live.

Some Preliminary Work for Ari's War

In lieu of a Christmas piece, I give you some prelim work from Ari's War.  Enjoy!  And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sara

Dragon Tamer

This is a rough summary of the story that was inspired by the Dragon Tamer piece.  I debated for a while even putting up this much, but I wanted people to have an idea of what was going on.  

I hope this gives you a good idea of what I was thinking when I thought of this piece.  There may or may not be a book in the works, and I reserve the right to take everything back to the drawing board.  I'd love to hear what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment.


Please don't steal anything.

Once upon a time, but not very long ago, there lived a boy named Gabriel Predergast. He lived somewhere between this world and Fairie, so as you can imagine, some wonderful and fantastic things have happened to him. But it wasn’t always like that. For a long time - 17 years in fact - nothing amazing had happened to Gabriel except that he was the one wizard in a family of wizards who couldn’t do magic. Magic never did what he wanted it to do. He was very good at building things, however. But in a world where magic is the rule rather than the exception, “handmade” is rather less than ordinary. For years he despaired of ever doing anything important or great or even interesting until one day his family went to a party. 

Gabriel and his whole family were invited - his father and mother, his seven older brothers and three younger sisters (who were all fantastic wizards, which made Gabriel’s failed attempts look even worse). Now, lots of things happened at this party – most important being that there was a real, honest to goodness dragon in a cage. A dragon that Gabriel and Jason, one of his older brothers, stole.

It was, of course, Jason’s idea, but he ended up dragging Gabriel into his hair-brained scheme (it happened a lot). Through a series of events too complicated to get into now, they ended up sneaking the dragon out that very night and no one was the wiser. Gabriel and Jason managed to ‘borrow’ their father’s car, stuff themselves and the dragon inside and drive out past the city limits. It’s a good thing it was late and there was no one on the road; neither of them had a license and Jason had never managed to pass any of his multiple driving courses. They stopped at the first secluded spot they found and let the dragon out of the car with firm notice that it was to ‘go back to its home’ and, this from Gabriel who was a little bit smarter than his brother as you might have guessed, that it wasn’t under any circumstance to follow them home. But you never know with dragons what they understand and what they don’t. Or at the very least what they choose to listen to. 

Gabriel and his brother made it back to the party in one piece - sans dragon.  What is more important is that their father’s car made it back in one piece, which could be considered a minor miracle. Everything went according to plan - at least until the morning. 

The dragon took a liking to Gabriel and ended up following them home.  You can imagine the chaos that ensued as Gabriel and his brother tried to hide the dragon from the rest of their family – but no matter how they pleaded threatened or cajoled, the dragon would not leave.

They hid it in the basement. No one went down there much and they might have hidden it pretty well, if the dragon could have been persuaded to stay there. Jason’s skills were sorely put to the test finding and fixing the myriad of things the dragon broke on its wanderings through the house. He didn’t find all of them in time either - Mrs. Predergast’s china and china cabinet fought the dragon and were cast down rather spectacularly. And loudly. Gabriel ended up shouldering the blame for that - even though Jason fixed everything ‘good as new’ for his mother - and was grounded for a week. By this time, the “theft” of the dragon was headline news and Mr. Prendergast was heavily involved in the investigation casting more than one suspicious glance at his sons. To Gabriel’s credit, he thought all eight of his sons were in some way responsible, and by the end of two weeks, all eleven of his children knew and were actively involved in trying to keep the dragon hidden. The triplets of course were first, being the most in the house, but the other six boys weren’t far behind.

Now, the really remarkable thing was that the dragon – the wild, untamable, fire-breathing dragon – followed Gabriel around like a puppy (or at least it tried).  Both brothers were at a loss to understand what was going on, until Jason came across an old book on dragons. It talked about a very rare kind of person that dragons were attracted to - any dragon, whether it be old or young, from near or far, ferocious or gentle, would be docile and calm and good natured when confronted by a dragon tamer. 

Gabriel had lived all his life without magic, without anything that really set him apart from the rest of his siblings, or even brought him up to their level. But being a dragon tamer didn’t sound like all that great a consolation prize. What good is it to be able to charm dragons with your mere presence in a world where dragons were all but extinct? And that didn’t help them with their immediate problem which was that they couldn’t get the thing to leave. He didn’t care about the dragon, he didn’t care about being a dragon tamer – he just wanted the dragon gone. 
Unfortunately the dragon belonged to a very powerful wizard who wasn’t about to sit back and just let a bunch of kids steal his dragon. Obviously.

Now a lot of other things happen before Gabriel gets to the  point you see developing in the illustration above.  One important thing is that Jason and Gabriel find a flute that allows a dragon tamer to control a dragon.  More things get stolen, feelings are hurt, the dragon gets kidnapped and in the process of rescuing him (and with no small degree of anger) Gabriel ends up doing a lot of stupid things - including setting a house on fire.  But while things don't end perfectly  lessons are learned and Gabriel takes a step towards understanding and accepting himself for who he is and who he is not.

I will update this again when things are a little more settled story-wise.

Happy New Year!

"Gabriel was not very good at magic.  His parents told him and their friends that he was only "struggling a little".  His older brothers were more blunt (they usually were) and said that there hadn't been a Prendergast so uniformly bad at magic for ten generations."

Next piece in the works.  This is just a sketch - no his arms are not deformed, I just drew them poorly.

Stay tuned for a story summary!

Steampunk Little Red - Part 7

I got sick this weekend - that's twice this year.  That's 1.5 times more than I usually get sick over the course of the year.  And it totally threw off my schedule.  I spent most of Saturday afternoon and Sunday in bed NOT sleeping because I couldn't breathe.  Gah!

I know I've said this before, but Little Red is almost done. Honestly it's the best thing I've produced to date as far as finished paintings go.  And as of writing this I have no idea of what to do for the next piece for Eric's class.  Though I am debating between just using the concepts for the girl in the woods or something Narnia related.  Or Robin Hood.  Or Chronicles of Prydain.  Or dragons.  Yeah . . .

I am also slowly, but surely, compiling my list of publishers/art directors to send out my first mailing to.  At Jen Betton's suggestion, I picked up a copy of Children's Writers and Illustrators Market as well as Artist and Graphic Designers Market.  I'm debating about getting an associates membership with the Graphic Artists Guild - does anyone out there have a membership?  Is it worth it?

Steampunk Little Red - Part 5

Just a quick update this week.  18 hours in, longest I've ever spent on a painting and Eric and Rebecca are talking about spending at least 50.  I cannot even fathom that.

I'm having to be careful, cause I loose steam more quickly and I really don't want to rush here at the end.  Colored pencils have been awesome - not getting lost in the painting nearly as badly.  But one thing is clear about all of this: I need to build up my endurance.

And an idea I am working on for a Christmas card.

Steampunk Little Red - Part 4

At the 10 hour mark.

Steampunk Little Red - Part 3

Study in acrylic, watercolor and colored pencil.

Color comp 

We are now in the painting stages.  I'm having a blast, which is a welcome change to my usual emotionally constipated "I can't DO this" mantra.

A couple of weeks ago, Eric introduced us to Greg Swearingen, who's work I had seen before in Spectrum, but I'd never looked him up.  Turns out he's super cool and uses watered down acrylics, watercolors and colored pencils to achieve the amazingly beautiful illustrations:

While ogling his website, the thought struck me that this might be a technique I could incorporate into my work.  I always feel like I loose so much because I am trying not to noodle and I end up not being able to push those details that always seem to evade me or get muddied up by the end of my painting.

And honestly, it looked like a boatload of fun.

And guess what?  It was!  All those things that I feel like I don't have control over with paint I could go back in and refine very gently with the pencils.  I really enjoyed it.  And using the acrylics as a kind of under layer has been great, too.  I can establish colors and tones and not worry about all the watercolor layers getting mixed up and muddied by the time I'm getting to the end.

But just wait.  I'll run into a problem and swear it all off in a week.  I mean, I hope not, but that has been my modus operandi.

Here is a photo I took about 5 hours in:

Not great, but I'll scan it in at some point so you can see all the lovely details.

Steampunk Little Red - Part 2

So here's more of Little Red in progress.  A rough idea of the value.  All done in Photoshop.

And this is a color comp.  Notice the distinct lack of color variety.  I love it. 

And then Eric schooled me.

Needless to say, I'm leaning more toward's Eric's comp.  I especially love the glowing red eyes he gave the wolf.  Was going with glowing, but didn't think of red.  Awesomeness.

Have I given y'all a link for Eric's work yet?  Well, here it is.

Steampunk Little Red - Part 1

Original Sketch

Revised Sketch

A sample of the reference I took this weekend

This is a VERY rough outline.  I know that I am not nearly as clever or witty as I think I am.  There are lots of plot holes.  I know this.  You have been warned.  And it's mine, so, don't steal it.  Please.  

Little Red was always a headstrong, fearless child.  She grew up on a dirigible under the watchful eye of her mother, the pilot, and her father,  the captain.  But even their near constant vigilance never succeeded in keeping Little Red out of some kind of mischief.  She loved flying and being surrounded by the of crew, whom she always considered a motley assortment of aunts, uncles and older siblings.  The one thing she hated more than anything is being stuck on land for any length of time - or “grounded” as she called it.  


Her grandmother (her mother’s mother) was a famous inventor.  She was brilliant.  No one had ever seen her match as far as sheer ingenuity.  Sometimes her inventions seemed not of this world - they’d be years ahead of her time and she had volume upon volume of diagrams for inventions that couldn’t be built yet because the technology to build them didn't exist.  She’d developed a way to process spider silk to produce a lightweight fabric that is stronger than steel.  She’d also developed a kind of viewing device so small she could incorporate it into one of her mechanical bugs and it transmits those images over extreme distances.  She revolutionized the airship engine, making it more lightweight and nearly 4 times as powerful.  You name it and she’d probably built it or made it better.  She was a temperamental, bossy old woman, though, obsessed with a theory about inter-dimensional travel.  Not even her daughter completely understood the extent of her obsession.  Or the reason for it.  

For a long time, the grandmother worked in the open: she took on apprentices, drove hard bargains for her inventions, fixed things that sparked her interest.  Until one day, she told her daughter that she had started to make some real progress on her theory.  She became a tyrant in the workshop and slowly began to make progress on her machine.  It was a doorway, she said.  A door to other worlds.  A way home.  

And then there was a break in at the workshop.  A mess, the newspapers said, but no real harm done.  Except the intruders had taken what work there was on the door.  It hadn’t been functional, but it had been close.  The grandmother was devastated.  She was enraged.  Paranoid and convinced that it had been an inside job, she fired all her apprentices and moved her workshop to an undisclosed place.  No one’s heard from her in a while and she communicates with her daughter very infrequently.  

It wasn’t completely out of character for the grandmother to drop off the radar for weeks on end, but after three months, her daughter became a little concerned.  She knew where her mother’s secret workshop was and thought the basis of the paranoia was more old age than truth.  She played with the idea of visiting her, but their flight log was booked for weeks and there was no one she trusted to fly her beloved dirigible, The Red Rider.  Then she thought of sending Little Red, but she knew the fierce opposition that would come from her daughter at the suggestion of being “grounded” for an indeterminate amount of time and hesitated.  She understood her daughter’s dislike of being on land - she herself had run away from home when she was not much older than Little Red, longing for the skies herself.  Over the years she had earned her piloting papers and now there was nowhere she’d rather be than at the wheel of The Red Rider with her husband and child beside her.  

But Little Red could be a “right terror” and after one too many misadventures, both of Little Red’s parents agreed that drastic measures were necessary.  The younger brother of one of the crewmen had been visiting and was on his way back to his own apprenticeship with an engineering guild near the grandmother’s hidden workshop.  He would accompany Little Red as far as their roads went together and see her safely on her way to her grandmother’s.  End of discussion.  

Little Red was angry.  She railed, she pouted, she even tried her hand at crying, but nothing moved her parents.  So when the appointed day came, she was seen onto the train with the young engineer and sent on her way.  

Regardless of his innocence in the whole affair, the young engineer took the brunt of Little Red’s frustration.  He bore it as patiently as he could, but when a group of engineers took seats in their car, he entered into conversation with them and ignored Little Red.

Meanwhile, the men who had taken the grandmother's invention were rather annoyed that the machine they stole was not a working prototype.  And the fact that the grandmother had gone “underground” meant that she was paranoid enough to see them coming even if they did find her.  

Now, they know the police have someone called “the Wolf” in custody.  He’s a ruthless bounty hunter, tracker, assassin, and whatever else you’ll pay him for.  They pay off the guards and tell him that they will give him his freedom and lots of money if he’ll track down the grandmother and steal the (working) invention.  He agrees.  

He set out to learn everything he could about the grandmother.  No one knew where she came from, and up until she started making things, no one had ever heard of her.  But he did find out about the grandmother’s daughter and her family on The Red Rider.  He figured they were the best way of finding the grandmother, so he followed them for months.  He found out that they hadn’t heard from the grandmother in a while and figured it’s just a matter of time till they send someone to check on her.  When he overheard their plans to send Little Red, he was jubilant.  Following Little Red and the young engineer onto the train he waited and planed until Red is left alone.  

When the stranger sat down across from her, Little Red ignored him.  She was still angry and pouting about the whole “off to grandma’s” thing.  When he started making small talk she was downright rude, but he persists and she eventually finds herself venting all her frustration about being sent off to grandmother’s.  She didn’t tell him where the workshop is, but she told him the name of a nearby town.  He was very sympathetic to her plight: asked her questions about her grandmother and their relationship - all seemingly innocent questions, but in her self-pity and anger, Little Red had no idea how much she was really giving up to the stranger.  
Internally, the wolf was weighing his options - he could use Little Red as leverage, but how could he get her alone?  There were too many people on the train, and the young engineer traveling with her - he didn’t want to risk alerting the grandmother that he was coming by kidnapping her granddaughter.  

Manipulating Little Red’s disgruntled state, he talked about what a pity it was that she had to be hurried off to her grandmother’s so soon, couldn’t she at least take in the sites?  There were some fantastic shops in the town she was getting off at before continuing on to her grandmother’s - besides, wouldn’t her grandmother appreciate a little something?  But of course, there was nothing she could do if her parents had told her to go straight there.  Little Red denied that she has been told any such thing - and then the young engineer came back and told the Wolf to shove off.  

When they arrive at their station, the young engineer saw that Little Red was put on a vehicle to the town near her grandmother’s and told her to go straight there and make sure she contacted her parents when she got to her grandmother’s.  The Wolf watched them, observing Little Red’s increasingly belligerent state, and followed on behind her when she set off.  

Angry at everyone and telling herself that she isn’t a child to be babysat and told what to do, Little Red noticed they were passing by the shops the Wolf had told her about on the train and throwing caution to the wind, she jumped out of the moving transport and dashed into the crowd towards the shops.  She could find her own way to her grandmother’s and she would bring something with her from the shops.  

The Wolf meanwhile was beyond pleased that his little diversion had worked.  He contacts his own small dirigible that is not far off and using topographical maps quickly discovers the only place the grandmother could have hidden her workshop and sets out. 

Finding the workshop and bypassing the grandmother’s security, he takes the grandmother by surprise - she’d over-exhausted herself just as her daughter suspected and had been in bed for several days.  The Wolf locks her up in the belly of his ship and tried to make her tell him about her machine, but she won't.  

Back at the town, Little Red eventually finished her shopping spree and set out to find her own transportation to her grandmother’s.  Hitching a ride on the back of a farmer’s wagon, she made her slow way toward her grandmother’s.  Eventually parting ways with the farmer, she headed off into the woods on her own and finally arrived at her grandmother’s workshop.  She went inside, confused to find that none of the lights were working.  But there was some noise coming from the back of the workshop and Little Red felt her way carefully towards it calling out to her grandmother as she went.

Well, it wasn’t her grandmother in the workshop, of course, it was the Wolf trying to figure out the invention and what to take to his employers.  He froze when he heard Little Red’s voice, trying to figure out a way to get rid of her.  But then a thought came to him - Little Red might be important to the grandmother, maybe he could use her as leverage.  SO he called out to Little Red, very softly and almost indistinctly trying to disguise his voice,  directing her to where he was.  

It was still dark in the workshop, and Little Red could barely make out what she thought was her grandmother’s form bent over a piece of machinery.  She comments on how different her grandmother looks as she comes closer - realizing too late that it isn’t her grandmother.  

Soon, the Wolf had both Little Red and her grandmother locked up in the belly of his ship.  As soon as she realizes that the Wolf has her granddaughter as well, she gives up her invention.   She is furious with Little Red, though, and gives her granddaughter a scathing piece of her mind about her lack of responsibility, etc, etc.  In the shock and fear, something gets through to Little Red and she sees herself quite clearly for the first time and her self-confidence and pride is shaken.  

Meanwhile, Little Red’s parents haven’t heard from her.  They contact the young engineer in the early morning hours and he goes out to look for her.  He in turn dragged the guy hired to transport her to the grandmother’s town and found out about her little escapade in the shopping district.  He spent a long time tracking her down and eventually found someone who remembered her getting a ride with a farmer going home the day before.  Annoyed and grim, he sets out to the other town.  

Along the way he started to notice the sound of a dirigible coming from the woods and decided to investigate - who would be putting their ship down in the middle of the woods?  When he got there he recognized the Wolf from the day before loading up machinery onto his ship.  THe young engineer, not being a complete idiot, thought that it was too much of a coincidence that the same man who was talking to Little Red (now missing) on the train the day before was there in the woods loading mysterious machinery near where he suspected Little Red’s grandmother’s workshop should be.  So he followed the Wolf back to the workshop, snuck in after him and started to look for Little Red and her grandmother.  But of course, they weren’t there.  So he went back to the Wolf’s ship while the Wolf was busy packing the machine up and searched the dirigible.  

When he did find Little Red and her grandmother, deep in the belly of the Wolf’s ship,* and broke them out.  The grandmother and the young engineer quickly come up with a plan to catch the Wolf.  Little Red, wanting to make up for the trouble she’s caused, volunteers to make sure the Wolf can’t take off in his ship in the meanwhile.  

Her confidence in herself was shaken, but if there was anything Little Red knew like the back of her hand, it was dirigibles.  So she set off alone to find the controls of the ship.

The grandmother and the young engineer meanwhile had snuck off the ship and back into the workshop just before the Wolf set off with another load for his ship.  The two gather what they need and set out to catch the Wolf.  

On the ship, Little Red was finishing disabling the flight mechanisms when the Wolf stumbled upon her.  Enraged, he chases her through the ship and out into the woods, right into the grandmother and young engineer’s hastily contrived trap.  

They hand the Wolf over to the authorities, Little Red gets in trouble with her parents, again, and has to thank the young engineer for saving her.  She also has to stay with her grandmother to help her move to a new hidden workshop, since it’s probable that the Wolf will tell his employers where the shop is to get himself out of prison.  

*I know, I crack myself up

You can see some of my other stories and ideas for stories here.

Little Red Riding Hood - Steampunk

For those of you who don't know me, I kinda love steampunk.  I love the visual aspect of it and the potential historical revisions that could happen.  I've even put together my own little side project (it's on hold right now), taking people in my life and re-imagining  them in a steampunk world.  

So when Eric told us our next assignment was to do a cover for a young-adult version of Little Red Riding Hood that was "ANY direction: sci fi red riding hood, or steampunk, or traditional, or urban gothic fantasy", all I saw was "steampunk".  Done. 

And of course as soon as I started imagining what the world and who this character was, a story started to grow in my head.  

But first, I had to rewrite the original and incorporate all my favorite pieces.  Because I am OCD that way.

Little Red Riding Hood lived on the edge of the forest with her parents.  One day, her mother gave her a basket of food to take to her grandmother’s house.  

“Stay on the path,” said her mother, “and go straight to Grandma’s house.”

So Little Red set out.  Along her way, she saw a field of wildflowers and stepped off the path to gather some for her grandmother.  There were woodcutters working nearby, so when a wolf stepped out of the forest and spoke to her, Little Red was not afraid.

“What are you doing little girl?” asked the wolf.  He was very hungry and had a very great mind to eat her up, but he dared not, because of the woodcutters.  

“I am picking flowers for my grandmother,” said Little Red.  “I am going to visit her; my mother has given me a basket of food to give my grandmother.”

“I see,” said the Wolf. “Does she live nearby?”

“Oh, yes,” replied Little Red, “just over that hill and past the mill.”

“I see,” said the Wolf with a sly look in his eye.  “Little girl, why are you picking flowers here?  Surely those yonder are far more beautiful and would please your grandmother better than these.”

Little Red looked, and indeed, she thought, the flowers were far more beautiful.  And so she took up her basket and went to gather more flowers for her bundle.  And each time she picked one, she thought she saw a more beautiful one farther off, and so she wandered farther and farther into the woods. 

Meanwhile, the Wolf was running towards the grandmother’s house, chuckling to himself over his cleverness.  Soon he came to the grandmother’s door and knocked.

“Who’s there?” called Little Red’s grandmother.

“It’s me, Grandmother,” cried the Wolf, “Little Red, and I have brought you a basket of food from my mother.”

“Oh, come in dear,” replied the grandmother, “just push the latch, I am not feeling well enough to get out of bed today.”

The wolf pushed the latch, stepped inside, and ate the grandmother.  Then, quickly putting on her clothes and nightcap, he got into the bed and covered himself with the bedclothes to wait for Little Red.  

Little Red, having gathered all the beautiful flowers she could carry, hurried on towards her grandmother’s house.  When she got there, she called out, “Grandmother, let me in and see the beautiful flowers I have brought you!”

“Come in, child, come in,” said the Wolf in the grandmother’s voice, “I am too sick to get up, just let yourself in.”

So Little Red opened the door and went to her grandmother’s bed.  But her grandmother looked very strange.

“Grandmother,” cried Little Red, “what big ears you have!”

“All the better to hear you with, my dear,” replied the Wolf.

Looking closer, Little Red said, “Grandmother, what big eyes, you have!”

“All the better to see you with my dear,” replied the Wolf, smiling.

“Oh,” cried Little Red, in even greater astonishment, “What big teeth you have, Grandmother.”

“Well,” replied the Wolf, taking off the nightcap, “All the better to eat you with, my dear.”

And he gobbled up Little Red.  

Now, the Wolf was very full by this time, and he lay back down on the Grandmother’s bed, fell asleep, and began to snore.  Loudly.

Soon, a woodcutter came along, and passing by the grandmother’s house thought, “How can an old woman snore like that?”  So he decided to investigate.  He stepped inside, and can you imagine his surprise when he saw no sign of the grandmother, only a great, ugly, fat wolf snoring away in the grandmother’s bed.  

“Well, this won't do,” he thought to himself.  “He must have eaten the old woman and lay down to sleep it off.”  Taking a pair of very sharp scissors, he cut open the Wolf’s belly.  Out jumped Little Red and the grandmother who were, quite rightly, very thankful to the woodcutter for his help.  Together they dragged the wolf outside where the woodcutter took his ax and chopped off the wolf’s head.  

Little Red 

The Woodcutter

The Wolf