Princess and the Sea Beast

A note from the author and illustrator: The Italian folk fairy tales, in an adaptation by Italo Calvino, served as inspiration for such a project. Having read many fairy tales, I started to illustrate the characters one by one, without connecting the drawings to any specific text, but adhering to a general concept. Thus, thirteen large format sheets appeared that were completely filled with fairy tale characters. I tried to achieve the maximum expressivity of image in these pencil drawings by using simple tools - I intentionally limited myself to a B2 pencil, to resist the temptation to use colors or other bright accents. I wanted to achieve a vivacity and a picturesque quality in the image by way of my own artistry, and from the internal strength of the character being represented, without giving this character an external mask. The drawings were initially planned to be illustrations for a book. However, the contrary happened - rather than illustrating a text, as usually occurs, I had to write a story to fit the completed illustrations. I am no professional writer, so I just wrote a general concept and plot line for the fairy tale, which my teacher and dear friend, a writer named Oleg Prihodko, helped me to write. It's a fantastic story - with good and evil, and with a thorough description of the characters and all their details. Work on the project continued for more than three years, and now it can be considered complete. We welcome your comments on the book. Diana B.