So here's a little taster for the 1001 Arabian Nights graphic novel: some of Faye Simms' character designs and rough drawings... I hope it gives you a little insight into how this novel is created and gives you a nice little teaser for the finished work which is now scheduled to be with you in November this year.
We've been working very hard to really home in on matching the characters to their existing voice recordings, and in developing the right comic book style to give us as much potential for comedy and action throughout the story as possible. Faye's settled on a "French comic strip" look which I can see will work really well, and is in the tradition of the brilliant Asterix comics which I grew up on and are now stashed in the downstairs loo for the enjoyment of any visitors requiring some, er, light relief.
First thing to explain is we've settled on the title "1001 Arabian Nights" rather than "Sheherazade" since it's a bit easier for kids to read and gives more of an idea of what the story will be about.
Also just to remind you that these comics are intended to be part of a much bigger project called "The Opus Pocus" ...what is The Opus Pocus? It's a magical book containing THE BEST music for stories: classical music! (That's right - for stories / imagination / emotion and more IT'S THE BEST - in your face pop music and simon cowell etc). The Opus Pocus manifests itself as these comics plus a live show, some kids workshops, a website, some apps and more, all of which is being created with only slightly less than military precision right now. What's slightly less than the military? Er... the Cub Scouts..? Okay, it's being planned with Cub Scout precision right now.
Let's start with a very wily-looking Grandma who keeps The Opus Pocus safe in her handbag:
Next we have the bravest, most cunning and by far the hairiest pirate on the High Seas, Sinbad the Sailor - looking very brave, cunning and hairy here, and also a little bit dim which is actually really his primary feature. I remember Rory Bremner describing the voice he had settled on for this character as being an "English-officer-type" pirate, that for some reason ended up sounding like Paddy Ashdown. So here's our conception of what a young, hairy, piratey version of Mr Ashdown might look like...
And below is a really great pose captured by Faye for the next character, the Evil Genie, who doesn't appear in this first chapter of the graphic novel but we needed to do the character design now since, er, a very similar character wearing some sort of obvious disguise does... Hmm... I hope this hasn't given too much of the story away... Don't tell the kids! Or if you do tell them, save the Father Christmas revelation for another time...
Next we have something that shows you a bit of the background work that Faye does to create these characters. Here we have Princess Sheherazade in a variety of different poses and a few ideas for her costume too. Faye was really keen to accurately research the traditional bridal outfits of an Arabian princess which I think is a really nice touch, and gives a bit more authenticity than just doing a typical "Disney" costume for this character:
Now we have the Great Sultan, modeled of course on Mr Brian Blessed, and a nice bit of interaction with Sheherazade is being explored here by Faye. This also really demonstrates that "French comic strip" style that Faye has settled on for the novel which I think works really well for capturing the humour of these characters. A slightly bonkers-looking Sultan emitting a hearty bellow at the bottom right here looks great too...
And finally a little taste of the colours. This is something we're going to keep playing around with but I think gives you a glimpse of the rich and colourful work that we're aiming to create, which of course will be yours to own not too long from now...
Hope you like the results so far! More updates to follow soon. And I must mention in addition to Faye the brilliant work done by our designer Mandy Norman in helping craft all these ideas, and our editor Catherine Coe for here really expert advice too. What a top team!
That's all for now.
Keep well,
Matt
