Sara Fanelli Fairy Tales

When I think of my books I see them less as collections of different characters and more as samples of different worlds, realities... I also enjoy giving life to inanimate objects very much.

Heller Books- An interview with Sara Fanelli by Steven Heller

Sara Fannelli sometimes writes her own texts, inspired by classical stories, such as Mythological Monsters of Ancient Greece 2002. She created the cover of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi, published by Walker Books, 2003. Fanelli has created her own version of Cinderella which is presented in a postcard-sized box, and contains a mini illustrated storybook retelling "Cinderella". There are three sets of six postcards that can be arranged to illustrate different scenes from the story, and a set of stamp, all with a different design on them.

Fig 1 Sara Fanelli Pinokkio

She usually works with coloured background, which are subtle coloured, such as ochre, misty blue, orange/red. She then uses torn up paper from exercise books, graph paper, wallpaper, stained/marked papper or photographs, in order to make her collages 

Fig 2 Sara Fanelli Cinderella Picture Box

Fig 3 David Shrigley

Another one of Sara Fanellis inspirations is David Shrigley he is best known for his distinctive drawing style and works that make satirical comments on everyday situations His quick-witted drawings and hand-rendered texts are similar to that of Sara Fanelli. Reoccurring themes and thoughts pervade his story telling capturing child-like views of the world, the perspective of aliens and monsters or the compulsive habits of an eavesdropper shouting out loud. He also creates sculptures, large-scale installations, animations, paintings, photographs and music. 

In response to Sara Fanelli's work with fairy tales I decided to illustrate my own faith tale, Little red riding hood using her techniques. I used a range of paper to collage my image, using photographed eyes to create the more identifiable look to my creature and red riding hood, and then scribbled over the top of the collage for finer detail and excitement.

After completing the image I like the background and the strange creature but the girl didn't really resemble a girl, more like a bird, in my opinion, so I decided to recreate this image.

This time I used cooler colours for the background in order for her red cloak to stand out, which it does better in my second image. I gave little red riding hood more human characteristic like hands, arms and legs which make her more identifiable as the famous character we all know. However, I do prefer in fact the less complicated background in my first image compared with my second attempt, I feel that the second one attention isn't solely on the character and more of the background, but i do prefer the enlarged scribble version of the wolf in my second attempt, as it appear larger and more terrifying, just as the story depicts. 

References

• Fig 1 Alchetron.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Oct. 2016. 
• Fig 2 "Fairytale Cardboxes Of Sara Fanelli". Blog.redcheeksfactory.com. N.p., 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2016.
• Fig 3 "Animations". kopenhagen.dk. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Oct. 2016

Bibliography 

Books

• Fanelli, Sara, Marina Warner, and Steven Heller. Sometimes I Think, Sometimes I Am. London: Tate, 2007. Print.
• Fanelli, Sara. My Map Book. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. Print.
• Fanelli, Sara. Mythological Monsters Of Ancient Greece. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2002. Print.

Website

• "Children's Books - Articles - The Dream-Like Images Of Sara Fanelli | Bfk No. 195". Booksforkeeps.co.uk. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Cinderella And Bags!". Creativeflourishes.blogspot.co.uk. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Cinderella". Alibris UK. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Oliver Jeffers". En.wikipedia.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Oliver Jeffers". HarperCollins UK. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Oliver Jeffers". Oliverjeffers.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Sara Fanelli - A Life In Pictures". the Guardian. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Sara Fanelli - Literature". Literature.britishcouncil.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Sara Fanelli – Art Not Artifice". Tate.org.uk. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Sara Fanelli. Creature Creator For Children’S Illustration". Fishinkblog.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "Stephen Friedman Gallery - Artists - David Shrigley". Stephenfriedman.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• "The Thought-Provoking Illustrations Of Sara Fanelli | Design | Agenda | Phaidon". Phaidon. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.
• Steven Heller : Hellerbooks.Com". Hellerbooks.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.