Page 4: Words Cannot Describe It

A moment of silence for the late Earl.

 

 

Page 3: Ostrich Plumes and Roman Roads

 He's not exaggerating about the trip. At that time the roads were terrible. Roads in ROMAN times were in better repair than roads in 18th century England. They didn't improve for another 50 years!

 

The plume motif, top center, that has appeared on several pages is taken from a 1780s funeral biscuit mold. By 'biscuit', I mean cookie. By 'funeral biscuit mold', I mean that gifts were handed out at funerals- to the family, gold rings or black gloves or hat bands, to common people, a packet of biscuits, stamped with something symbolic.

Why feathers? For a wealthy man's funeral, black ostrich plumes were worn by the horses in the funeral procession, adorned the corners of the funeral bier, and worn by the female mourners. Google a picture of Abraham Lincoln's funeral and you'll see the custom persisted even a hundred years later.

I did not realize when I drew this that 3 feathered plumes on a crown was the symbol of the Prince of Wales. Who would have guessed that a funeral biscuit mold from Philadelphia would bear the crest of the Prince of Wales?!

 

So remember, when doing historical research, do a better job of it than me!

Page 2: Many things went unsaid.

 

Allen was not in the house where the death took place (hence the letter), so he has mirror privileges. Mirrors at this time were glass backed with silver- yes, real silver- most expensive, heavy and very unlucky to break!

What was considered 'manly' was very different in the 1760s. The black bow in his hair is the fashion!

He is wearing a cravat and ruffles made from undyed muslin because he is in mourning, but normally they would be lace and silk. His blond eyebrows attest that white is not his natural hair color. He is wearing rouge and something to whiten his skin, but has not gone totally overboard in the French fashion of gluing bits of mouse fur to his face.

See this clip from Horrible Histories for more on Georgian beauty.

 

 

Page 1: It was Unexpected

Well and hey, this is finally getting started! I'm posting today to elaborate on page 1 of Siloen. It's a bit early to discuss plot or characters, so let's start with what we see: a letter, a watch, a chain, and a ribbon.

The letter: Did you know that envelopes didn't exist in the 1700s? You would write your letter, fold and seal it with wax, and send it on its way. Stamps hadn't been invented yet either. The recipient had to pay in order to receive their letters! They were charged by the page. Economy-minded writers would fill a page, turn it sideways and fill it again- sometimes, they would then write more on the diagonal, making it thoroughly illegible!
To recieve a black-bordered letter was bad news, usually news of a death. This was true in Britain until around WW2.

The watch: Watches were a sign of social status. A chain or fob for your watch meant you were wealthy. A watch in each pocket meant you were both wealthy and showing off! Soldiers and working men might have a pocket watch, either handed down or stolen, but it would be strung on a ribbon. (And thank you to the reenactor from the Fair at New Boston for your help and your amusing stories!)
It was another Georgian superstition that in the house were someone had died, clocks would be stopped, and mirrors were turned to face the wall, so the spirit would not become trapped in them.

The chain and the ribbon: There were strict rules on how one dressed during mourning, and it went well beyond black armbands. Men wore black or somber colors, of course, removed any jewelry. Shiny and fancy buttons were replaced with plain ones, and unnecessary buttons (there for show) were removed from the cuffs and pockets.
The shiny watch chain is being swapped out for the black ribbon, but its presence is also symbolic, the watch for mortality and the chain for the ties that bind. For more on this topic, I recommend googling 'Georgian mourning jewelry'.

Thanks for reading!

 

Siloen Title Page

The title page was one of the first I inked. It was originally part of a 3-page intro. As I wrote the 1st chapter the intro seemed more and more redundant, so I did away with it. The third page became the basis for the title page. I say 'basis' because of all the changes I had to make to turn it into a title page. Siloen originally had straight hair. I inked a curly replacement, and composited the images with photoshop (still not completely happy with it). I then trimmed the image from 'landscape' to 'portrait, added an oval frame, chopped, redistributed and colored the leaves, redrew her hand and added the watch...

Maybe I should have started from scratch after all.

The image as it was originally drawn held all my feelings for the character. She was captured in the act of turning, like a startled woodland creature. Her hair blew everywhere. Originally she had straight hair, because I felt she had a painfully straightforward personality, but it seemed too plain. So she has wavy/curly hair now but still the skittish personality of a Siamese cat.

The foliage that makes up the background is hawthorn, a plant steeped in fairy lore. You may have heard it mentioned as 'Oak, Ash and Thorn.' It was believed to mark the entrance to the Otherworld. To this day it is considered ill-luck to uproot a fairy tree or fairy fort. I chose it for other symbolic reasons- the young leaves for growth, the thorns for pain, and the blossoms for fragility

Original concept art.

 I was testing colors-

she needed to be green without appearing froggy or slimy.

 

 

Fairy lore on hawthorn, fairy forts and fairy trees is fascinating but too much to recount here- I recommend you do your own digging.

New fantasy webcomic

Well, I'm reviving this blog so I can talk about my webcomic, Siloen. It is an historical fantasy set in the year 1761, England. That is a very specific time and place, but it will be several chapters before I can tell you why! A lot of research went into it, and a lot of imagination.... and a lot of work, too. I am both author and illustrator. There are many fascinating things I learned and so much going on behind the scenes that I want to share with you in this blog.

Siloen updates Monday-Wednesday-Friday.
More on this coming soon!
 

Halloween in Fairborn

So, the renaissance festival is over and we're almost to Halloween. Fairborn, where I live, is a great place for that. There is a costume shop called Foys that is open year-round; but in October they open half a dozen seasonal storefronts. They set up a bunch of prop shop monsters around, attached to, and on top of the buildings... and animatronic displays on three nearby properties. It brings in a lot of sightseers, that's for sure. In one yard are a dozen aliens and two crashed spaceships. Another has THREE pirate ships and a dozen pirates. They broadcast A Pirate's Life For Me. One of the pirates opens and closes shutters, and one of the ships lets off smoke from its cannon. Across the street a bunch more awesome props are gathered in one tiny yard. There's an ornate old hearse that does nothing, but I imagine the coffin inside used to open and close itself. There's a headless horseman on horseback. Every so often the horse will rear up and neigh wildly, while the rider brandishes his sword (and his severed head) in complicated maneuvers for about half a minute. There's also a huge monstrous beast, maybe an ogre of some sort. He has a spear in one hand and a skeleton dangling from the other. When he moves, he draws himself up to 10-12' in height, growls, brandishes his spear, and shakes the heck out of that poor skeleton. It's an awesome display. Um, and down the road from me is a less professional but very amusing yard with a bit of everything. Aside from the standard scarecrows and ghost christmas light cutouts there's a 8' long sea serpent  with orange&pink lights, and a large purple spider that crouches on top of a skeleton rising up out of the ground.

Any interesting Halloween sights in your town?