Sunday, April 10, 2011
edwardian stylin
hyper victorian
Saturday, April 9, 2011
the lady, or the tiger
Here is something nearly finished, making adjustments now:
It is based off the short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R Stockton, first published in 1882. In this story, a king's preferred method of justice was to place the accused in front of two doors leading out of an arena. Behind one is a tiger; behind the other, a pretty lady. He could choose either one. If he chose the door that hid the woman, they were married on the spot and everyone celebrated this karmic proof of his innocence. If the tiger came out, the tiger did what tigers do and he was denounced for a criminal.
The king discovered that his daughter had taken a lowly fellow for a sweetheart. Furious, the king locked the boy up to await trial. Prior to that day the princess managed to learn which door hid which fate: behind one, the awful maneating creature that would take her sweetheart away, and behind the other, a tiger. The princess was well familiar with the pretty woman waiting behind one door, and despised her for her history of infatuation with the fellow who belonged only to the princess. The idea that he would marry her was repugnant, no less so than the possibility of his death. When the time of his trial came, he looked at her from the arena and she made a motion with her hand, signaling that he should open the door on the right side. He did. The story ends there, with the listener supposing what came out of that door: the lady or the tiger? I've not met anybody who didn't think tiger.
Acrylic on illustration board, meddled with the colors some in Photoshop and will probably continue to
It is based off the short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R Stockton, first published in 1882. In this story, a king's preferred method of justice was to place the accused in front of two doors leading out of an arena. Behind one is a tiger; behind the other, a pretty lady. He could choose either one. If he chose the door that hid the woman, they were married on the spot and everyone celebrated this karmic proof of his innocence. If the tiger came out, the tiger did what tigers do and he was denounced for a criminal.
The king discovered that his daughter had taken a lowly fellow for a sweetheart. Furious, the king locked the boy up to await trial. Prior to that day the princess managed to learn which door hid which fate: behind one, the awful maneating creature that would take her sweetheart away, and behind the other, a tiger. The princess was well familiar with the pretty woman waiting behind one door, and despised her for her history of infatuation with the fellow who belonged only to the princess. The idea that he would marry her was repugnant, no less so than the possibility of his death. When the time of his trial came, he looked at her from the arena and she made a motion with her hand, signaling that he should open the door on the right side. He did. The story ends there, with the listener supposing what came out of that door: the lady or the tiger? I've not met anybody who didn't think tiger.
Acrylic on illustration board, meddled with the colors some in Photoshop and will probably continue to
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