Once Upon Her Time
is a collection of three mythology/fairytale adaptations that tell the tales from the female protagonists’ perspectives. The stories will be presented as illustrated novels with full-page and spot illustrations. Each story will be about 50 to 60 pages in length. The thesis will focus on the book's first story, “Portia”, which is inspired by an Asian fairytale called "Angel and the Woodcutter".
Early Sketches
This story is for people who enjoy fairytales and mythology stories but want to explore brand new interpretations like Beauty (Robin McKinley); to add in modern points of view like Other Ever Afters (Melanie Gillman); to enjoy unique, funny ways to look at the old-fashioned narratives like Gender Swapped Fairytales and Gender Swapped Greek Myths (Karrie Fransman and Jonathan Plackett); to support stories that focused on realistic, strong female protagonists like The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea (Axie Oh).
Portia is an angel who lost her magical dress while attending a ceremony on the surface. Without her dress, she won’t be able to fly back to the cloud. A woodcutter helped her when she needed it most and she fell in love with this caring man who saved her life. Just as she thinks everything is going well again and she is starting a brand new life here with her love of life, she discovers her husband is the one who took her dress…
Will she choose to swallow the secret by herself and continue her “perfect” life on the surface? Or will she break the truth and abandon everything she has right now?