Something old, something new

All right, sports fans. Once again, it's been eons since we've spoken. To make up for it, I have oodles of content to show you today.

Ella's been revamped, again—every time I change her style, I like it more. I'm also working on Hattie, since I was never fully satisfied with my first few attempts. She now looks completely different. :) There's some Char, of course, and three new surprise characters. I tried to focus more on specific scenes from the book, this time, and I hit a few of my favorites.

This update comes in two batches. I meant to do an upload a few months ago, but apparently I never got around to it. Oops. I have since reworked Ella's hair, and the old stuff now seems chunky and stiff by comparison, but I liked the other components enough to show you.

This may be a slightly older Ella, triumphantly displaying her mother's necklace reclaimed from Hattie (who stole it early in the book).

Char happens upon Ella and the ogres.

When they are reunited, Ella imparts to Char her lessons from finishing school.

Apparently, Ella's father, Sir Peter, looks a lot like someone else I know... And they happen to share a first name. Coincidence?

Ella grinds some dirt in Hattie's face. "It becomes you." (p. 53) They're actually in a carriage when this happens, but it looked awkward every time I tried to draw them sitting down so go away.

I'm not in love with this, but here's a first attempt at Lucinda the Idiot. Even though it's never cited in the book, she wears mostly pink, and she absolutely carries a sparkly magic wand.

And this is how she signs her name. :P

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Here are a few old thumbnails. I don't really like them enough to enlarge them, but I might consider doing so with the last one, if only to force myself to learn how to draw a horse. :P

Ella, enjoying the sun. This became irreparably smudged on paper, so I colored and cropped it in an effort to salvage it.

A slight crossover with the Disney movie, when the fairy godmother magics a dress for Cinderella. In the book, Ella wears her mother's old gowns to the ball.

Ella contemplates a willow, a "crying tree," at her mother's funeral.

The elves give Ella a pony to ride to the giants' wedding.

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And now for the more recent batch. I'm finally finally finally starting to get Ella's hair to a place that I like. Starting. And I'm starting to dislike Char's hair again. Guess that means it's time to improve.

This is what Ella looks like whenever she converses with her rotten step-family.

Writing a letter to Char. I did a thumbnail of this a long time ago, and I finally decided to tackle it in full size.

"I trimmed the pen, then found I didn't know how to begin. I could call him 'Char' quite easily, but writing it was another matter. 'Dear Char' looked disrespectful on the page. 'Dear Prince Char' or 'Dear Highness' seemed too formal. And how would I conclude? 'Yours truly' and 'Sincerely' seemed stiff, while 'Your friend' seemed childish." (pg. 162)

Practicing Ella's hair, clothes, and figure.

"Everyone called it losing Mother, but she wasn't lost. She was gone, and no matter where I went—another town, another country, Fairyland, or Gnome Caverns—I wouldn't find her." (pg. 11)

Mandy takes advantage of Ella's curse to boss her around, so Ella plays the literal game with her. This one happened when Ella was eight.

"When Mandy sent me to the pantry for more almonds, I returned with only two." (p. 6)

When Ella's friend finds out about her curse, she exploits it ruthlessly until Ella punches her in the nose. This picture of the aftermath is my favorite of this update.

"Mother issued one of her infrequent commands: never to tell anyone about my curse." (pg. 7)

Walking with her after the funeral, Char finally gets Ella to laugh.

This would be so much better without the notebook paper lines, but I didn't have my sketchbook with me. I definitely want to try this one again.

On the third night of the ball, Hattie unmasks the mystery maiden, and it turns out to be... Ella! Shock and horror abound, and she races out of the castle, but not before Char recognizes her.

A new attempt at Hattie. I always pictured her as slight and pretty until I read the book a couple more times. She's described as a smaller version of Dame Olga, who is a "tall, plump lady with long and wavy honey-colored tresses." We're also told that Hattie has large front teeth and looks like a fat rabbit.

I think she's pretty clearly supposed to be overweight, but I decided it's possible for her to look like a fat rabbit without actually being obese, and I've never really agreed with making all the evil characters fat and ugly. I went for a compromise here. She's still not drop-dead gorgeous, but she's not repulsive—that is, until you've spent thirty seconds listening to her talk.