Inspiration- Brian Froud

  I think I learned more about fairies from Brian Froud than I ever did from any "fairytales" as a child. It wasn't until I was about eleven that I discovered the wonderful world his imagination has brought to live. He is also well versed in traditional folk myths and legends making him both valuable as an artist and a writer.
  My favorite of his works is Good Fairies/Bad Fairies. It is a collection of the beautiful and the curious. He does a great job of not creating impossibly perfect female fairies. I feel more closely drawn to this version of the feminine. In my mind, it is the imperfect that makes it so perfect.
   As a child, I was always seeing creatures in the knots of trees, in the wood grains of my bedroom door or little trolls in the clumps of grass. Froud has brought these creatures alive on the page and in my mind. I think it's their big eyes that suck you in.
   The wings are probably his signature. They are not the sparkling insect wings or feathery bird wings that are traditionally imagined, but a more natural and camouflaged appendage more for decoration than function. In college, I saw a punk version of A Midsummer's Nights Dream where the fairies had tattered garbage bag wings that were undoubtedly inspired by his leafy creations. He's influenced many in his long career, and his works are those I treasure and come back to often when I need a whimsy fix.