So folktale week 2021 just got over and it was pretty interesting, to see what I could come up with for each day’s prompt. Folktale Week is a yearly art challenge that takes place on Instagram. The idea is based on illustrating a set of prompts related to folklore and other legendary tales (I make up my own tales though). I came across this challenge last year and I was hooked.
Prompt one was ‘Moon’, so here’s a picture of how Eve was actually formed and the proof exists till date. (You might want to increase the brightness on your phone to view the pictures properly)
Forget the rib of Adam, I’m pretty sure God put a piece of the moon inside Eve when he formed her. Eve had forgotten that she was divine, so every month the moon makes an appearance and shines out of her like moonbeams. The moon cycle is not easy, but necessary and God knew only she could handle the powers of this celestial orb.
Prompt two of the folktale week was ‘Dream’. Here’s a story of the girl who dreams with her eyes wide open.
There’s this girl I know who journeys to different realms and meets exciting characters in her dreams. She weaves them in her mane, and visits them whenever she wants. These dreamy sojourns have made her who she is and life will never be the same once you too start dreaming like her.
A closer look at her mane: Arutha, the first character I fell for… and A.J. Cronin, an author I fell for. There’s Jane Eyre, my pseudonym or alter ego, I relate to. There’s Doyle who created the character I revere and look up to, Sherlock Holmes.
A charcoal sketch for the third prompt in the folktale week, ‘Awakening’. This is how awakening feels…
The cobwebs that entangled her wings and pinned her down have disappeared in the process that led to this woman’s awakening. Life splits into the before and after phase during such huge shifts in perception, ignorance is replaced by a calm knowing that everything she has ever sought resides within her. There’s no looking back when the process of Awakening the Spirit has begun… And so begins her journey of ascendance.
The fourth prompt in the folktale week was ‘Feast’.
Here are two whales feasting on the rich plankton floating around. This is before the advent of humankind, when the oceans were richer and not filled with plastic waste. Then the big bad wolf arrived and wrecked havoc with his insatiable greed. Such is the story of mother nature and these beautiful gentle creatures, the least we can do is try to keep their habitat clean.
I’ve been reading about bottom trawling and how it causes extensive damage to the ocean floors… When are we going to step out of the big bad wolf avatar and embrace nature?
Karthigai Deepam (an ancient Tamil festival of lights celebrated on the full moon day of Karthigai month) and prompt five of the folktale week fell on the same day, and I thought why not club them together. Day five of the folktale prompt was ‘Bird’, so here’s a pretty kolam (decorative patterns made outside homes with rice flour, as a sign of welcome and oneness with all life, since ants and other insects eat the rice flour and the next day another pattern is drawn) of birds and lights.
During karthigai deepam lamps are lit and placed around homes and in pretty decorative patterns called kolams too. The story behind karthigai deepam is based on early Hindu scriptures, apparently Lord Brahma and Vishnu had a feud on who’s more powerful and superior. Their argument to prove who’s better led to a fight and they both neglected their responsibilities. In order to stop the dispute, Lord Shiva appeared in the form of a fire and challenged them to find either the top or bottom of the fire to be deemed as the greatest. Immediately, Lord Brahma took the form of a bird and started to fly up to find the tip of the fire while Lord Vishnu assumed the appearance of a boar and dug deep to find the bottom. Both their efforts proved futile, as the fire continued to grow in size. In the end, they gave up and admitted that Lord Shiva was supreme.
Prompt six and seven of the folktale week were ‘River‘ and ‘Sky‘, I’ve clubbed them both in this picture.
This folktale is about a girl who grew up in the desert and didn’t know what the monsoon season was, until she experienced it in all its glory. This true story sums up the last two months at the tip of the Indian peninsular, where it poured and poured, sheets and sheets of rain, day and night. All kinds of rain creatures were seen around and the land is still bursting with greenery. It felt like there was a river in the sky, and the sun was resting on its banks. This picture marks the last day of the folktale week and I had immense fun doing these sketches even though some of them aren’t that pretty.
You can check out my last year’s challenge here.