The Master Magician’s Apprentice, an English Fairy Tale

If you have followed me, by now you may have noticed I created a children’s alphabet book using fairy tales for each letter of the alphabet. I could have concentrated on all the old favorites but I decided to make it a book with fairy tales and folk tales from all over the world. This particular story is more of a story about obeying rules and how trouble follows disobedience.

When it hit me to be more global I had already created the pages for R is for Little Red Riding Hood and J is for Jack and the Beanstalk. The research for the global fairy tales and folk tales from all over the world certainly added to my work but in the end, it became very satisfying. This story is a fairytale from England. You may recognize it as one that was made by Disney into an animated cartoon with Mickey Mouse.

A very educated master magician had a book in which he had the knowledge to control demons. He kept this prized book in a locked cupboard where it would be safe and always told his apprentice to stay away from it.

One day, his foolish apprentice found the book open, and read a spell aloud from it. Beezlebub appeared before him and demanded a task from him, or he would strangle him. The apprentice gave him the task of watering a flower. Meanwhile, the apprentice tried to find something in the book to help him get rid of the troublesome demon. But Beezlebub went on watering the flower until the room was filling with water. It was at that moment, the master magician remembered he left his book unlocked, so he quickly returned and dispelled Beezlebub.

I didn’t want my book to be just one more “A is for Apple” alphabet book and since I love fairy tales, why not use them instead? After deciding that, I was told I should use my collage method instead of the usual watercolor illustrations that I had originally desired. The collage took much longer but in the end, it made for a very unique book.

I hope you enjoy my process here showing the start with thumbnail sketches, then value sketch, color composition and finally, the collage. I didn’t make a video of this one but you can see from the photos that I created the boy on a different sheet of paper from the water and the room. Later I put them together in Photoshop.

This fairy tale has been shortened to fit into my book along with all the other letters of the alphabet. If you would like to read the full version, you can Google the title and find the story of the Master and Pupil, or the Master Magician’s Apprentice.

My book, The FairyTale Alphabet Book, Fairy Tales and Folk Tales from Around the World, was self-published last year with Lulu.com because Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing) refused to allow illustrations that spanned the central gutter of the page. They demanded at least a half-inch margin around the outside, which I could have done, and a half-inch margin through the center margin, which would destroy the look and cohesiveness of the double-page illustrations. I had to find a different publisher who would allow the illustrations the way I wanted them. KDP obviously does not understand illustrated children’s picture books.

In my collages, I use paper from magazines, old wall calendars, catalogs, and circulars. Often I will add things into a collage you can't see unless you are looking for it. In this collage, you can see I put a photo of Vincent Van Gogh in the water and a snowy owl in the splash below the M. There are many more things hiding in the collage if you go looking for them.

Many think that a children's book should have less realism in the illustrations and more abstract cartoony pictures. What do you think? Are the more cartoony illustrations dumbing the children down or is it more fun? I think they are supposed to be more fun but the reality is many of the cartoony illustrations I have seen today are crossing the line into dumb and insulting the children's intelligence. Do you disagree? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I hope you like my story and my fairy tale alphabet book idea. I’d love to read your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.