Category: Art

Elizabeth 1– People – SOURCES

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When it comes to the people in Elizabeth’s life, portraits of them are fairly easy to find. I sourced all of the above paintings Wikipedia, though it should be noted that not all of the characters are drawn according to their portrait, and some are reproductions of missing originals or symbolic representations rather than depictions of actual people.

Elizabeth in her coronation gown. There are several variations of this image, some of which reproductions of lost originals.
From a painting of Elizabeth 1 as Pax, holding an olive branch in her hand, and with the sword of justice below her. The original painting was not from Elizabeth’s time, and as such, only appears on the first page of the comic.

Elizabeth’s Makeup: As Elizabeth ages in the comic, you may have noticed that her makeup gets noticeably heavier. With caked-on white make up (white lead and vinegar) and rouge which made her look clownish, this concoction actually poisoned her over time. The truth is, Elizabeth started wearing heavy makeup earlier than depicted in the comic, starting at age 29 due to a near-lethal bout of smallpox in 1562 A.D. that left her skin scarred. Self-conscious, she covered all these flaws with makeup, and when her hair grew extremely thin, constantly wore a wig.

King Henry VIII with his six wives. From the top left hand corner and in an anti-clockwise direction, they are: Catherine of Aragon (1st, Mary’s mother), Anne Boleyn (2nd, Elizabeth’s mother), Jane Seymour (3rd, Edward’s mother), Anne of Cleves (4th), Catherine Howard (5th), Catherine Parr (6th).
Elizabeth’s half-siblings, from left to right: King Edward VI, Queen Mary I, and finally Elizabeth herself as a teenager.
Some key figures in Elizabeth’s life, from left-to-right: Mary, Queen of the Scots, who was Elizabeth’s main rival for the English throne until her execution. William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, who was Elizabeth’s chief advisor and who worked tirelessly under her and whom she called her ‘Spirit’ for his dedication. King Phillip II of Spain, who courted Elizabeth (and had married Mary) early on, but who would ultimately be her biggest enemy.
Some characters who were very important, but whom didn’t get much time in the comic due to the need to tell a compressed story, from left to right:
  • Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and the rumoured love of Elizabeth’s life. He doesn’t look like his portrait since I wanted to distinguish him from all the other characters, though he was allegedly dark-complected like a gypsy.
  • Sir Francis Walsingham, who was Elizabeth’s Spymaster and who ran a network of spies that uncovered several assassination plots. His role in her government was secondary only to William Cecil’s, even though it was rumoured that Elizabeth didn’t like him much on a personal level. When he died, his spy network died along with him.
  • Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, who launched the failed ‘Essex rebellion’ later on in Elizabeth’s life. I glossed over his story since it lasted barely one afternoon, but he was indeed very dear to Elizabeth, and was also Robert Dudley’s stepson. It is not without some irony that he launched his rebellion partly out of dissatisfaction with the influence of Robert Cecil, son of William Cecil, who had replaced his father in Elizabeth’s group of advisors. This rendition of him is not based off his portrait, but off an artist’s depiction of a melancholy youth representing Robert, since Essex was actually quite well-liked.

Elizabeth 1– Locations – SOURCES

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The locations in the comic were not easy to research, not least because many of the palaces Elizabeth lived in no longer exist today. Greenwich palace, where Elizabeth was born, was demolished; Whitehall palace, where Elizabeth spent a lot of time in, was mostly demolished in a fire; Richmond palace, where Elizabeth died, was also mostly demolished. Surviving palaces, such as Windsor Castle, Hatfield House and Hampton Court, all fell into disrepair after her reign (especially in the Oliver Cromwell era), and so look little like they originally did today.

Here is an image of Chelsea Manor, where Elizabeth spent a portion of her teenage years with her stepmother Catherine Parr. The history of Chelsea Manor and the image comes from this British Landownership Records, but the image itself is of the rear side of the Tudor manor, and shows 17th Century additions that did not exist in Elizabeth’s time. All in all, not a reliable depiction of the original, and the building no longer exists today.
Hatfield House is where Elizabeth spent her time after she left Catherine’s manor, and where she first received news of her accession to the throne. Hatfield house is actually much larger than this–most of it was demolished. while this picture from ElizabethI.org only shows the banquet hall.
Elizabeth riding to see her half-sister Mary 1, and here is the gate of Anne Boleyn at Hampton Court Palace from Wikipedia.
Since there are very few historic buildings in England that still has period-era Tudor architecture, most existing references are recreations such as this Henry VIII bedchamber from Hever Castle. We know from locations such as Hardwick Hall, an Elizabethan country manor, that Tudors favour extensive wood-panelling everywhere, so much of the backgrounds in this comic have a lot of wood panelling even as it’s not entirely historically accurate.
We have no true idea of what Elizabeth’s ships looked like in the battle against the Spanish armada since so many were retrofitted merchant ships, but here is a recreation the Mary Rose, which is a carrack-type warship from the reign of Henry VIII. While not accurate to Elizabeth’s navy, this is a raised shipwreck that last saw action in 1545, about 40 years before the Spanish battle, and so carries a fair amount of Tudor accuracy even as it’s inaccurate to Elizabeth’s time.
The tomb of Elizabeth 1, which is located in Westminister Abbey in the Chapel of Henry VIII. There’s multiple renditions of this (from the British Museum), and it exists in modern times, so it was pretty easy to find references of it.
  • Some of the remaining sources come from the movie “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007) starring Cate Blanchett, and while some scenes are fairly accurate such as Elizabeth’s coronation, a fair amount of this movie is inaccurate both in plot and in the background details.
  • The movie’s depiction of Robert Dudley’s betrayal of Elizabeth is particularly irritating, because while Robert wasn’t entirely “faithful” to Elizabeth (having secretly married more than once after his wife’s death), he seemed loyal to her until his death and never seemed to have ever considered rebellion.
  • The movie’s depiction of Elizabeth’s sexual “adventures” was even stranger. Due to Elizabeth’s traumatic early life experiences with childbirth and marriage involving her father’s wives, she probably had a fair amount of body horror relating to both of these things. Being a king’s daughter and potential heir to the throne also meant that she knew her body was also never truly hers, and that any mere suggestion of pregnancy is instantly a political affair, and may endanger her life and her claim to the throne. Coupled with the fact that she was surrounded by ladies-in-waiting and councillors almost 24/7 makes the suggestion of any kind of physical affair unlikely.

KOOKIE Magazine #6 – “The Heartsmith”

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Hello, all! I have a short, 6-page colour manga/comic out with KOOKIE magazine called “The Heartsmith“, which is available in issue #6 (March 2019). It’s a lovely little all ages story for girls aged 8+, and it’s about heartbreak and the strength between different generations of women. I got sent two copies of KOOKIE, and the colours turned out lovely in print! Buy the magazine here!

Wu Zetian – VISUAL SOURCES

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The best thing about researching visual sources for Wu Zetian is that she has been meticulously documented in multiple TV dramas and movies (check Wikipedia for that full list).

There has been a number of pop cultural productions of Wu’s life story, but in terms of historical accuracy, the most reliable is probably the 1995 TV series “Wu Zetian” (starring Liu Xiaoqing). Being produced by the Chinese government means that the accuracy factor was probably quite strict, and so I drew some cues from it for my art. You can watch the entire series on Youtube.

Above is an example of the artwork I did that used cues from the 1995 “Wu Zetian” TV series. However, I should stress that I took some artistic liberties with the depictions, for my own ease. An example would be the last panel (pg15), which shows Wu Zetian sitting in on court sessions behind a screen next to Gaozong. In real history, the screen was behind Gaozong, not next to him, but that would have been impossible to show properly in a comic panel, so I moved it. On the other hand, after Gaozong’s death (pg20), Wu did move the screen from behind the throne to next to it.

The TV series covered most of my art sources, so the rest of it I got from the book “China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty” by Charles Benn (2002), Oxford University Press, Oxford.