A graphic for Behind the Design: Fairy Tales for Adults by Jessi Eoin that shows the three stages of the comic's production: pencils, inks, and completed, next to the text announcing the topic.
Behind the Design,  Blog

Behind the Design: Fairy Tales for Adults

A colorful comic by Jessi Eoin titled "Fairy Tales for Adults." The title is on a yellow banner in a fancy script font. There are pink and purple roses around the banner, and there's a border around the whole page in purple with leaves and decorative elements. The color palette is comprised of blues and purple with pops of yellows, pinks, orange red, and greens. There are nine panels, each showing a different fairy tale. Panel 1: "Owning a Home" shows a cozy home set in between trees behind a white picket fence with a blue mailbox. Panel 2: "Pinterest" shows a laptop open to Pinterest with lots of pins showing beauty, diy, and home categories. Panel 3: "Retirement" shows an old white woman on a beach chair under a colorful umbrella. She looks happy and relaxed. Panel 4: "Inbox at Zero" shows a phone open to the email app with zero messages. Panel 5: "We're a Family" shows three ominous, backlit figures smiling creepily and saying, "You don't need a union." Panel 6: "Protect and Serve" shows a white cop in uniform, grinning malevolently with his face half in shadow. Panel 7: "Health 'care'" shows a uniformed doctor wearing a pink surgical mask, a heart with the words "We care" on it, a stethoscope, and an ID that says, "Dr. Dick." Panel 8: "Justice for All" shows justice scales cast in shadows that look like prison bar.s Panel 9: "This Shit" shows a USA flag flying on a flag pole against a blue sky with the sun and a few clouds.

Fairy Tales for Adults

Created: April 2023

Dimensions: 6.88″ x 10.5″/2064px x 3150px at 300 dpi

Created with: Procreate

First Shared: on Patreon

The color palette for the comic Fairy Tales for Adults by Jessi Eoin. It shows four rows of four circles with the colors of the comic labeled with text that shows the hex codes for each color.
Hex Codes: c7eafd, b5d3fb, 75cbd4, 8285c7, 5c4ba0, 482c8b, ce5bab, edbee2, fcf9ba, f8f28e, b5e671, 82e196, 67c877, f3afad, f0918e, 9d7456

Tools

Here are the brushes I used in Procreate to create the comic:

  • Dry Ink, Smoother: a modified version of Procreate’s Dry Ink that I tweaked to be a bit smoother, larger, and to have the ending tip blunter
  • Blunt: a modified version of Procreate’s Studio Pen that I tweaked to have a blunter tip and a larger size

The Story

Late last year, I accomplished what seems to be a myth in the modern adult world: I fully emptied my email inbox down to zero. 

Unheard of, right? I can’t tell you how satisfying that was 😌 

I mentioned it to a few people because it still kinda felt unbelievable– especially since I had started out at over 15,000 unread emails (plus a few thousand more read ones 🥲) It felt like a fairy tale.

This made me wonder– what are some other fairy tales we tell to adults? And thus, this one page comic was born.

Since we’re in the midst of Back to School Season here in the States and since we all (well, that might be a generous overestimation) know how much indoctrination goes into schooling here, it seemed appropriate to choose now to drag this piece out and talk about my process in illustrating some of the fairy tales told to adults.

Here’s the initial brainstorming in all its glory:

A sloppy collection of sketches and words on a white background: a banner that reads, "Fairy tales told to adults," an empty email inbox, a two story home behind a picket fence, a stand mixer, the pinterest logo, and the US flag are all drawn without much care for accuracy, and the words "free time" and "doctors care" are written toward the bottom in two different colors.

Looks like a barely comprehensible mess, right? 😂 I do wish I had been able to squeeze in the “free time” fairy tale. I feel like a lot of people– at least here in the US, I can’t speak for outside– would believe that that one is genuinely a fairy tale these days. We are remarkably time poor overall here, which never fails to sadden me on a deep level.

One of the things I say to my partner when he’s faced with a long or difficult day at work is, “I hope it goes by quickly,” and I always get a knot in my stomach. We’re meant to cherish our time here on Earth together as humans, so to wish someone a quick passage of time feels like a spiteful curse, not a helpless wish. I truly despise capitalism and the hooks it has in every aspect of our short lives, the way it has twisted even the smallest moments.

I hope that came through with this comic. I hope the rage and resentment came through at least a little.

Anyway.

Here are the pencils! lol 

The comic in the pencil stages, where the layout is largely the same as the final comic but with a few small differences here and there (such as the words for the panel "You don't need a union, we're a family" being reversed and saying, "We're a family. You don't need a union because...." and the scales of justice not having any shadows of bars in the panel, the lettering is done by hand, and the house looks like a different kind than the final version) and with more of a loose and sketchy quality that gets refined later on.

I don’t think my pencils will ever remain fully the same as they turn into inks, let alone colors. I’m constantly finding ways to tweak things here or there, hopefully adding more interest or more clarity, simplicity, what-have-you.

I’m sure if I ever get a publishing deal for a longer piece, that may become an issue, but for now, it’s fine, I think lol.

And here are the inks~

The inked stage of the comic. There are still a few minor differences (such as the shadows of bars still missing from the scales of justice and not having the top corner roses by the banner), but overall, it's basically a black and white version of the comic at this point.

Ahhhh, I love inking so, so much. I know a lot of people hate this stage, but it’s my favorite! I enter a state of flow, and it feels so good to let my mind zone out and just enjoy the physical sensation of drawing, knowing the final product will be satisfying. This is also where I can listen to shows or an audiobook in the background, so it can be extra fun.

And finally, the colors~

A colorful comic by Jessi Eoin titled "Fairy Tales for Adults." The title is on a yellow banner in a fancy script font. There are pink and purple roses around the banner, and there's a border around the whole page in purple with leaves and decorative elements. The color palette is comprised of blues and purple with pops of yellows, pinks, orange red, and greens. There are nine panels, each showing a different fairy tale. Panel 1: "Owning a Home" shows a cozy home set in between trees behind a white picket fence with a blue mailbox. Panel 2: "Pinterest" shows a laptop open to Pinterest with lots of pins showing beauty, diy, and home categories. Panel 3: "Retirement" shows an old white woman on a beach chair under a colorful umbrella. She looks happy and relaxed. Panel 4: "Inbox at Zero" shows a phone open to the email app with zero messages. Panel 5: "We're a Family" shows three ominous, backlit figures smiling creepily and saying, "You don't need a union." Panel 6: "Protect and Serve" shows a white cop in uniform, grinning malevolently with his face half in shadow. Panel 7: "Health 'care'" shows a uniformed doctor wearing a pink surgical mask, a heart with the words "We care" on it, a stethoscope, and an ID that says, "Dr. Dick." Panel 8: "Justice for All" shows justice scales cast in shadows that look like prison bar.s Panel 9: "This Shit" shows a USA flag flying on a flag pole against a blue sky with the sun and a few clouds.

I really enjoyed how the colors for this came out, and I’ve decided to make it a regular base palette for my comics work. Everything feels really cohesive overall, which can be hard for me since colors are a skill I’m still developing, so I’m pretty pleased with this! I think I would learn more into stylizing the trees next time, but other than that, I’m satisfied with this piece. 

I’m still working on letting go of the need to prove that I know what I’m doing as an artist on a technical level and just doing what feels good. Very much trying to return to the days pre-college and recapture some of the joy and looseness that my art had at the time.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, my inbox DID get back to a ridiculous level of unread emails again (over 700 😂😅🥲), BUT I recently tidied up again, so I’m back to just a few in my inbox. We’ll see how long it lasts this time– still much better than the 15,000, though!! 😂 

So what do you think? Does this represent some of the fairy tales told to you about adult life? What would you add to it? Lemme know in the comments! We can commiserate together lol

Thanks for reading! And I wish you many beautiful, long days that you luxuriate in, savoring the time passing by like a delicious meal, and enjoying the company you keep.

If you enjoyed this look at my process, I have a newsletter and a Patreon where I send you posts like these, along with other comics-related goodies like monthly lists of new comics, comic reviews, and other fun, behind the scenes stuff. Check it out!

Cheers!

Jessi

they/them

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Jessi Eoin (they/them) is an illustrator who loves making, reading, and talking about comics, and they have come to accept that this is probably how they would be lured by a kidnapper.