By their advise, and her owne wicked wit,
She there deviz'd a wondrous worke to frame,
Whose like on earth was never framed yit,
That even Nature selfe envide the same,
And grudg'd to see the counterfet should shame
The thing it selfe. In hand she boldy tooke
To make another like the former Dame,
Another Florimell, in shape and looke
So lively and so like, that many it mistooke.
(The Faerie Queene. III.VIII, 5 )
The Counterfet is a work in progress. It is a graphic novel based on an old Renaissance text: Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. Michael Stanyer was introduced to The Faerie Queen in a literature course several years ago. In the summer of 2008, he began laying out scenes with Eric Johnson. Now, with the help of Alchemist Studios, they are developing a mixed-media (photography and painting) steam-punk retelling of Book III and Book IV. The story falls within the creation and destruction of False Florimell.
Features:
Steam-Punk Art Style: The Land of Faerie is given a re-visionary treatment. Knights are adorned with bulky, mechanical, steam powered armor. Their horses are traded in for a variety of fantastic creatures and machines. They fend off monsters with rifles and cannons, but go sword and board against each other. Only a coward (Braggadocchio) would turn a firearm on a fellow knight. The unarmored ladies of Faerie, meanwhile, have fewer mechanical garments, so they lose the steam but keep the punk.
Mixed Media Production: The Counterfet employs a combination of photography and traditional painting. Our character models are costumed and photographed. Then we apply a digital filter to the photographs. Once they are suitably processed, the photos are blended with painted scenes. This method saves Eric a great deal of time, as he doesn't have to repaint scenes because we decide on a different character placement.
some early work in progress
Academically Rooted: While our primary motivation is exploring the vivid and imaginative imagery of The Faerie Queene, we do pay attention to relevant theoretical and critical texts. This is a research group afterall! Look for a running annotated bibliography as we wade through all the suggestions that get sent our way. If you know of a particular text that you think would be helpful, please contact Michael. If you are studying The Faerie Queene and are looking for some inspiration, check out the resources page.
© Monster Doll 2008-2009
