The Magpie Magician
An illustrated novel about a nameless girl and a blackmailing street magician.
About the Artist
Meet Manelle Oliphant and learn why she believes stories are such a meaningful part of our lives.
About the Story
Deep in a city where your family’s name and reputation is the most important part of your identity, lives a girl with no name, or family.
She was raised by a demanding street magician named Mr. Marlowe. While he performs magic shows she steals people’s secrets for his “side” business, blackmail.
She wishes more than anything to know who she is, and know where she came from. So when she meets a mysterious woman who says she knows her name, and who her mother is, she’ll do whatever this woman asks so she can learn who she is, even betray Mr. Marlowe.
Story Origins
In 2018 I created a short story for this website called The Magpie Magician. (You can download it here.) This story, unlike most of the other short stories I’ve written, it wanted so much to become a longer novel-length story. After a lot of work and planning, I finished the first draft in 2019. Now I’m working to make it the amazing story it deserves to be.
I hope you’ll enjoy watching this book come to life.
Image Gallery
Click Image to Enlarge
As I create new images I’ll add them to the gallery.
Follow the Process
Emails will build on the content I talk about on instagram. I’ll share with you more about what’s going on with the project so you can see how things are coming a long.
You’ll also get The Magpie Magician and Other Stories. A PDF eBook download with 9 illustrated stories.
Patreon
When you become a Tales Fantastic Seeker you get even more special content. Including monthly magical discussions, behind the scenes content not shown anywhere else, and video process posts.
Click Here to learn more about becoming a Seeker on Patreon.
Instagram/Facebook
If you follow my instagram (or like my facebook page) you’ll get pictures of artwork including art of characters, scenes, and settings. I’ll also show bits and pieces of the process. Captions will share with you parts of the story, explains tiny pieces of the process and ask questions so we can discuss fun topics like our favorite books and stories.
Story Goals
Writing Goals
Although I’ve written many stories over the last few years, and even gotten some published, this is my first attempt at writing a novel. I’m excited to try to make this the best story I possibly can. I’ll be sharing parts of the story with you as I go and you’ll be able to see the story evolve and come to life.
Illustrating Goals
Drawing is my first love, and want this book to be crammed with illustrations. Like the writing process there will be a a lot of trial and error and it’s going to be fun to see what happens. I hope, in the end, the pictures will enhance and breath an extra layer of life into the story. If you’d like to learn more about the supplies I’ll be using for this project click here.
Publishing Goals
I’m creating this novel with the goal of having it traditionally published. I’ve published multiple books as an illustrator and have an idea how the industry works. Amazing books are published every year but many more great books get passed up for all kinds of different reasons.
When the book is ready for submission I’ll share as much of the process with you as I can, and we’ll see what happens.
Bring the Magic Home
