This is the story of a man who got stuck between two worlds and his heart could never be fulfilled. It’s the story of an English poet who became bored of his monotonous life and his comfortable little world. So he dreamed of running away, become a sailor and sailing the four corners of the world. And he dreamed he was a Pharaoh and knew the secrets of ancient Egypt. And he wondered how it would be to be a lark and fly far away in the summers. And then , one day while having a walk in the woods, he wished he was a tall willow tree. But what he didn’t notice is that when making his wish he was standing inside of a magic fairy circle of mushrooms. And everyone knows that when you make a wish inside of a magic fairy circle your wishes come true! So he truly became a tall willow tree.

Of course, you know, every magic spell has an antidote and his was to cry non stop until he would recover his original human shape. But the homesick willow never did so because as soon as he’d recover part of his human shape he would start missing again the feeling of being a tree. Then he would stop crying and he would return to his arbor-like condition. He was trapped between two worlds.

• The Homesick Willow’s Signed 50 Limited Print is now available at the Store.

This character is a re-post from an illustration that I first published in this blog in November last year. For some reason, I believe is the most popular illustration I’ve ever done so far, but I still haven’t completed the original story.

At this moment, as I have told you before in this blog, I’m making a decision about a story/character to develop a whole book, which I’d like to see completed and self-published by late Autumn this year. So I’m looking at the choices from some of the characters that you already know from this Character Workshop and others that I haven’t posted here. My favorite options so far are Boyhands Smoork and The Homesick Willow. The first one is more children’s oriented (8+ y.o.) and this Willow one is more of a modern fairy tale for older people (14+ y.o.). During the next few weeks, I’ll make up my mind about this, so now your feedback will be very welcomed!

On the other hand, I won’t be posting at the Character Workshop unless there’s a particular new character that I want to share with you. This Workshop has been a very important experiment for me so I could have an idea about which characters and stories are more interesting for you. I feel really really grateful with all of you for participating with your ideas and opinions. Now, it’s time to concentrate on a single one and see it developed!