Starting Point:
Creating Characters and Fairy Tale adaptions that a modern-day audience can relate to:
Taking it Literally: Character sketches that quite literally, through use of costume, styling etc. modernise generic FT heroines.
To better understand my content objectives , I started developing characters to meet them. I began with the female heroines because I, personally, can relate to them and this means I can begin comfortably with characters I understand ( I can also give them realistic flaws).
The Fairy Tale Heroine:
My stories are always going to be told from the heroines point of view because this is with whom I can most easily empathise (and all said stories centre around a heroine). In terms of my aims and context this is important because...
My Audience:
Is going to be people of my age (approx.) 15+. By working with and highlighting characters that have similar traits and flaws to myself, I can more effectively communicate my OBJECTIVE, which is to
CREATE A SELECTION OF NEW AND INTERESTING ILLUSTRATED RE-TELLING'S OF THE CLASSIC FAIRY TALES, MAKING THEM MORE RELATABLE TO A MODERN DAY AND LESS NAIVE AUDIENCE. MY WORK IS AIMED AT THE 'GROWN UP' READERS OF FAIRY-TALES, OPENING THEIR EYES TO A NEW WAY OF LEARNING FROM AND BEING ENTERTAINED BY THE CLASSICS.
I started with character design and wanted to be edgy so I used black ink to give tone and depth. I also began with characters which are fairy generic and 'commercial,' or even ''iconic' this made it harder to re-invent them . However, this is the task I am setting myself, so it is better to begin as I mean to go on. I am pleased that these images are suitable for a more adult audience because there are certain details (read the magazine) which will only be appreciated by people with more life experience. They are also fairly gritty in their approach (use of media etc.), too dark for children.
Giving the characters Flaws: Taking away their innocence/making them less natural/making them more empathetic for an adult audience
Rapunzel: I wanted her to appeal unnatural. I am very pleased with how the colours work here, the brassy tones of the hair and make-up and the clashing of red and hot pink show her lack of innocence. In the original story of Rapunzel, she entices the Prince into her tower, becomes pregnant out of wedlock, has her hair cut off and is sent away to the desert. I also like stereotypes so there are elements from Disney iconography that I wanted to Keep. The blonde hair is a hark to Tangled but here she has roots, so you get the impression that she has bleached all of her hair. I could have cleaned up the lines of this image, the black breaks up the image in places. I tried to rectify this in the image below.
Cinderella: I changed the technique here, I penciled the image very carefully, then drew in ink and then completed it in colour. I changed the contrasts on Photoshop so it is bright and graphic looking. I am very pleased with this image. I don't think it says 'graphic novel' ye but further experimentation will help me to achieve a more graphic style.
CAUSE AND EFFECT
Looking at character stereotypes and linking this with cautionary tales; whilst trying to focus upon modernism and originality
Snow White Character Sketches:
Colour swatches and face sketch, considering different subdued colours for my design.
Pen sketches, looking at texture and costume, trying to put a twist on the typical S. W costume
Snow White is effectively a corpse and if I was looking at the story subjectively I would say this is a really sinister connotation-explored in this image.
Snow White in two colours. Different time periods to inspire costumes. 20's, medieval/70's and modern. The left work the best because it is highly original.
Looking at the stereotype of the Trickster- an alternate version of S. W. in which she gets a potion from Rumpelstiltskin to forget her Prince Charming. Sketch of the TV episode.
Now the original story, looking at how the colour red can be used. I like the shawl, I thought it may be too much but draws attention to the danger.
Snow White Without Background, using colours from experiments. New and modern take on costume that I am pleased with.
Composition is something I have always struggled with and I have learned I work better with white space and this image exploits it.
Looking into the original story, I found out that the Brother's Grimm collected the story of Snow White from Germany in 1815. Like all of their fairy tales, Snow White was a very old tale that had been passed down throughout history as folklore or legend, they simply put their own twist on the story and named it 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.'
Snow White is a story about Vanity, jealously, corrupted beauty and is , of course, a 'cautionary tale.' I Like to look at the metaphor's of this story; the beautiful red apple laced with poison, the comparison of Snow's features (white skin [innocence] but blood red lips and ebony hair [symbols of darkness, passion, danger]). The fact that these features have always been of such importance and a story element not lost is important and not to be ignored. Snow White, is not your typical fairy tale princess! For want of a better word, she is 'edgy' and she is flawed. The story always hyperbolises the Queens vanity but what about Snow White's vanity? She could not resit the beautiful comb and ribbons or the blood red apple and each time she did not learn her lesson. And so it is a two way streak, in the Disney movie we are made to believe that Snow is caught out because she is innocent and see's no evil but this is simply not the case! This IS a cautionary tale, but it is Snow White whom the reader must learn from, the Queen is simple the antagonist
Final Images cleaned up on the computer. The last images ended up completely cropped because I feel it looks more dramatic. I am not happy with the apple but i like what the image 'says.' An adult would notice the discoloration of the skin etc. in a way a child would not and this is part of the message. I tried to make her flawed, she is not typically beautiful, although I never draw particularly 'pretty' people because I don't think people can relate to that. Edgy characters makes a story more empathetic.
The Little Mermaid: This is a sketch that I rid of the pencil background. The Little mermaid suffers greatly for legs and yet misses her home. The truth of the story is she places herself where she doesn't belong. I tried to show this with an ink quality which draws her into the water, although if I were to finalise it, I would make the skin cleaner and paler. I am, however, pleased with design and costume.
Similarly: RUMPELSTILTSKIN.
This sketch was done in dip pen and watered down. I like the style as it it very reminiscent of my old Fairy-Tale books. I am also pleased with the composition because it subtly hints to all the story elements and themes without being to too literal. I may re-visit this when creating final imagery.
