The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition by Grimm, Jacob
Assessment
SHINDY LEONG
Assessment
SHINDY LEONG
Chapter 53 - [1]
“Soon Thereafter she gave birth to a little daughter who was as white as snow, as red as blood, and her hair as black as ebony. That’s why the child was called Little Snow White” (Grimm 2015, p, 170)
“You, my queen, may have a beauty quite rare, but Little Snow White is a thousand times more fair.” (Grimm 2015, p, 171)
"Meanwhile, Little Snow White was so all alone in the huge forest that she became afraid and began to run and run over sharp stones and through thorn bushes" (Grimm 2015, p.172)
“Finally, as the sun was about to see, she came upon a little cottage that belonged to seven dwarfs.” (Grimm 2015, p, 172)
"In a row against the wall stood seven little beds recently covered with sheets" (Grimm 2015, p, 172)
“When Little Snow White entered, she found everything tiny, but dainty and neat. There was a little table with a white tablecloth, and on it were seven little plates with seven tiny spoons, seven tiny knives and tiny forks, and seven tiny cups” (Grimm 2015, p, 173)
"During the day we're in the mines and dig for gold" (Grimm 2015, p, 173)
“Since she couldn’t be absolutely certain and didn’t trust anyone, she disguised herself as an old peddler woman, painter her face so that nobody could recognize her, and went to the cottage of the seven dwarfs” (Grimm 2015, p, 174)
“She was still white as snow and red as blood, and if her eyes could have opened, they would have been black as ebony, for she lay there as if she were sleeping” (Grimm 2015, p, 177)
Snow White [4]
For this final brief I decided to go for the 'The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition by Grimm, Jacob.' - Snow white. This will be a challenge since Snow White is an iconic Disney princess character known for her short black hair, pale skin, blue/yellow dress with puffy sleeves. [2] Also, this is my first time modelling a human form which will be a challenge for me as well.
In the Original Fairy Tale Snow White was described as white as snow, as red as blood, and her hair as black as ebony. She also seems to trust people very easily and seems very kind, generous and helpful. The descriptions gave me a perception she would have an innocent appearance with long hair, mid-height, pale skin and red lips to exaggerate her skin.
I began drawing the figures, I was aiming for an innocent and confident posture. I found number 8 quite interesting, the hand placement gives the feeling of a shy character while the feet placement makes her look confident., the right hand is going outwards which gave me the idea my character would hold the dress to make her stand out more.
Since I'm deciding to create a cartoon character, I looked at Disney characters to see the form of the hair, eyes and lips. Using the reference images I did a few sketches for some ideas. During this process I liked the hair accessories, which makes the hair more polished.
My perception of Snow White was that she seemed like an innocent character. As an innocent face it's usually round/big eyes and cute, which makes them look young. As well as a smile to express the character's personality, as she is viewed as kind generous and helpful.
Eyes #12 / Hair #4
I looked at 1800s clothing's since the Original Fairy Tale got released 1812. While analyzing these dresses I noticed it was trendy with empire dresses and puffy sleeves. The empire dress gives an illusion of a higher and smaller waist, as well as it's very long and loose to make the woman look taller. [3]
While sketching the dress I wanted to stick with the 1800s clothing, I added a band around the waist to give the illusion of a smaller and higher waist. The dress should be simple but neat at the same time, while I went for pink hues because it seems sweet, feminine, cute and playful. The pink dress will basically express Snow White's sweet personality. I also added the red apple to signify it as Snow White, as well as the red and pink hues goes along very well. Looking at her appearance, her skin is pale, long hair, and the red lips to exaggerate her skin.
Before
After
Here is a five point turn around of the character, I decided to only draw the basic structures. So I can use it when I'm going to create the plasticine maqutte.
The volume and weight was not accurate so I decided to use myself as a reference to get a turnaround since it was difficult to get an understanding of the volume and weight without any references. The adjustments I did was the arms, legs, back, feet placement and hands.
In the description for the environment it describes that Snow White was alone in the huge forest as she felt frightened, she ran over sharp stones and thorn bushes. She eventually came upon a little cottage that belonged to the seven dwarfs. Inside the cottage was a white table cloth, seven little plates, spoons, knives, forks and cups. Once the dwarfs met Snow White, they mentioned that they work in the mines during the day.
I looked at different cottages and the inside, I was mainly looking at the shapes and the structure of it. And the forest environment where I searched "mining landscape forest" to get an initial idea how it looked like, the trees are very long and straight, and the lights goes in between the trees. As for the thorn bushes I choose to go for the berry producing thorn bushes as I found the colour red suitable for Snow white and the atmosphere as she runs through the forest.
Thorn bushes
Cottage
Forest landscape
Sketch
My overview is that the environment takes place in a huge forest in a mining landscape, due to the dwarfs mentioned the mines. My guess is that the season is in spring which adds the berry producing thorn bushes which appears in the spring, as I find it suitable for the environment.
Eventually there is the little cottage that belongs to the dwarfs, my assumption is that it's a wood cottage since they are miners and live in the forest. I did some initial cottage sketches above, I was mainly aiming for a small cottage with a small height and weight. Also, a cottage that would be small, neat and welcoming by adding the plants by the window. I imagine this would be Snow White's view once she sees the cottage. As she is surrounded by colder colours until she reaches the cottage that is shining that gives her a welcoming feeling.
For the model I used wire, aluminum, plasticine and wire casing to connect the legs.
For the dress I flattened out a piece of plasticine and wrapped it around the waist.
Before
At this point I created the puffy long sleeves and hands, I found this part difficult because I didn't have any tools besides my fingers, a toothpick and a ruler. To make the arms hold onto the upper body and hands I used toothpicks, the toothpick kept the parts together without falling apart. I decided to start over with the face because I wasn't satisfied with the outcome. The lips, eyes, face shape and profile didn’t look good, the lips have the wrong structure, the face shape and side view are too flat.
Once the whole body is covering in plasticine I began working on the volume, weight and afterwards smooth out the areas. I decided to create the body first before adding the dress to get the volume and weight correct. Looking at the body gesture the left leg carries the most weight, which pushes the right hip outwards. The right shoulder goes further up than the other one because the character will hold an apple while the left shoulder is relaxed.
I smoothed the top part and removed small pieces from the bottom part of the dress and created the flounce for the dress. Next, I added the smaller details such as the waist band to create the illusion of a smaller and higher waist.
After
6. I started over with the face where I got rid of the eyes and lips. This time I used coffee stirrers as my sculpting tool, I used a knife to create different shapes and sandpaper to get a smoother surface and sharper edge. By using the tools, I pushed in the clay for the eyes and outlined the eye shape and created the eyeballs.
The mistake I did for the lips before was I only flattened the outward lips which created pouted lips. This time I created a curve inwards in the middle of the mouth.
[1] Grimm, J, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, (2015), The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition by Grimm, Jacob , Ebook, Available at: https://www.vlebooks.com/vleweb/Product/Index/912259?page=0 [Accessed 22 November 2018]
[2] Wikipedia, (2018), Snow White (Disney character), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_(Disney_character), [Accessed 29 November 2018]
[3] Wikipedia, (2018), Empire silhouette, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_silhouette, [Accessed 29 November 2018]
[4] Disney Wiki, Snow White, Available at: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Snow_White, [Accessed 29 November 2018]