The skillful huntsman Part 5

Le finds inspiration from Legos, and making origami from when his childhood, he states ‘those fond childhood memories have a lot to do with why I’m so obsessed with visual construction.’[p.94] in his sketches, one could see the blocky, feeling, and the roundish textures in these visual constructions.  Yoon creates interesting bird’s-eye view, a view seen from above, to show his composition of the different rooms, in this case the princesses bedroom, the reason for this as Yoon states ‘This lets us observe the scene without being in it, and makes the moment between the huntsman and the sleeping princess more intimate.’ Yoon was inspired by Art Nouveau. ‘Art Nouveau quality which is why I stuck the curving shapes’ states Yoon [P.96] after this step, he changes the mood of the bedroom, by giving a dramatic lighting effect, this helps create a mood. Yoon drew these colossal interiors, and it conveys this immense scale of space inside the castle. Yoon adds in another area the castle stairway this is the area where the huntsman picks up the sword. ‘I wanted to give a solemn, Gothic feel while keeping the fairy-tale-like dreamy quality. The heaviness of the staircase evokes the power of the king, the marble communicates his wealth’. This is a powerful trait in concept art. How the world immerses renders itself into the audience. Just in case the area was locked, Yamada wanted to create a secret side entrance. ‘I was trying to explore this idea about a secretive side entrance into the castle something almost like a sewer tunnel or an aqueduct. It needed to be very simple, abstract, and moderately organic, yet not. It becomes a nice transitional space between a more formal environment (forest) and a more chaotic one (castle). I drew on an organic approach to classical architecture with a bit of the French comic artist Moebius thrown into the mix.’ [p.100] Yamada looks at other perspective into the field; he also finds influences from other artists. Meobius is the nickname for Jean Giraud a French comic artist.  

In the development of the castle, Yoon states ‘The birds in the background give some movement to the image, and are light and ephemeral while the castle is solid and staid. The birds are free to stay or go and do as they please; the princess who resides here is not.’ [P. 105] this gave me a new perspective to the story, I didn’t realize a small detail like adding birds or something miniscule to the background could help ideally, create movement. Scott states ‘Felix took a more historical approach to the design of the castle. When designing a period piece, it can be very difficult because everyone already knows what the thing should look like. If you stray too far from familiarity, the piece will not feel correct to your audience.’ The historical elements are difficult to portray because there has to be a balance between, familiarity and a new construction. [P.105] 

Reference:

McCaig, I. 2005, THE SKILLFULLHUNTMAN, Visual Development Of Grimm Tale At Art Center College Of Design. Hong Kong, Design Studio Press.