The theme of assignment 3 is to illustrate collaterals for an event. When given the assignment, the brief allowed for expressive freedom as there wasn’t a fixed theme. I knew I wanted to attempt a different style of illustrating as compared to my previous 2 assignments.
I wanted to try drawing the female character as it is a subject matter that I usually stray away from. Thinking of potential ideas, the theme of Disney princesses came to mind. I wanted to reimagine the iconic characters into something completely unexpected.
I am secretly a Disney fan, but there’s this stigma that Disney princesses are only enjoyed by young girls, I don’t talk much about it. I grew up watching Mulan countless of times and she is my favorite princess. With that, I wanted an event for people who are no longer kids to be able to freely express their love for Disney princesses.
Potential Direction:
- Grimm Brother’s more twisted take on the tales
- Illustrating the villains as heroes instead (Maleficent)
- Side character as the protagonist
- Anime style
- Fine art portrait painting
Moodboard
As Mulan is my favorite I thought it would be a cool idea to portray the other princesses in a more oriental style. In addition, the trend for Disney princesses today is to portray them much stronger and more independent. Examples being Moana, Elsa (Frozen), and Merida (Brave). Thus, I decided to illustrate the older Disney princesses (damsel in distress) as strong and confident characters with an oriental twist to fit with Mulan .
Rough Sketches
I decided to illustrate the 4 princesses Rapunzel, Snow White, Ariel, and Belle. The first row (top-down) illustrates highlights from the scene. The second row is a portrait style of layout. The final row illustrates them as villains.
Pencil Composition
I decided on the portrait style as I feel it would the most impactful. Also, I decided the illustrate for a wine bottle label. As my target audience are people who are more mature, wine might be good a merchandise for the event and it gives off a porch vibe. Each princess is accompanied by flowers to go along with the oriental Japanese them. Also, I researched Japanese wines and paired them with each princess.
Spring ariel – Sake
Spring is the season of rebirth and it’s associated with emotions such as joy and love. The story of Ariel encapsulate the elements of spring as the true love story is, in fact, her love for the land. She came a long way from the deep ocean and overcome the barriers between the land and sea to achieve her dream. Her experience is analogous to the process of sake-making- the arduous milling for the polished rice grains.
Summer rapunzel – Umeshu
Rapunzel’s magical locks represent the spirit of summer, which is everlasting youth. The bold princess left the tower where she was held captive to investigate the floating lanterns. Her emerald eyes shine like ume in umeshu, it is said that people with green eyes are creative and optimistic. Her long locks were used as a weapon to protect herself from the enemy she encountered on her journey. Despite the journey being treacherous, Rapunzel remains hopeful about her dreams of seeing the lights.
Autumn Snow White – Koshu
Autumn is the season of change and signifies transitioning into adulthood. This represents Snow White’s life outside of the castle surviving in the forest. Just like how koshu wine is the only Japanese wine made from grapes, it represents rebirth as shown through her story of being reborn after being poisoned by the Wicked Queen.
Winter belle- Atsukan
Belle, the courageous heroin who braved through the cold, hard winter to save her father from the Beast. Just like a warm cup of Atsukan that becomes hot and sweet after it is heated, Belle warms the cold and hard heart of the Beast and gave him a safe place to show his softness.
Rapunzel
Rapunzel represented with her long locks, the lanterns and the chameleon.
Ariel
Ariel, with her mermaid tail, scales and the mermaid like ears.
Snow White
Snow white and the poison apple.
belle
Belle with the beast and roses. She is the only princess with a more rural costume as she was not from noble birth.
Colour Scheme
As I have 4 princesses I thought it might be cool to use the 4 seasons to represent each princess and thus this inspired the monochromatic color scheme. Spring Ariel (green) Summer Rapunzel (yellow) Autumn Snow White (orange) and Winter Belle (blue) The desaturated palette is inspired by Japanese scroll paintings.
However, the feedback was that the monochromatic palette was not very impactful and thus I decided to do another version with a more pastel color palette with colors inspired by the princesses original clothing.
Process
I tried making Ariel’s hair red to represent her original character better, but I felt that it was too striking and brings attention away from the face. I also decided to go with a more graphic style with only hard edges, to push my boundaries and not go to my comfort zone of painting with soft edges in a more painterly style as seen in my second assignment.