Slavic Folklore in Concept Design

Honours Project

Critical FrameworkWorking on the Feedback

Does the item of clothing/artwork/building/prop you are looking at have a superb sense of authenticity as outlined by the following aesthetic principles?

• Form and Shape• Pattern• Cultural Context• Historical Accuracy• Detail• Imagery

Yes No

It’s relevant It’s not relevant

Character Design

Unsuccessful Design

• Too much detail• Pompous• Does not convey character• Does not build on previous

development sheets• Difficult to identify with or

project onto

Prince Ivan

• Russian prison imagery• Simple design• Traditional Russian shirt pattern

with a sideways opening• Muted colours

Unsuccessful Design

• Too military looking

• Not enough characterisation

Dawn

The Sun’s Sister

• Gentle yet strong• Grey and contrasting Yellow• More saturated colours than

Ivan• Goddess of the Dawn

Inspiration

• Machal, Jan. "Slavic Mythology." Vol. III of Mythology of All Races (Boston: 1918) (1918): 279.

• Znayenko, M. T. (1980). The gods of the ancient Slavs: Tatishchev and the beginnings of Slavic mythology. Slavica.

• Kononenko, Natalie O. Slavic folklore: a handbook. Greenwood Pub Group, 2007.

• Szövérffy, Joseph. "History and Folk Tradition in Eastern Europe: Matthias Corvinus in the Mirror of Hungarian and Slavic Folklore." Journal of the Folklore Institute (1968): 68-77.

• Kulikowski, Mark. A bibliography of Slavic mythology. Slavica Publishers, 1989.

• FRANK SYSYN

• Social ResearchVol. 58, No. 4, Nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe (WINTER 1991), pp. 845-864

• Johns, Andreas. Baba Yaga: the ambiguous mother and witch of the Russian folktale. Vol. 3. Peter Lang Publishing, 2004.

• Afanasʹev, Aleksandr Nikolaevich, and Roman Jakobson. Russian fairy tales. Vol. 2. Pantheon, 1976.

• Kravchenko, Maria. The world of the Russian fairy tale. Vol. 34. P. Lang, 1987.

• Voronov, Vladimir. Krestyanskoe Iskusstvo. Moscow State Publishing. 1924.

Russian Prison Tattoos

• Religious Symbolism

• Political Imagery

• Slang Imagery

• Folklore

The Look of War

Russian Royal Dresses• Extremely ornate

• Long and Flowing

• Gold is popular accent

• Hard to find and expensive materials

Russian Knight Armour• Round “Zertsalo” was put above

chainmail for extra protection

• Visually looks like the Sun

• Bright and was often polished to blind enemies

Other Characters

• Baba Yaga

• The Witch

Props and Weapons

• Early Napoleonic/Late Medieval

• Varied levels of technology• Interesting colour schemes

Inspiration

• Tsar Cannon

• Ornate

• More of an image than a functional weapon

• Simple shapes

• Bulky

Napoleonic Muskets• Ornate

• Interesting detail

• Design over functionality

• Imperial Imagery (Slavic in our case) like eagles, lions etc.

Environments

Fibonacci Spiral (Golden Ratio or Phi) is used widely in photography and art as a substitute to the usual rule of thirds.

A Change in Scope

Placing into the “Would Be Nice to Have but Doesn’t Look Like It’s Going to Happen” box

• The weavers and the giants

• Their respective environments

• Items associated with these characters

Concentrating On

• Environment Design

• Characterisation

• Personal Development

• Dissertation

Personal Development