Fairytales and forest folk

I started reading some of Grimm's Fairytales a week ago and have been thinking about two stories since then, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Snow White and Rose Red" which I stumbled upon while trying to find the gruesome original story of Snow White - the second story has nothing to do with the innocent princess. I've given the better known Snow White little thought compared to Snow White and Rose Red which is an interesting little tale. There are only a few characters, the twin sisters Snow White and Rose Red, a Bear who is actually a Prince under a curse, the girls' mother, and a Dwarf who cursed the Bear/Prince. I started doing some sketches (in Early Modern Philosophy, oh what a horrible student I am) with the intent to try and make the Bear's clothing reflect the shape/proportions of a bear while still being typical human clothing to imply that he's not an actual animal. I also began playing with the idea of masks on the two men constructed out of wood and held together with wire; each wooden piece would be a grouping of muscles/a section of a face.

Dwarf (mask) - "Snow White and Rose Red"

Inspirations - Japanese demon masks for which the name escapes me, very specifically the mask/face of the River Spirt from Spirited Away, African wooden masks

July 2011

The mask would cover the cheek bones up and just the lower jaw leaving the actor's mouth exposed and the white teeth glaring. At one point the Dwarf's eyes light up red; I'd like to see the eye socks glow red to mimic this. A long beard and stringy head of hair connect covering the entire face.

Bear (early drafts) - "Snow White and Rose Red"

Inspirations - Russian clothing, African wooden masks, Japanese kimono (wrapping at neck)

July 2011

Lots and lots of drafts for the Bear character, these are maybe a third or a quarter of them. Only thing that was settled with all for them was that the crotch line had to be low and the sleeves had to be dolman to mimic a bear's proportions. Hands wrapped in black cloth leaving fingers exposed to mimic a bear paw with extended claws (either pale hands or white gloves underneath to act as the claws). There's also the first daft of the Prince design; mostly just continuing with the idea of lots of layers to the clothing to indicate layers of the person under them.

Bear - "Snow White and Rose Red"

Inspirations - same as above

July 2011

More or less final design. Made the overcoat shorter and looser at the front with a lowered curved front hem and a raised curved hem at the back which allows the under-layers to show (one at the back would have a tuft for a tail). Added wrappings on the feet as well in the same style as the hands. 

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Inspirations - The forest people in Game of Thrones, antlers, winter

May (?) 2011

Older sketch which I jotted down after watching the first episode of Game of Thrones. I love the costumes for the Northern peoples (and the Dothraki as well). Clothing made of skins with a large fur collar, wing-like antlers at her back, and a bird mask. Not much to say. I'd like to work on this more.

I'm definitely in a mask-craze right now, ahaha. Also, I said "mimic" quite a bit. Clearly I am a very articulate person with a wide-ranging vocabulary today.