Choosing the Characters
All stages of this project rely on having a good concept to create illustrations for. The only idea I had starting out was the author and a list of stories I might want to pull from. Below, I screen recorded my ideation process and wrote some commentary in the captions. (The rest of the videos in this blog post do not have commentary, just sketching.) Before starting the recording, I had looked up the most well-known stories by HC Andersen and refamiliarized myself with the stories and took note of the more interesting elements I had forgotten, like the Robber Maiden from The Snow Queen and the fact that The Little Mermaid turns into a “daughter of the air” at the end of the story and doesn’t necessarily die, as I had remembered. These elements are important because they can lead to interesting and original concepts which have not yet been explored, despite the well-beloved status of these stories.
Working digitally allows me to quickly and efficiently change sizes, shapes and order of the drawings, making for a quick ideation process. Later, I pick up real pencil and paper in order to better cement the flow of the designs. I find that medium has quite a lot of effect on they way I think when I draw. The simple fact that any action can be easily undone on the digital tablet is an asset when trying out different ideas, but can be a drawback when one is supposed to be decisive about marks and shapes. Which is why I will switch to traditional materials for a bit during the refining stage.
Brainstorming
Picking and choosing the silhouettes I prefer for each character.
When creating a lineup of characters, one has to keep in mind how they look together and how to keep contrast between them. Age, gender, height and more generally “shape”, all have to be considered in order to create a harmonious yet contrasting and memorable cast.
I decided early on that I was interested in the young prince who used to be a swan (from the story “The Wild Swans”, his sister saves him and his ten other brothers, transforming them back into people by making them garments out of nettles. He still has a swan arm because she didn’t manage to finish attaching it before she was forced to return them to their original forms), so I made him the protagonist of this story. I had vague ideas about making this a sort of fantastical adventure story, where he goes on a quest and gathers a kooky cast of characters as he travels. Knowing this, I was able to pull on tried-and-true tropes and assign them to the characters I had selected based on their shapes. The Steadfast Tin Soldier could become a Grizzled Mentor. Thumbelina could be Resident Smart Guy/Healer. The Robber Girl/Maiden (a less known character from The Snow Queen) could be the Rogue/Lancer/Character Foil. The Snow Queen could be the Reformed Villain/Wizard.
It became easier to narrow down the designs after I had assigned everyone their roles. The Grizzled mentor would look tough and a little brooding, Thumbelina would be flower themed but also a bit more bookish, and the main character himself would look ready to go on a quest but still princely. The Snow Queen and the Robber Girl have little to no change in role from their original stories, but their character descriptions are vague at best (most of Andersen’s characters don’t even have names, let alone detailed descriptions) so I have plenty of leeway.
Designing the prince was the easiest and changed the least from the original concept. Aside from the obvious addition of his wing most of him is stereotypically northern European. Protagonists of stories like the one I’m imagining for this project generally have a simpler design, mostly for ease of replication because the main character is obviously the one which gets drawn most. The simpler the design the more one can cut down on time, especially if the story is serialized. Later, I do change a few things and add some elements, but since his characterization is basically “prince on a journey in a Fantastical Europe circa 1820” I didn’t feel the need to change what I had drawn, even though I tried to experiment a little. After I draw him more, I might decide to simplify him even further.
The biggest hurdle and asset of his design is the wing. It makes him recognizable, but it raises some interesting questions practicality-wise. One would assume that he would prefer to cover it up when traveling, both to protect the feathers and because it would attract undue attention. But as the artist, I want the audience to actually see the most crucial part of his design. I settled on a slightly out of fashion option: a cape. Even this early into the nineteenth century, people were already favoring greatcoats with actual sleeves rather than capes or cloaks, which were settling into the role of “opera-cape” which they still have today. The fashion choice is then both practical and revealing of his character, because if there is any sort of person who could find it normal to wear very fancy clothing whilst traveling it would be a prince. Later I lean into this aspect and instead of the more practical “travel clothing”, he wears clothes closer to the “dandy” style popular during that time.
Perhaps it would be good to address why I chose the early 1800s as the time period for this particular project. Since these are fairytales I had the freedom to choose pretty much any time after 1730, when tin soldiers were first invented. Anytime before would be too anachronistic given my choice of character. I settled on circa 1800-1830 because the most well-known tin soldier uniform was worn in the real armies of this time. I suppose I could have instead gone with a contemporary or even futuristic style, but the unwritten rules of fairytale fantasy are that it must take place in the far past. The year 1800 is already pushing things into more familiar territory than most fairytales, which are mostly stuck in a medieval world because of the literary conventions cemented during this very era by people like Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.
Though it is interesting to note that many of Andersen’s stories are contemporaneous and even local. He has plenty of stories that take place “sometime and someplace” with vaguely medieval imagery, but the dreamlike style of his writing makes even these stories feel like they are taking place in a world parallel to ours, like we could reach out and by some childhood-related magic of imagination, we could touch the characters. In this vein, it might have been more faithful to the intent of the stories if I went with a more modern urban fantasy style. The prince could have been the son of a successful businessman, the soldier could have been an action figure, and the robber girl could have been a more modern sort of thief, a hacker. Though I will fully admit that I had been excited about exploring more historically inspired designs. Perhaps I will try some iterations later, one contemporary and one sci-fi. The fantasy elements might translate even better in a world where one can treat future technology almost like magic.
Having said all of this, my tin soldier’s design did not end up being entirely faithful to the uniform. It’s a little more worn and ragged and I added some elements like a shawl and a decidedly-not-regulation long hair and beard. Since the character in the original tale dies at the end, I figured this version of the tin soldier somehow became human by magic after he was melted down alongside the paper dancer. After becoming human, he travels the world and learns how to be part of it for a while before running into our main character and going on their quest. His clothes are therefore worn and he is no longer the clean shaven and perfectly pressed soldier he was as a toy, but rather a ragged wanderer. Other than his uniform, his single leg is his most recognizable feature. There are actually several prosthetic options (mostly made of wood) during this time period, most of which are actually leg shaped and would only be noticeable because of the way the person walks. Like the cape problem, the viewer would not see the character’s most recognizable feature if I made it practical, so the options were to either give him a type of peg leg or an armored, magical sort of leg which somehow works like a real one. I went with the peg leg because of the distinctive silhouette, but I might try another fancy leg design later. Perhaps they encounter someone during their quest who gives him a better leg.
Shape-wise, I used big, dominant forms like the inverted triangle and the square for a typically strong and masculine form. It’s another deviation from the slimmer style of the toys, but to the modern eye a more exaggerated shoulder width looks recognizably warrior-like and heroic, which is what I’m going for.
With Thumbelina (renamed Maia at the very end of the story), I mostly played around with body shapes. My first decision was whether she would be pixie sized or just short person sized. I eventually concluded that she should be taller for the duration of this story in order to make her interactions with the other characters more varied. If she were constantly tiny, she would be reduced to either hovering in front of the others or siting on and around them. Making her small would theoretically make her easier to draw especially if she appears in a composition with the bigger characters, but we would also literally see less of her. She could be small at the beginning and end of the story when she leaves and returns from her flower kingdom, but during the story she would be large enough to interact with the other characters easily. As seen above, I also experimented with some proportions and shapes. Because she is the smallest I wanted round shapes to be predominant in her design, and tried to echo this in the clothing as well for the first few sketches, then slowly transferred the roundness to the shape of her hair and face. The clothing remained soft and feminine throughout, mostly because she is made “Queen of the Flowers” at the end of her story, so I tried to reflect this with her fine clothing and big, accessorized hair. Later, I abandon the rounded body model and kind of regret it because she becomes too similar to the other female characters.
The first designs for the Snow Queen were either very Cruella De Vil-esque or too similar to the typical slim-white-dress-with-cape design that has been used since the story was first illustrated. The popularity of this design is both due to the source material, which describes her as entirely white and shimmering, and because it’s the logical way one would design a Queen of snow and ice. I chose to lean into the bear skin aspect of her design to create something more unique. At first, I wanted it to be wrapped around her and for the bear head to be draped on her shoulder, but once I sketched the head-as-hood concept, I instantly liked that direction better. Where the previous bear coats are luxurious and elegant, the bear hood makes her look much more animalistic and dangerous. She looks like she hunted the bear herself and wears it to blend into her surroundings. The polar bear is the apex predator of the Arctic (where the Snow Queen lives, according to Andersen, though she spends the summers in Norway) so it makes some sort of sense for her to be clothed in polar bear skin. I started using very floofy, square shapes for her design in order to make her as imposing as possible, but later changed her shapes to pointier, triangular ones in order for her to not be similar to the soldier.
I really liked the characterization of the robber girl from the Snow Queen, it lends to some fun character design. This meant I was sure of myself when I made the first sketches and then changed her very little. The most important thing about her is her spunky attitude, as long as that is conveyed in her design I am happy. The story also mentions her love of weapons, especially knives and pistols. At the end of the story, she also has a “shining red cap” which I did not end up including in the final design, but might use later.
Refining Ideas
Below are some short clips with my process. These do not have any sort of commentary, but I think I might try to add some in the future.
Maia’s design starts leaning less poofy and more towards the taller silhouette popular at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century.
I elected to use a warm, dark skin tone because it feels fitting for a queen of flowers to look like she spends a lot of time around them. It would also make sense for her to spend as much time in the sunshine as possible because of her period in captivity at the hands of the mouse and mole, who had threatened to keep her underground forever.
The soldier, or Morten (Danish Martin) as I have elected to call him, would have a consistently tired sort of expression, as he is always on the road. Also, being a human missing a leg rather than a tin toy which originally only had one leg are presumably different sorts of experiences, and it wouldn’t be out of place to assume that he’s often in pain.
Ida (a pretty, but short and practical-sounding name for a no-nonsense sort of person) is dressed in a frock inspired by traditional Norwegian clothing. I elected to go the opposite route from the white dress to black, which not only works well for contrast with the white fur, but also emphasizes the sparkling snow better than a white dress would.
Runa, the robber-girl, would definitely be partial to trousers, even though during this time it was uncommon for women to wear them even when riding. It’s subtle, but her clothes are far more feminine up top. She’s wearing a white muslin shirt cut in a feminine way and a spencer jacket, which would be the latest fashion of the time for ladies. It’s here I ended up omitting the red cap in favor of the very wild hair, which felt so in line with her characterization I could not let go of it. She is literally introduced by Andersen as one of a group of highway robbers, demanding that the heroine be gifted to her like a pet and biting her mother to get her way. She is also visibly armed with two pistols, which she has when she takes Gerda back home in the story, and a knife which she’s never without, even when she sleeps.
Verner, the prince-who-was-a-swan, only changed a little from the first stages. His clothes are fancier and I elected to give him a double-capelet sort of garment instead of a simpler one because it’s easier to cover his shoulders without obstructing the shape of the wing.
Verner Mood Board
The next stage is all about exploring the shapes, movement and expressions of the characters. After a while I realized that it was easier to start experimenting on paper rather than doing everything digitally. So some of the next images I used as exploratory sketches for the final character sheets.
Ida Mood Board
I eventually decided that I liked the idea of Ida being a bear shapeshifter better than her having hunted the bear. I imagine her as a creature like the Selkie or like the Valkyrie swan maidens, who are animals that can change into humans but still have their skins when they do.
I also designed an ice spear for her to use both for hunting and for her winter magic.
During this exploratory stage, I started taking notes on how the characters were evolving, where they were coming from, where they were going and how that would affect their design. Eventually, I managed to plot out an entire potential story for them to follow, not just their backstories.
Morten Mood Board
I tried to emulate paintings and reenactments with people wielding muskets, but I still have to practice the movement. Even the final drawing looks very stiff.
Maia Mood Board
Maia’s design is outdated by the standards of the humans around her, but I wanted her to look a little bit flamboyant and Rococo (which in itself looks very fairy-like in my opinion), so I am assuming that in this world the fairies like to be inspired by human fashion, but are always just a little out of date because they don’t often travel to human-populated places.
Also, the wings are a gift she receives at the end of the story when she marries the king/prince/lord (Andersen uses pretty much all of these titles interchangeably, and never actually calls these creatures fairies). They can be fastened to the back and are apparently the wings of a fly. I elected to model a harness on short stays, which she would have worn anyway, if as undergarments rather than outer garments.
The easiest way to label someone as “the bookish one” is to give them glasses. A stereotype, yes, but a useful one. I didn’t realize this until I finished the project, but I also never drew her looking through the glasses unless she was actively reading, so they’re definitely reading glasses that she just decided to wear all the time.
Runa Mood Board
Runa’s wild personality and cheeky attitude is very fun to draw, though by the time this particular adventure starts I think she would also have a softer side fostered by Gerda and Kay from the original story. I need to do more detailed studies of her pistols and Morten’s guns. I don’t have a good handle on how to draw them, even after finishing the character sheets.
Character Sheets
Though character design is a process, the following images are still what I intended for the finished “product” of this stage of the project. Most of the sketches were originally in pencil, photographed then inked and colored in Photoshop. Or they are at least shaded. I will only add colors in a later section, when I have decided the values I have chosen work together well in a more elaborate image.
Young Prince Verner lives in a small kingdom with his sister and brother-in-law. He loves her with all of his heart, and for this reason resents everyone else, especially his brother-in-law. To make a long story short, the King and his kingdom had all believed her to be an evil witch for simply making shirts out of nettles and had nearly burnt her at the stake for it. A few years before, he and his ten other brothers had been cursed by their stepmother to travel the world as swans. The only person able to save them had been their sister who made shirts to turn them back into humans. His shirt had not quite been completed before they reached the executioner’s side, so he will forever have a swan’s wing instead of an arm. She had forgiven everyone almost instantly, but Verner is not able to do so quite yet. But when the kingdom is in trouble because of a mysterious curse and the last witch is found dead, he must set out on a quest to find the Queen of the Flowers, who might know something about breaking it.
A little boy throws his tarnished toy in the oven and both it and a little paper doll turn to ash. All that remains is a tin heart and a tinsel rose. Then the boy’s mother discards the remains in the forest. A gnome walks by, and even though she isn’t very magical, even she can sense the strong will-to-live, wish-to-exist, hope-for-something-more, in other words, Steadfastness exuding from the ashes and creating strong magic all on their own. All she does is give the little tin heart and tinsel rose the slightest of magical nudges and two people literally spring to life. They have little time to be in equal parts overjoyed and discombobulated before a strange and greedy person attacks them and snatches up the newly human dancer. And the man who used to be a toy, still confused and missing a leg, is barely able to make sense of what happened before he is knocked out too. His mission in life becomes to find the evil creature (who is also a wizard) and save the only person in the whole world who is like him. It is as he’s chasing the wizard that he meets Verner and joins him on his quest, hoping that the Queen of the flowers would be able to give him an advantage over the evil wizard Azdar.
Runa is an expert robber among robbers and very proud of her profession. She has matured much since the time she first met Gerda and took her to see the Snow Queen, and is only a brat when it suits her, rather than all the time. She and her men snatch up Verner and Morten whilst they sleep and she has plenty of fun goading them to distract herself from the still-aching grief left behind by her dearly departed mother. When she finds out about their quest, she invites herself along and they reluctantly allow her to join, seeing as they need a guide in the mountains.
Maia is the Queen of the Flowers, who has both the power granted to her by her station and one the most extensive magical libraries in the world, which she has studied extensively. When the adventuring trio arrive at her doorstep, she is instantly fascinated by the problem they describe and does her best to find a solution. She has a few ideas to experiment with and prepares to depart with them for Verner’s kingdom. Then, just as they leave the kingdom, they are attacked by Morten’s evil wizard, Azdar, who curses her to stay at her size, greatly limiting her magic. They are then forced to travel up north to the Snow Queen’s realm, because Maia requires a specific book she just happens to not have in her possession.
