reflection

Man or bear? when a man gives up hope is he still human?

On an initial reading a person might wonder why the devil stipulates that the Bearskinner is never to pray to God during his 7 year trials, as it seems a little random as a request. Yet thinking about it, prayer gives people hope. The Bearskinner finds a way around this requirement by asking the poor to pray in his stead, and it is that fact that saves him in the end.

through researching things such as metamorphisis, growth etc and taken inspiration from Jan svankmajers 'faust' i hoped to create the grit and grime of the brothers grimm tale juxtaposed with illustrations offering hope heart and justice.

ive really enjoyed this project and i think i can relate sensitively to the bearskinner story in my experience of studying in bournemouth, that no matter how bad things get you hold on. I didnt have the best start to my university experience but i worked hard and now have pieces of work in which im really happy and proud.

indesign

Ive now got my images ready i just need to pop them into indesign and get them ready for the printers. My handmade paper from india arrived today for my front cover of the original copy of the book, i want to keep the original quite sensitive. I hope to bind the books using japanese stab method.

reworked ideas...

for this idea i wanted to show the idea of the bearskin not only taking over his physical appearance but his heart and his soul.

i wanted to keep the front cover quite simple bringing in my influences of jan svankmajers faust. the quill represents the signing of the soul and the feathers are made up of the pattern that reoccurs throughout my book.

image 1; this images depicts the start of the story, i wanted to give the feeling of the devil being present without actually showing him, so i worked with forms such as eyes in the plants etc.

image 2; was the part were he was walking through the forest, i wanted the eerie feeling, that he was not alone.

image 3; 'this is the game i want you to play for the next seven years' i used this quote from the story to work with the idea of a game using a playing card to portray this.

im not really happy with this one so i hope to redo it, it looks to friendly for an idea thats supposed to be soul grabbing. ive also decided that i want the bearskinner to be in three different pages for the different stages, i want to give them more space to breathe i think they may have more impact on their own and i hope to change the first two stages as i feel theyre not as strong as the bearskinners back so ...back to the sketchbook!

image 1; to be changed i am not happy with the composition, i believe this part of the story is too strong for them to be squished on one page, i think they need more space to breathe, although its the part where the bearskin starts taking over his, body life, heart, soul, mind.

image 2; hes had enough of the bearskin and goes to stand on the bridge (image which has to be changed) to put and end to his life, although he hears a cry from a woman and child under a bridge, he then knew how he could get through it, by giving the devils wealth which he gained to the poor. i tryed making the image into a note of money.

image 3; his dreams change 'he now dreamed that he walked on a cloud of butterflies which shielded him from the devil. He knew that the butterflies were the prayers of the poor.' i have chosen to depict this image with angel wings, showing the protectiveness and the wings to represent the butterflies, i used a uplifting colour to try and show the turning point in the story, offering hope.

image 1; in the fourth year the bearksinner met a gambler who he give money to and in return the gambler wanted to give one of his daughters. the three beautiful daughters all had different reactions in being told they had to marry the bearskinner bearing in mind he was a monster at this point. the youngest daughter wept; the oldest was angry; and the middle daughter was indifferent. i used a a broken ring to symbolize a halo and also that she would be the one he would marry.

image 2; hes been to see the devil again and regained his soul and his looks, and returned to the gamblers house to meet his bride. they did not recognise him, he asked the middle daughter to marry him, she give him her hand wile the sisters hissed with envy. my illustration is a hindu symbol of marriage to show the two hands coming together in love and the eyes of the jealous sisters.

image 3; i just wanted a happy ever after ending, 'the love between them lasted a lifetime and never again did he bargain with the devil.' the eyes have now blossomed into flowers.

katrin berge..

beautiful fascinating and grotesque!!

andy kehoe

brothers grimm...

plan..

today im going in search of some nice paper to compliment my drawings. with advice from tutorials with joel, i think because the drawings are quite delicate the size of my book should be small. so ive decided on 21x14.8 leaving about 2cm to bind. i hope to experiment with binding before finishing the actual book which will be an original copy and i hope to make maybe a couple more paper copies too bound by blurb hpoefully.

my plan over easter is to finish mapping out ideas for layout for the last couple of pages and start the final sketches then start putting the book together. i need to get a move on really i know what im doing just need to get it done. 23 days left to go....

this sketch provides a starting image for which is to become a bridge of hands of the bearskinners nightmares in which he goes to the bridge to take his own life. Hands which may signify a quote from earlier in the story, 'he knew that the man who sells his soul becomes the devils slave and burns in hell,' therefore the hands are the demons from the underground trying to gain his soul.

three daughters; this image shows the three beautiful daughters, eldest, middle and youngest at the moment in which their father brought the bearskinner back to the house with the news that one of them must marry this beast. so the while the eldest was angry with the father, the youngest wept, the middle daughter was neither angry or upset as she believed he had a good heart. So the ring above the middle daughters head signifies the ring in which the bearskinner broke and give to her to keep until he came back for her. It also has a connotation of a halo, as Claude Levis Strauss introduces the notion of binary oppositions to produce meaning in narratives. he studied the production of myths in societies and he believed that myths were used symbolically to understand the contradictory elements of the real world. IN binary oppositions, audiences know and understand one thing because of our knowledge of its opposite. Good vs evil in this case, good being the middle daughter and bearskinner and the evil being the devil.

opening to the book, 'they say, when a man gives up hope the devil walks at his side' i believe this is a powerful quote on its own and i dont want to overpower it too much so i wanted to keep it simple therefore suggesting concept through the plants, using the satanic symbol to give the viewer the effect of not being alone with the subtle use of eyes.

ive been experimenting to find my perfect mr bearskinner. ive been inspired by themes such as metamorphisis, exagerrating forms,use of symbolic shapes, and the forest, so ive tryed to conjure these all up and produce what i thought the bearskinner would look like. i was intrigued by how he was described in the book. 'So began the first year the solider grew filthy and the bearskin stank...By the second year, he no longer looked like a man in a bearskin; he looked like a bear...By the third year he no longer looked like a bear but a monster.'

so i wanted to incorporate this idea of the bearskin taking over not only his life but his body.

The devil has the power to assume a pleasing shape.' William Shakespeare

photo of the day...

satanic symbols..

apollo and daphne..

Bernini has a unique ability to capture the essence of a narrative moment with a dramatic naturalistic realism. I love berninis suggestion of metamorphoses through intricit and subtle detail.

michael palins full circle...

I was watching Michael Palins journey through all the countries bordering the pacific ocean and i was inspired by the local entertainment in Indonesia, weird and wonderful puppets...

lomobomo

some photographys playing around with the idea of the devil as a mask/fox...i apologise for the quality of the photographs at the mo, i will scan them in properly soon