Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Hansel & Gretel Production Design Assignment by Varga Petra

In putting together yesterday's blog post I realized I have enough Hansel and Gretel material to make a whole "Hansel & Gretel Week" - so that's what I'm going to do. :) (Don't worry - there will be other things popping up now and then too.)

Today I want to bring an animation student from Budapest to your attention.When people study animation in a formal setting they're often given assignments that force them to think about the creation of different elements of production beyond character drawings. These elements include background design, overall style, choosing a color palette (one for day, one for night and any other key atmospheric settings for the story - eg, rain, mist, snow, sunset/sunrise etc).What does this have to do with fairy tales? Fairy tales are an oft-used vehicle for students to explore these concepts. A common assignment is for the students to choose a fairy tale (sometimes they're given a more obscure one, to force a little more research and development) and to build the elements of a film, as if it were going to go into production.

The images you see here are by Varga Petra and show how she had to consider the story in creating the other elements for a potential production (see her titles below each piece to see which element was the focus). You can see other pieces from her assignment HERE.Although I admit I would love to see a less popular tale tackled, no matter how many students do a single fairy tale, the results are always different. I find that fascinating.You can see the rest of Varga Petra's lovely art blog "Anillusion" HERE (or click on the Anillusion header below). Included are a Red Riding Hood piece, a Rapunzel piece and lots of Alice in Wonderland work, not to mention other interesting characters that seem ripe fodder for fairy tales.


  1. Wow, these look remarkably engaging and intriguing. I particularly like the long shot leading to the cottage.
