Concept art for a fairytale
"Vasilisa the Brave’ or “Vasilisa and Baba Yaga” is an interesting Russian folk tale
that goes back to pagan times.There are lots of interpretations, versions and movie adaptations of the story (around ahundred can be found on IMDb). Its plot is similar to ‘Cinderella’: the heroine is treated badly by her stepmother, who sends her into the woods in order to be killed by the famous villain Baba Yaga. However, there is a twist in the story and the heroine gets Baba Yaga’s help. The story examines the question of whether Baba Yaga appears as villain seeking to harm the protagonist or a donor. I have dealt with the character design of the main villain’s character, a witch called Baba Yaga, and tried to find a way to present her ambivalence to the audience. Although famous for being fearsome, in this story she is a helper. I have chosen to work on this story for personal reasons, as the metaphor of a notorious fearsome witch nowadays represents the personification of fear and prejedice towards unkown present in all of us. I enjoy the story and, although it is an old one, I find it very up-to-date. Because the subject of ‘otherness’, somone who is different and has been cast out becomes accepted at the end is always interesting. My idea was to show that the way one perceives a person can influence the way they act and can significantly influence the further development of events. I developed the story narative as well as to visually develop the characters. I to used mixed media for the creation of the puppets and scenography. I made the puppets using clay and textile. For the textile part, I used
recycled clothes – leftover pieces of clothes and some personal clothes I do not use any more. When I created the scenery and puppets, I took photographs. Finally, I created characters and scenes that can be used as a concept design for an animation film.