First we'll look at Robyns artwork. and first up is the wonderful lady herself, lady liberty.
More than likely based on the statue of liberty, this ghost like woman actually looks horror movie like to me.
When i first looked at each drawing i tried to imagine what the child was trying to draw, not just a character but what emotions and scenes the child had playing out in their minds.
To me this seems very feminine and motherly, the dress reminded me of a princess dress, its so long and flowing, you cant see the characters feet, so an endless ever flowing dress.
she has a serene but not happy expression, as if older, wiser, maybe in charge? perhaps this character was based on the childs mummy, or teacher or even a deity.
There are small people on libertys head, now they are more than likely tourists but that would just be boring, id say the child likely had her as a living statue, welcoming and watching over all those who are near her, considering thats more than likely what the child was told about the statue initially.
Not unlike Pixars -Toy Story, most children don't believe things are just things, when you arent looking they're magic, they come to life, they take things more literal than meaning, so in my opinion Robyn was likely told about lady liberty and how she brought peace or was the first sign of the land of the free, was basically a welcoming statue to all travelers, but a boring old statue doesnt do all that, not to a child, to a child, that means this statue is like god, like santa, its all powerful and if you believe it will and can do anything. Children believe so purely in powers that are so powerful they arent to be messed with, so i interpret the facial expression of a loving happy god/santa/deity/mother as one that will help and do wondrous things, but still to be revered, and also if Robyn had ever visited the statue of liberty, or simply seen how vast it is in photographs, she herself as a small child would see it as something on such a scale it would have to be like a god.
I stuck to the god idea, and began developing my own interpretations of liberty, she brings peace but is all powerful, dont anger her, like old myths, theres always two sides, no one god was ever all good.
I tried to keep Robyns views in mind, in the eyes of a 5 year old girl, something thats so godly and grants wishes etc, would be magical, like a fairy princess, so i developed a princess idea further, but i wanted to broaden that, not a princess of a kingdom, or a world.... but more.
This magical liberty, full of grace and wisdom, could control everything, well what is everything? us? our homes? our world? our galaxy? our universe?
As you can see in some of my sketches that i included, i played about with the idea of liberty controlling and watching over everything, infinite cosmic powers.
To me she looks like she is holding a sun or planet, maybe even our planet in her hands, showing her control and protectiveness over what is hers. like the little people in the drawing do we live on her, is she everything? even the ground we walk on? like the mother nature idea.
I took inspiration from literature such as Terry Pratchetts Discoworld book series, where in this fantasy world, the world isnt round, its flat, and it travels through space on the backs of four elephants, ontop of a floating turtle, a bit out there yes, but my idea of liberty isnt much different, us, our world, we'd all be floating her dress, on her head, or hair, she would make up the universe, was is a very interesting idea if you try and visualize a flowing universe in the shape of a mother god.
Her good and evil powers not unlike the villain from Dreamworks, Sinbad, where the goddess of destruction can pull one tiny thread and the entire earth falls into 'glorious' chaos.
The character design for sinbads goddess of destruction was designed similar to this project brief, it was based on old myths, temple wall drawings, which werent much more helpful than a 5 year olds.
The final design of the goddess of destruction really interests me, her entire persona and build portrays her emotions, and ulterior motives, she uses her sexuality to get what she wants, twisting the minds of men, making them believe one but leading them to something else.
She resides in tarteris just like the myth, the and of no return, just the language itself screams awesome villain, she changes shape and size, bursting into thin air and smoke, as shown below she has a misty flowing dress, one i would hope to take inspiration from if i choose to develop liberty further.
The fact she is half there and half not, gives off the emotive design of someone that doesnt want caught, up to no good and never deals with consequences.
The mistyness of the dress and the flowing texture would be the biggest challenge in creating a goddess liberty. i would have to research much further to know if i would be needing more photoshop than 3DStudioMax.
The environment would be no different. though the brief states its a character design, i believe to create a proper emotive design, the scene is equally important, for example below i have another image of sinbads goddess of destruction, and from what i can tell tarteris is no place on earth, like heaven or hell, you cant walk there, considering there are worlds in the bubbles of her bath and the constellations are her minions/pets, the powerful and otherworldly environment adds to her villainous design and portrayal. At this point its too early to know, but im playing around with the idea of building a decent relevant background with the character to boost the emotive design.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbbcgm79SE1raa9i2o1_500.png
The flowing cosmic goddess liberty that protects and controls everything is probably one of my favorite interpretations, but the emotive design is too ordinary and i feel there's more challenging projects in this brief.
If you want to know a little more about my thought process research wise to see where im coming from, you can take a look at the following links...
Liberty, A History :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty
Statue of liberty, Defination :http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=statue%20of%20liberty
The statue of libertys meaning, mother of exiles: http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/statue-liberty-meaning-and-use-national-symbol
Pixars, Toy Story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Story_(series)
Childrens imagination, basic elements :http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/imagination/resources/evolution-2a.html
Imagination, a psychology : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination
What is imagination really, and why do children have a brighter one :http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/studying/articles/KE%20-%20Cognitive%20Tools%20of%20Children's%20Education.pdf
Terry Pratchett (i'm familar with his works, so this is just basic info for all of you) :http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/
Eris, goddess of discord, mythology. i think this link really shows how much dream works developed thier version of eris: http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Eris.html
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