From my research I found that concept art can be inspired by not only the visual properties of folk tales and fairy tales but also the contextual properties of folk tales and fairy tales. Moving away from animation I would like to see how this can apply to video games.
One game that comes to mind that uses both visual and contextual properties of folk tales and fairy tales is ‘Child of Light’ - while not directly following any particular folk tale or fairy tale ‘Child of Light’ borrows elements from those properties with its watercolour picture book art style and story of a young princess fighting an evil queen.
In an interview with Serge Merinho the concept artist of the game stated he had a lot of creative freedom with the concept art however struggled with creating the protagonist Aurora - her design underwent various iterations until the creative director Patrick Plourde revisited his pitch early in the games development that revolved around a painting by Swedish illustrator John Bauer, the painting depicted a small girl in the woods.
Aurora Early Version, Serge Merinho, Child of Light, 2014
While I could not find what particular painting Patrick Ploured referenced you can certainly see the influence this had on the character's concept art in many different pieces of John Bauer’s art.
Innocents Journey, John Bauer, 1912
She Kissed the Bear on the Nose, John Bauer, 1910
John Bauer was a Swedish illustrator whose work has influenced and inspired generations of children and artists with his depiction of characters and creatures from Swedish folk tales and fairy tales, giving him the title ‘the grandfather of trolls’.
The Princess and the Troll Sons, John Bauer, 1915
The Child and the Stone Troll, John Bauer, ???
John Bauer was inspired by the deep woods with mushrooms and mossy boulders he lived by growing up in jonkoping, a region filled with myths and legends which were told to him by his superstitious grandmother. When creating his fairytale illustrations he would often study historic costumes and buildings. His first commissioned work was while he was a student in which he illustrated anna wahlenberg’s fairy tale book ‘Lange, lange sedan’ and then he went on to illustrate the yearly annual ‘Bland tomar och troll’ for several years and was beloved by the Swedish for the depiction of the many stories they had grown up with brought to life with art.
The depiction of fairy tales and folk tales or more so the influence of these depictions in concept art has been a running theme in my research so far; i would of never imagined any of this being so connected to concept art but it shows how much these old tales invoke a certain look and feel many concept artists want to transcribe into their work.
While ‘Child of Light’ has concept art indirectly inspired by the themes of fairy tales and folk tales I wanted to find a game that concept art was directly inspired by the themes of these tales.
‘Year Walk’ is a video game developed by a Swedish indie studio Simogo, the term ‘Year Walk’ or in Swedish ‘Arsgang’ is a pagan ritual undertaken by Swedish people from medieval time - the point of the ritual was for the walker to either have a vision of their future or death.
On Simogo’s blog they detail many aspects of the games development and the ideas they thought through, scrapped and refined - this can be seen in the concept art they posted when creating the creatures that the player encounters in the game.
In ‘Year Walk’ all the creatures are derived from old Swedish folk tales; the concept art does not shy away from the sinister undertones and origins of these folk tales - like with the Mylings, spirits of unwanted or sick babies left in the woods to die and are desperate to be properly buried or the Brook Horse, a white horse that would appear out of rivers and lure people to the river where it would drown them. The concept art for the Huldra is the one i found the most interesting to look at as she had the most drastic change from her original design; the Huldra in Swedish folklore is often described as a dangerous seductress who lives in the forest, with her appearance being that of a beautiful woman with a cow tail and her back resembling a hollow tree, her otherworldly beauty and charm allows her to lure men into the forest to an unknown fate.
Myling Concept Art, Simon Flesser, Year Walk, 2013
Brook Horse Concept Art, Simon Flesser, Year Walk, 2013
Huldra Concept Art, Simon Flesser, Year Walk, 2013
From reading Simogo’s blog and looking into an interview with the two members of the studio they knew what kind of look and feel they wanted for the game and how to represent it in the concept art - with many of the creatures they had no intention of making them look scary or evil but instead tragic and unsettling, which is something i feel they achieved.
Research Reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st7giW3wqwM
https://childoflightgame.tumblr.com/post/84240405800/serge-meirinho-concept-artist
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/KvBJy
https://www.polygon.com/features/2013/8/1/4546026/simogo-year-walk
https://simogo.com/2013/03/15/year-walk-the-early-days/
https://simogo.com/2013/03/21/year-walk-character-evolution/
An illustrated treasury of Swedish folk and fairy tales by John Bauer, Polly Lawson, Holger Lundburgh, 2019
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