Claudia Short MA Games Design: Semester 2 Project: Compiling Research about Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

What are folk tales and fairy tales?

The core of folk tales was to be passed through the oral tradition of telling stories among members of a community; usually within rural areas and small villages in the countryside.

Unlike fairy tales which are solely fictional, folk tales have a real life belief behind them to the point where festivals are upheld to celebrate the folk tale and precautions are still practiced to keep creatures from folk tales away from homes; while on the other hand walks, paths and locations are dedicated to finding folk tale creatures.

Since the early 19th century folk tales have been collected and transcribed into literary form by historians and folklorists within their own country or have gone in search for the folk tales of far off places.The material of folk tales usually consist of warnings to heeded of creatures, spirits or superstitions that inhabit the local areas nearby; whether it’s a fae hound lurking on the moors or wisps luring a weary traveller to a bog to drown.

English rural village

The most famous and most versed line in a fairy tale is ‘Once Upon a Time…’

While folk tales and fairy tales may use similar settings and creatures e.g faeries - folk tales have no specific author, fairy tales have altered over time to appeal to younger children with whimsical peril and a happy ending.

The genre of fairy tales first became popular among French aristocrats and usually read in parlors known as ‘Contes’; this is due to Charles Perrault, known as ‘The Father of the Fairy Tales’ who published in 1697 his book titled ‘Histoires ou contes du temps passé’ which was a collection of tales such as ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Puss in Boots’, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Bluebeard’.

By laying the foundations of the genre we see 100 years later The Brothers Grimm who collected German fairy tales such as ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘Snow White’ and ‘Rapunzel’ just to give a few examples. This in turn influences a variety of authors to collect fairy tales and even create original ones like ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Hans Christian Anderson.

What makes folk tales and fairy tales so unique and compelling is the visuals that go in hand with the narration of the tale along with a connection to culture and how they can be visually interpreted so differently - as usually so little written detail is given so it is upto the illustrator to create and distinguish this visual interpretation and how it comes to be.

Many illustrators, animators and artists in general have their own unique visual interpretation of a folk tale or fairy tale that they have brought to life with their work; it is a personal practice backed behind the artists own research, inspirations and art style. Children's book illustrator Arthur Rackham would attribute his succession with illustrating fairy tales from his intimate familiarity with the text. I have been recently reading ‘Arthur Rackham: A Life with Illustration’ and I believe James Hamilton the biographer of the book described Rackham’s role within the Golden Age of Illustration best with this sentence as quoted below.

“He was – and remains – a soloist in front of an orchestra, a player with the responsibility to interpret and add a personal lustre to great works with variations of infinite subtlety and grace.”

James Hamilton, Arthur Rackham: A Life with Illustration, 2010

To this day Arthur Rackham’s work inspires illustrators and concept artists like myself which is why my Master is focused on wanting to learn how to process the ideas and stories of others to then transcribe it into artwork that is charming to the point where it is a specialised methodology.

"She put her arms round the marble figure which was so like the prince"

The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Anderson, 1837

Illustration of ‘The Little Mermaid’ from ‘Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen,Illustrated by Arthur Rackham’,

Arthur Rackham, 1932

“They were six beautiful children; but the youngest was the prettiest of them all; her skin was as clear and delicate as a rose-leaf, and her eyes as blue as the deepest sea”

The Little Mermaid, Hans Christian Anderson, 1837