Brother and Sister
a scene from the fairy tale brother and sister:
But her brother was already kneeling by the brook and bending over it to drink, and, sure enough, no sooner had his lips touched the water than he fell on the grass transformed into a little Roebuck. Sister cried bitterly over her poor bewitched brother, and the little Roe wept too, and sat sadly by her side. At last the girl said: "Never mind, dear little fawn, I will never forsake you," and she took off her golden garter and tied it round the Roe's neck...
After they had gone a long, long way they came to a little house, and when the girl looked into it she found it was quite empty, and she thought. "Perhaps we might stay and live here."
So she hunted up leaves and moss to make a soft bed for the little Roe, and every morning and evening she went out and gathered roots, nuts, and berries for herself, and tender young grass for the fawn. And he fed from her hand, and played round her and seemed quite happy. In the evening, when sister was tired, she said her prayers and then laid her head on the fawn's back and fell sound asleep with it as a pillow. And if brother had but kept his natural form, really it would have been a most delightful kind of life.
this was originally an assignment for a promotional mailer, but i do not think i will use it for that. i think it is too boring for a mailer; i do not feel like it can hold its own with everything else that passes across an art director's desk. but i like it as an illustration.
critiques: the background is so vague, which bothers me, and i rushed their bed to the point of looking like absolutely nothing. also the folds in her dress do not make it read as much like a dress as it should. one other important thing i need to work on is making my characters' faces look different from one another. i do not work with references unless it is something i am totally unfamiliar with (in this case, only the deer). as a consequence, all of my girls' faces are looking the same.
but for the most part i am happy with it, considering.
i think brother and sister will the first project i will give myself after i graduate. i want to redo this one, and hopefully get a few more good pieces out of the story, because it is one of my favorites.