For this task I shall look at the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, and how this tale had been adapted to suit the audience of the era.
The first printed version of this tale comes from 1697 by Charles Perrault, Tales and stories of the past with morals. His version was targeted towards the literate upper classes of society. The tale was told in the court of Louis XIV in 17th century France.
Little Red Riding Hood with the wolf, engraving by Gustave Doré
An attractive young lady was deceived into giving the wolf the information it needed to get to granny’s cottage avoiding the woodcutters and eat her. The young lady then arrives at the cottage. The wolf feeds her granny to her and gets red riding hood to burn her clothes. She is then persuaded to climb into bed with the wolf and then she herself is eaten.
The story is very overtly moralised and sinister. The tale was a warning for women of the advances of men. The colour red symbolised sin and carnality. It was said in court that if a lady had “seen a wolf” she had lost her virginity.
Image of Red Riding Hood. New production techniques have also altered the depiction of her. More colour is used.
During the 19th century the tale was retold by the Brothers Grimm. The story was changed as not to disturb the more conservative Victorian readership. They omitted the cannibalism and the burning of clothes. They also included the woodcutter as a heroic figure that come to the rescue of Red Riding Hood.
2011 film Red Riding Hood.
In 2011, the tale was updated further and made into a film. To entice the audience to watching it, little changes were made. Red Riding Hood is a beautiful young lady torn between two men, as she plans to elope with one of them (a woodcutter), a series of deaths associated to the wolf occur. The village at this point had a truce with the wolf and offered it meat to pacify it. Along comes a werewolf hunter, tells the villagers it could be any one of them, as it takes human form during the day. The villagers start accusing each other…including Red Riding Hoods granny, who lives just outside the village. Red Riding Hood becomes to focus of the wolf’s attentions. The woodcutter saves her life, but in the process gets bitten and changes into a werewolf.
The Delivery of the above tale changed throughout time. It changed to reflect the audience and the technologies available for that period in time. Many stories started life being verbally communicated, then some were written down, later on images (engravings and woodcuts) were added. When there were advances in printing technologies the images reflected it too. Colour was added, short films were produced, animations made, and recently films were made.
There are a myriad of platforms to display work. The art of an illustrator is moving away from flat pages, you can find their work on accessories, shop windows, fabrics, wallpapers and animations.
Whilst some of these formats can use ant type of design i.e. photos, graphics. Some are best suited to illustration. It all depends on the message, audience and the tone of voice
Library wall in Birmingham. Created using spray paints, and depicting famous characters from children’s stories and films.
Here they are targeting children in hope of attracting them to the library. The artist has used characters from books and films the children may know. It’s bright and colourful, it also adds interest to an otherwise dull concrete area.
A widow display for Harvey Nicholls.
Here they are appealing to the inner child. The display is for Christmas, magical time for children. Although the people making purchases here will be older, it reaches the inner child with bright colours and playful images.
A paper craft animation by Yum Yum.
This colourful image is from Yum Yum, an English based animation, illustration and design studio. This image was created for the cover of Digital Arts Magazine.
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