Therefore I am proposing using Snow as an avatar for myself. I want to explore her potential as a multi-dimensional human being. The seven dwarfs will not be "real" characters, rather they will be figments of her imagination and representational of her various phobias and insecurities. I call them Snow's baggage, and only she can see them.
The setting will be the roaring twenties. All of the strong patterns, geometric shapes, and glitzy textures associated with the era are very different from anything I have done before and will be stylistically challenging. I am interested in portraying how a person can feel claustrophobic and isolated in the midst of society (as opposed to the obvious isolation of a "wild west" environment, which was my first idea for this project). I still plan to do renders of each of the characters and want to build towards a final environment painting incorporating all of them.
The following is my initial render of Snow White. Her costume is composed of references to the three attempts on her life in the original story by the brothers Grimm (stay-laces tied too tight, a poisoned comb, and a poisoned apple).
This next image is my rendering of the first dwarf, representative of a fear of not having financial security. I gave him a well-to-do (but not gaudy), mature appearance. The color blue is a reference to the term "blue blood."
Matthew 6:19-21 - "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and
rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also."
Matthew 6:26-27 - "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"
Dwarf #2 is a reiteration of the fear of failure. I associate this fear with procrastination and cycles of addiction.
Dwarf #3 - fear of losing one's health (through disease, injury, etc.)
Dwarf #4 - fear of not having control. This is the trickiest, most pervasive, most underestimated one...I see it secretly working behind all other worries (but you wouldn't know it to look at him, so I gave him the least exaggerated features of all the dwarfs). He also has a violent side. Fear of not having control can lead to many anger issues - frustration when circumstances don't go the way you want, anger when other people take advantage of you, etc.
Dwarf #5 - fear of making decisions. This is a little different from the direction I went last semester. It is often almost a relief to relinquish any control over the outcome of a choice, so this dwarf relies on flipping a coin, rolling dice, etc. and prefers to leave the actual decision making process to chance. So I made #5 sort of an amateur gambler. His clothing is a little mismatched, because I imagine even something as simple as what to wear would be randomly selected.
Dwarf #6 - fear of being insignificant. This one is definitely the showiest. I see this fear extending into fear of being ignored/being lonely, as well as being a source of envy (his main color is green, har har)
And finally, dwarf #7 - fear of being exposed. He's responsible for the feeling that the more intimately people know you, the more they will be repulsed by you.
