MPG Brief - Moodboards & Observational sketches [Week 1]

Mood boards:

Using the suggestions my peers and tutor gave me, I put together a mood board of all the visual references i want to incorporate into my design. I really like the concept of the princess being one with the woods around her, tangling into a mess of limbs, bark and roots. With this in mind, I looked at a variety of topics from real life woods and forests, the famous chained trees of the Major Oak and the Alton towers tree [the chains on this tree in particular are a big inspiration to me], as well as zombies, depictions of tree spirits and some similar creatures within video games. I also annotated my mood board with some ideas i had in mind when gathering my images.

Annotated mood board

Gathering visual references:

To help build my visual library further, I decided to go out and get some photos of the woodlands around where i live, there are three trees in particular near where i live that i wanted to look at, they both have a lot of different textures on them as well as twisting branches and mushrooms that i thought were interesting to look at. I also included some photos from my trip to Elvaston Castle in Debyshire last year, I went with a group of people who brought their Krampus costumes with them, so i also included a photo with one of them in as I considered the Krampus as in inspiration for my character. I hope to also go to the Major oak at some point to get some photos there, If i do, i will add them to this post. 

Using these images, I will create some observational sketches looking at how the trunks of the trees branch out into their many limbs, how to replicate a bark like texture, and also look at mushrooms and lichen that grow on the trees. 

I also hope to get some photos of mushrooms as they start popping up around the woodlands, i think adding them to my design will help give off a more wild and creepy feel to my character design.

Observational sketches: