For my final project I chose the fairytale Robin Hood. I chose to change the gender of Robin Hood to a female because think that is more interesting and when doing research there was barely any renditions of Robin Hood as a female. In my sketchbook exercise this week I went ahead and did a very basic and very messy sketch of the character along with items that that character would be involved with. For example, I drew swords along with bows and arrows because that is quintessential for Robin Hood. I also drew some bird skulls that the character could possibly wear as a mask however, I’m still thinking about it. I also thought that it would be cool if not only was she a skilled archer and swordsman but she could also actually turn into a robin. I think that would make it even more magical than the original story. However, I’m not sure how I would show that in a drawing so it’s something I will have to come back to. Maybe she can have a robin as her best friend?
Over the years Robin Hood has been done many times and every time it is done it’s very dark and gritty and depressing color palette wise(besides Disney’s version). I think it would be more interesting to go with a warm muted color palette as opposed to the very edgy dark greens, blues and blacks I’ve seen in recent movies.
I really enjoyed drawing the swords and bows because it was fun to experiment with design. I came up with a matching sword and bow set, they would both have wings of a bird incorporated into the design. I will come up with more designs if need be however, I thought the wings ideas was pretty clever considering her name is Robin.
I forgot to add the Robin Hood characters in my mythology and legends list, but there is a version of the Robin Hood story where not Robin Hood himself but Maid Marian turns into a bird, it’s called Hawksmaid a book by Kathryn Lasky and the story is told from Maid Marian’s perspective. Maid Marian is also able to communicate with birds in this version, mainly hawks hence the book’s title.