Hansel and Gretel Conceptual Redesign

The Pitch

As we were allowed to redesign the characters as well as the plot, I decided to focus on the witch as the protagonist, rather than Hansel and Gretel. Additionally, instead of setting the story in Europe, my redesign took place in Bhutan, and I spent a lot of time researching Bhutanese culture so I would have a better understanding of how to design the characters. 

I visualised the story as a small comic or short film. The story tells of solitary young witch, Sonam Tenzin, who lives alone in the mountains. He awakens one day to discover the ghosts of two children wrecking his house. After his attempts to ignore them are futile, he tries to evict them, but he soon discovers that they are the souls of his recently-deceased twin siblings and learns to love their chaotic presence in his home.

Development

Character Development

Environment Development

Character Sheets

I wanted the three main characters to all be connected to hint at the fact that they were all related, but also make certain elements about them different to show that there was a separation between Sonam, as the only one who was still alive, and Pema and Dawa who were ghosts.

 They all retain similar hairstyles, skin tones, and eye colours. Both the boys, being more subdued and shy, wear soft calm blues and Pema Choden, being excitable and hot-tempered, wearing warmer reds and oranges. Pema also strays from the traditional dress by wearing a plain t-shirt to show her more rebellious nature, while the boys wear the traditional dress correctly, save for Sonam pushing up his sleeves because he works with his hands, and Dawa attempting to hide his hands with his longer sleeves. Dawa and Pema also share the same smoke-like silhouette with Pema's hair and Dawa's scarf, showing their magical ghost-like nature, and both of them wear a scarf while Sonam does not.

Final Illustration

We were asked to create a single illustration that showed a story, and I chose the moment that Sonam discovers the ghosts in his home. I wanted to keep the illustration in a simple lines and flats style rather than going into detailed realistic shading so I could include more detailed line-work in the background for the interior of the kitchen. I used the gingerbread house as a nod to the original Hansel and Gretel story, but it also provided a great way to show the different personalities of the two kids - Pema wouldn't care if she got caught destroying the house, while Dawa was more anxious and wouldn't want to participate.