Category: Research

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It was quite hard to find any reference that looked exactly like what I envisioned my landscape would look like, but these are the closest and most useful ones I did find. At the very least, they helped me visualise the shape and placement of the hills much better, and as a result would hopefully allow my terrain to look much more organically sculpted.

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The tree style I would love to have in my project is the type of tree that’s seems to have lived for far too long: gigantic, thick and interwoven with its own branches. I think this will add character and intrigue to the design of the tavern, and it will also pose another challenge for me to refine my Zbrush skills.

These reference pictures are some of the best ones I could find, as I believe they will offer me a lot of precise detail to follow and go by once I start sculpting.

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NOTABLE SOURCES: GENSHIN, ZELDA, ORI

The style I am going for is a somewhat stylised realistic one; I wanted to have realistic proportions and dimensions, but also have a somewhat whimsical touch. Considering that I also had the idea to add lights coming out of the ‘squirrel holes’ in my initial linear, I believe this style would really complement the overall atmosphere I want to create with my landscape by making it more engaging and mysterious.

I decided to plan out my scene and how I would potentially texture it in advance, as I believe it would help me out with filtering the type of textures and maps I would like to apply to my scene later on.

Having previously decided on a colour scheme, I was able to quickly establish what types of textures and colours I should be looking to include. I’ve decided to try and make this scene as realistic as possible, and looking up these potential normal maps will hopefully enable me to sculpt the hero tree part of my tavern better than before.

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The first point of reference I found for this new concept is Radagast the Brown’s house. The most exciting part of is design is that the house looks like it is part of the tree, as the trunks seem to be growing out of its roof and sides.

This is exactly the type of idea I had for my project, as it will allow the tavern to look like it is camouflaging within the scenery, and thus trying to seem ‘forgotten’ by hiding from the unassuming eye.

I aim to create a tavern with a similar, if not more organic and natural look.

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As I looked into the stories about Kuma Lisa, I thought it would be interesting to try and incorporate the more traditional look she has into my character.

In many of the folk stories in which she features, Kuma Lisa wears a traditional Bulgarian dress, called a nossia (or носия, in Bulgarian). There are several types of dresses, depending on the region one is from, and as I am from the capital city, the above pictured black dresses are the ones often worn in my region.

Traditional Bulgarian clothing, as in many other Eastern European countries, includes a lot of embroidery and colour. The primary colours used are white, red and green, as they are the colours seen in our flag.

I was curious to see if I could recreate this traditional and colourful look in one of my refinements, as I would like to try and make it seem almost sinister in its use as bait.

“Kuma Lisa is a fox character from Bulgarian and Russian folklore, who usually plays the role of the trickster archetype. Many Bulgarian folktales as well as authored works use the character of Kuma Lisa. In many tales, Kuma Lisa is encountered with another character known as Kumcho Vulcho – a wolf who is opposite to her and very often suffers from her tricks.”

(Source: Trickster Folklore. (n.d.). Trickster Folklore. [online] Available at: https://tricksterfolklore.tumblr.com/post/91392034769/kumaliza-kuma-lisa-is-a-fox-character-from [Accessed 9 Nov. 2020]. )

Brief English Summary of “Лисана-преструвана” (eng: the Faker-Fox) by Joardan Stubel:

Kuma Lisa (sometimes translated as Godmother Fox) tricks a Hedgehog into helping her by pretending to be sick and weak. The Hedgehog, taking pity on her, leads her to the Rabbit, claiming that he can help her feel better with his friendship. Kuma Lisa then proceeds to attack and eat the Rabbit, as she was actually faking her illness to find him.

(Source: Стубел, Йордан, 1879-1952. Ĭordan Stubel and Ilii︠a︡ Beshkov (1975). Листило клонче : стихотворения, поемки, весели истории / Listilo klonche : stikhotvorenii︠a︡, poemki, veseli istorii. Изд-Во “Български Писател”, Sofii︠a︡: Izd-Vo “Bŭlgarski Pisatel.)

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How Will This Help Me?

As Kuma Lisa is known as a trickster character, as well as being a fox, she further enables me to explore the idea of foxes being related to envy, as I have established a clear theme of envy being two-faced and mischievous.

Moreover, the fact that she is a lady fox nicely links to the Japanese Kitsunes, who were mostly said to be women, as well. This is an interesting discovery, as it seems to create an image of Envy where the Sin is, undoubtedly, a woman.

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After my research into Arachne’s tale, I decided to also look into the clothing trends in Greece during that time. This could potentially be useful when creating the outfit for my character, as I aim to show that Envy is a much more hidden Sin than the rest; thus, I want to create a rather alluring, and frankly, normal looking outward look for my character.

Women in Ancient Greece used to only use loose pieces of fabric which they then tied and secured around their body with rope, creating very intriguing and interesting flowing patterns in their dresses. This would be very interesting for m to explore, as it would be challenging to recreate in a drawing.