the nightingale (redone)

this picture shows Death sitting upon the Emperor's chest, waiting for him to die, while that many demonic faces, symbolizing all of the good and bad deeds of the Emperor, watch from the walls and curtains. the Emperor is positioned beneath Death, with a very childlike look of fear upon his old face, to show his weakness and submission without the nightingale to give him strength.

the focus of this picture was Death sitting upon the Emperor's chest, symbolizing his punishment for treating the nightingale so cruelly. i achieved this by making him darker than anything else in the picture, however i had difficulty getting contrasting tones because i was using only a 2B pencil. i am using a 4B as well as a 2B pencil in my next picture, which has given me a much wider variety of values.

the moral of hans christian andersen's "the nightingale" is that an imitation can never replace the original and that you should never try to keep beauty locked away from the world. the Emperor falls in love with the nightingale's beautiful voice and keeps her trapped in his court against her will. she escapes, and the Emperor replaces her with a jeweled wind-up nightingale. eventually, the jeweled bird breaks and the Emperor becomes deathy ill. Death comes and sits upon his chest, but is driven away when the real nightingale returns and sings to save the Emperor's life. i chose to illustrate the scene where Death and the face's of the Emperor's good and bad deeds wait for him to die. i chose to illustrate this scene, rather than the nightingale's triumphant return because the focus of my portfolio is the struggle of the characters in fairy tales, not their "happily ever afters". when Death visits the Emperor, he is hopelessly weak and cannot even call out for help. this shows a vulnerable side to him that is not usually shown for the powerful rulers in fairy tales.

i was not at all satisfied with my first attempt at illustrating hans christian andersen's "the nightingale". i chose to redo the picture in pencil because i am much more comfortable with that medium. i will do the rest of my portfolio in pencil.i am more satisfied with this illustration than my first because i feel that it has a more realistic feel, while still keeping the fairy tale abstraction that appeals to children.