I wanted for a long time to make a series of portraits of the russian fairy-tale women
(because frankly they are gorgeous). As I also wanted for some time to try myself at animation,
I decided to combine the two and see what will happen.
So, meet the first one: Tatiana from The Malachite Casket by Pavel Bazhov.
She is basically sort of a daughter (in spirit, if not in blood — or maybe she is a changeling, it's hard to tell for certain)
of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain: a mystical godess of the local minerals and ores and lizards. And sometimes, when the mood strikes her, of arts and miners — especially young bachelor ones.
The animation is capturing a moment in Tatiana's life when she's got so fed up with the lies (and, really, with generally everything) of her quite unpleasant fiance — the landlord and owner of the local factory — that she disappears right through the malachite wall of the royal palace, sending everyone into shock and the Queen — into faint.
Some sketches
Rough lineart animation
Some discarded moves that I'm still quite fond of:
1) the blink that was too exaggerated for the whole composition,
1) the blink that was too exaggerated for the whole composition,
2) the disappearance that was just not what I wanted.
Some frames
Thanks for watching!