The illustrations used in fairy tales help the author tell the stories. The words and the pictures coincide to create a masterpiece. The illustrations also help children understand and enjoy the book more thoroughly. Trina Schart Hyman rewrote and illustrated Little Red Riding Hood, a fairy tale published in 1983. In this story, Red Riding Hood is sent to her grandmother’s house to deliver some goodies, but along the way, she meets a hungry wolf. The wolf tricks her and ends up beating her to grandmothers house and eats her; then pretends he is the grandma, and continues to eat Red Riding Hood as well. Later, a hunter passes by and he decides to enter the grandmother’s house, and he is able to rescue both of them. Hyman’s style of illustration in this book seems to be folktale and representational. The illustrator of this fairytale uses pencil drawings, pen and ink, acrylic paint, and watercolor media to create her illustrations. The artistic elements in this story help portray the story, and how women are seen in fairy tales.
The colors in the illustrations help portray the mood of Little Red Riding Hood. In the beginning of the story, the illustrations have many colors. In every picture, Red Riding Hood’s red cape powerfully stands out. The color red tends to signify danger in picture books. This could help foreshadow future events that will happen later on in the story. Red can also be a sexually suggestive color. Erich Fromm (1955) believes that Red Riding Hood’s red cap symbolizes a woman starting to go through puberty and getting her menstrual cycle. In the middle of the story, when Red Riding Hood meets the wolf, the colors become much more grayscale, which portrays a more tranquil feel. This is because the illustrator wanted the author to stay calm even when the climax of the story was frightening. The wolf manipulated Little Red Riding Hood into doing exactly what he said. This portrays women as vulnerable human beings that automatically trust what a male tells them. It can also say that girls have no since of independence, but they wait for the male figure to give them direction. This is not a model of a woman that little girls should be looking up to.
Another artistic aspect to this book is the lines and shapes that the illustrator uses. The lines she chose to use were very smooth which made the story seem calm. The majority of the lines are thicker and bolded, which make the picture more dynamic and less realistic. The characters mostly had the thicker lines; this is because the illustrator wanted them to be the first thing the reader looks at. However, some parts of the illustrations have smaller more delicate lines. This makes the picture seem more intricate. The overall shape of the illustrations are much more angular than round. There are very tall vertical trees that are almost in every picture. These kinds of shapes portray a harsher feel to the pictures, which is intimidating to look at. The trees were much larger than the characters. The vertical lines also add distance, which makes it seem like the forest is very large. It almost makes the reader feel like they are inside the forest with the characters. The wolf’s teeth are not really shown until the page where he runs to beat Red Riding Hood to the grandmother’s house. The lines representing his teeth are very sharp and jagged. These types of lines can represent danger, energy, and anger. This helps the reader foreshadow that the wolf is about to do something dangerous. When the wolf is laying in bed pretending to be grandmother, his eyes change shape and immediately become more angular and large. He begins to look much more aggressive and superior to Red Riding Hood. This is a very scary part for children readers. This makes Red Riding Hood look inferior and helpless at this point. Books should build up children’s confidence, and not make them scared of male characters. This can affect a child’s confidence and the way they look at women in general.
The next element in the illustrations is the layout and the use of the pages. Hyman very uniquely designed the set up of her pages. Every illustration is outlined with a brown border, except for one page, which has a bluish green border. The illustrator could have been trying to make the reader feel calm and tranquil while reading this particular blue page because the wolf is telling Red Riding Hood to relax and look at the world. The blue border helps portray the mood and feeling that the wolf is giving Red Riding Hood. The pictures are centered in the middle of the page, surrounded by a white background. The picture does not fill up the entirety of the page. The white space is about one inch from each side. The pages with the text have a much different border. It is outlined in different patters such as plaid or flowers. Some of the borders have smaller squares that have a character in them. This makes the reader suspicious about what he or she is about to do. The illustration elements such as the color, lines and shapes, and the design layout of each page helps portray how fairytales portray women, and the effect it has on children.
References
Fromm, E. (2013). Forgotten language an introduction to the understanding of dreams, fairy
tales, and myths. New York: Open Road Intregated Media.
Hyman, T. (1983). Little Red Riding Hood. New York: Holiday House.
The colors in the illustrations help portray the mood of Little Red Riding Hood. In the beginning of the story, the illustrations have many colors. In every picture, Red Riding Hood’s red cape powerfully stands out. The color red tends to signify danger in picture books. This could help foreshadow future events that will happen later on in the story. Red can also be a sexually suggestive color. Erich Fromm (1955) believes that Red Riding Hood’s red cap symbolizes a woman starting to go through puberty and getting her menstrual cycle. In the middle of the story, when Red Riding Hood meets the wolf, the colors become much more grayscale, which portrays a more tranquil feel. This is because the illustrator wanted the author to stay calm even when the climax of the story was frightening. The wolf manipulated Little Red Riding Hood into doing exactly what he said. This portrays women as vulnerable human beings that automatically trust what a male tells them. It can also say that girls have no since of independence, but they wait for the male figure to give them direction. This is not a model of a woman that little girls should be looking up to.
Another artistic aspect to this book is the lines and shapes that the illustrator uses. The lines she chose to use were very smooth which made the story seem calm. The majority of the lines are thicker and bolded, which make the picture more dynamic and less realistic. The characters mostly had the thicker lines; this is because the illustrator wanted them to be the first thing the reader looks at. However, some parts of the illustrations have smaller more delicate lines. This makes the picture seem more intricate. The overall shape of the illustrations are much more angular than round. There are very tall vertical trees that are almost in every picture. These kinds of shapes portray a harsher feel to the pictures, which is intimidating to look at. The trees were much larger than the characters. The vertical lines also add distance, which makes it seem like the forest is very large. It almost makes the reader feel like they are inside the forest with the characters. The wolf’s teeth are not really shown until the page where he runs to beat Red Riding Hood to the grandmother’s house. The lines representing his teeth are very sharp and jagged. These types of lines can represent danger, energy, and anger. This helps the reader foreshadow that the wolf is about to do something dangerous. When the wolf is laying in bed pretending to be grandmother, his eyes change shape and immediately become more angular and large. He begins to look much more aggressive and superior to Red Riding Hood. This is a very scary part for children readers. This makes Red Riding Hood look inferior and helpless at this point. Books should build up children’s confidence, and not make them scared of male characters. This can affect a child’s confidence and the way they look at women in general.
The next element in the illustrations is the layout and the use of the pages. Hyman very uniquely designed the set up of her pages. Every illustration is outlined with a brown border, except for one page, which has a bluish green border. The illustrator could have been trying to make the reader feel calm and tranquil while reading this particular blue page because the wolf is telling Red Riding Hood to relax and look at the world. The blue border helps portray the mood and feeling that the wolf is giving Red Riding Hood. The pictures are centered in the middle of the page, surrounded by a white background. The picture does not fill up the entirety of the page. The white space is about one inch from each side. The pages with the text have a much different border. It is outlined in different patters such as plaid or flowers. Some of the borders have smaller squares that have a character in them. This makes the reader suspicious about what he or she is about to do. The illustration elements such as the color, lines and shapes, and the design layout of each page helps portray how fairytales portray women, and the effect it has on children.
References
Fromm, E. (2013). Forgotten language an introduction to the understanding of dreams, fairy
tales, and myths. New York: Open Road Intregated Media.
Hyman, T. (1983). Little Red Riding Hood. New York: Holiday House.