Adapting Estonian werewolf folktales to the medium of comics
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Author
Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Taiteen ja median maisteriohjelma
Language
en
Pages
77 + 16
Series
Abstract
This thesis deals with the topic of Estonian folklore. The starting point of this thesis came from the desire to explore Estonian folklore from the visual aspect. Taking inspiration from fantasy art and illustrations of mainly western pop culture, this thesis started with the idea of how and why to visualize Estonian folklore in the same vein. The challenge was to uncover if there is something unique about the folklore of such a small nation - and if so, how to capture the sensibilities of it in visual form. If successful, the outcome of this thesis is to present the relatively unknown folklore of Estonia to a wider audience through the medium of comics. Through subjective experience of the author, they have found that this topic isn’t explored enough in this medium, and thus this thesis aims to fill that void. The work consists of a written part, which is research on the topic of Estonian folklore and artistic process review, and a practical part, which is comic adaptations of a selection of folktales. The methodologies used within the thesis are literature review of academic materials on the topic of Estonian folklore and the comics medium as well as content analysis of visual materials on the same topic. The practical outcome is a research-based project: three comic adaptations of three Estonian werewolf folk tales, titled The Werewolf of Voltvet, The Knife, and The Wolf in the Sauna. Through the research, it was uncovered that there are more extensive academic studies on the subject matter of werewolf tales in Estonian folklore in comparison to any other phenomena. These works of Estonian folklorists gave evidence that the historical relations of Estonians and werewolves are fairly complex and unique, and worth exploring from an artistic standpoint. That is why this thesis topic was focused on the singular topic of Estonian werewolves. In addition, this thesis tries to get some insight into how the topic of werewolves in folklore has been handled by other artists and illustrators. To support the creation of these comics, this thesis also relies on the theoretical works on the comic medium, to further understand how to best adapt these tales as comics. The thought process of creating these comics is also gathered in the written part of this thesis. This thesis mainly hopes to introduce Estonian folklore and its lesser known aspects, like the Estonian werewolf tales, to a wider international audience. The folktales have been translated purposefully to English and the storytelling within the comics has been made as clear as possible. The visual aesthetics aim to reflect the Estonian mindset and a certain sensibility that pertains in their folklore. Secondly, with the practical outcome of comics, this thesis hopes to develop the Estonian comics scene and popularize this medium as a viable form for artistic output, of which the author of this thesis finds severely lacking in Estonia.Description
Supervisor
Masoodian, MasoodThesis advisor
Hagelberg, MattiKeywords
folklore, comics, comic art, storytelling, illustration, visual narratives, Estonian, sequential art
