When I first read the 1929 novel ‘Bambi’ by Felix Salten, a flurry of images streamed through my mind. I was moved by the poetic and atmospheric world the author creates, where creatures rule the forest and live in fear of a mysterious creature they only know as ‘He’.
I chose not to include any deer in my final, as early on in the project I found myself in a rut of drawing deer repeatedly, which I easily became tiered of. I decided to cut deer from the illustrations all together and concentrate on depicting the atmosphere of select events in the book in order to create a narrative.
I chose to work mainly in monotone colours as this suited the atmosphere of the story perfectly, a few of the images have spot colouring of red to give a sense of heightened danger. Here are a few images from my final work:
Birth
“He came into the world in the middle of the thicket, in one of those little, hidden forest glades which seem to be entirely open, but are really screened in on all sides.”
Meadow
"Now he saw the whole heaven stretching far and wide and he rejoiced without knowing why. In the forest he had only seen a stray sunbeam now and then, or the tender, dappled light that played through the branches. Suddenly he was standing in the blinding hot sunlight whose boundless power was beaming upon him."
Storm
"When the raging storm broke through the woods so that the trees began to groan aloud, Bambi trembled with terror. And when the lightning flashed and the thunder growled, Bambi was numb with fear and thought the end of the world had come."
Hunter
"Bambi stared at the creature. It stood remarkably erect. It was extremely thin and had a pale face, entirely bare around the nose and the eyes. A kind of dread emanated from that face, a cold terror. That face had tremendous power over him. It was unbearably painful to look at that face and yet Bambi stood staring fixedly at it."
Winter
"Bambi knew that want and hardship had come. He saw how much the rain and wind had changed the world. There was no longer a leaf on tree or bush. But all stood there as though, violated, their bodies naked for all to see. And they lifted their bare brown limbs to the sky for pity."
Hunt
"All sorts of creatures were swarming past. The air was throbbing with repeated thunderclaps and the dull thuds of the fallen and the high piercing shrieks of those who had escaped."
Wounded
"Bambi felt a fearful blow that made him stagger.
Mad with terror, he sprang back into the thicket and kept running. He did not understand what had happened. He could not grasp a single idea. He could only keep running on and on. Fear gripped his heart so that his breath failed as he rushed blindly on."
Fatal
"Bambi looked down at the prostrate form whose limbs and skin seemed so mysterious and terrible to him. He gazed at the dead eyes that stared up sightlessly at him. Bambi couldn’t understand it all. "
