Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2013
Capstone Advisor
James Ransome, Illustration Department Chair
Honors Reader
Yvonne Buchanan, Professor
Capstone Major
Art
Capstone College
Visual and Performing Arts
Audio/Visual Component
yes
Audio/Visual Location
Honors Library
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Creative
Subject Categories
Art and Design | Illustration
Abstract
Fairy tales teach children important life lessons, and The Light Princess by George MacDonald is no exception. The main lesson taught by this story is that one needs a balance between gravity and levity, or that there can be no true happiness without knowing sadness as well. This fairy tale is aimed at slightly older children, around age ten, so they might begin to understand this lesson. Younger children would not be able to understand this as well, but it may stick with the older kids. I feel that this is a particularly important life lesson, and my illustrations try to make this idea more memorable and appealing.
In an increasingly digital world, the lessons taught by traditional fairy tales continue to be relevant. The lesson in this story, that one cannot be happy without knowing sadness, is a particularly critical one. Besides showing a message, illustrating The Light Princess gave me crucial experience with book illustration. Deciding what parts of a story to highlight, laying out a book, and sticking with one project for a long time are all aspects of this industry that I had not dealt with before. Hopefully my illustrations will bring attention to this fairy tale and George MacDonald's stories and remind readers about the joy and importance of reading books.
Recommended Citation
Shaffer, Amanda, "The Light Princess: An Illustrated Fairy Tale" (2013). Honors Capstone Projects - All. 16.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/16
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
