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Hamlet character design that I did for university

My brief was to design a character design for Prince Hamlet for a hypothetical animated film adaptation of the play, and justify how my design choices may affect how the play can be interpreted. I wanted my Hamlet to look emo as visual shorthand for the modern viewer to infer his obsession with death (hence the emo fringe and “customary suits of solemn black”). Furthermore, I dressed him in an anachronistic fashion, with clothes reflecting both 15th century fashion and Shakespeare's contemporary late 16th - early 17th century fashion, to reflect Hamlet's confusion over which time period's moral code he should follow. Most importantly, I wanted to emphasise the play's theme of performativity, by highlighting the performativity of gender. To do this, I based my design particularly based on Sarah Bernhardt's performance as Hamlet in 1899 (as illustrated by Alphonse Mucha), as an ode to the history of women who have played the role. You can watch a filmed version of Sarah Bernhardt's Hamlet from 1900, here on YouTube- www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXh9Ib… . Hers was, in fact, the first Hamlet to be recorded on film!

Tumblr- (you can see my ref images here) isablooo.tumblr.com/post/68703…

Description
Hamlet character design that I did for university

My brief was to design a character design for Prince Hamlet for a hypothetical animated film adaptation of the play, and justify how my design choices may affect how the play can be interpreted. I wanted my Hamlet to look emo as visual shorthand for the modern viewer to infer his obsession with death (hence the emo fringe and “customary suits of solemn black”). Furthermore, I dressed him in an anachronistic fashion, with clothes reflecting both 15th century fashion and Shakespeare's contemporary late 16th - early 17th century fashion, to reflect Hamlet's confusion over which time period's moral code he should follow. Most importantly, I wanted to emphasise the play's theme of performativity, by highlighting the performativity of gender. To do this, I based my design particularly based on Sarah Bernhardt's performance as Hamlet in 1899 (as illustrated by Alphonse Mucha), as an ode to the history of women who have played the role. You can watch a filmed version of Sarah Bernhardt's Hamlet from 1900, here on YouTube- www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXh9Ib… . Hers was, in fact, the first Hamlet to be recorded on film!

Tumblr- (you can see my ref images here) isablooo.tumblr.com/post/68703…