For this project, I had the idea to focus on an idea starting from a painting by Francisco de la Goya.
This painting, called El Aquelarre, or “The Coven,” depicts a scary, billy goat-like-creature, surrounded by the members of the coven who seem to be afraid of him. This was created by Goya as part of his series known as the black paintings.
They are dark both in style and in meaning, and these were the last paintings that Goya created before his untimely death. Goya developed a severe illness that left him bedridden, and caused him all sorts of problems such as hallucinations, ringing in his ears, dizziness, etc.
When I first saw these paintings, they were very impactful. El Aquelarre stood out to me in particular, with the image of the evil goat.
I thought that for this project, the goat could represent something negative in our lives. For me, its meaning in my animation is representing the lingering of poor mental health, even when we wish that we could just be left alone. I tried to depict this through the reoccurrence of the goat in the blue character’s world.
Although mental health was my inspiration due to experience and the connection between the original painting and Goya’s own wavering mental health, I think that this animation could be interpreted in a number of ways. I really enjoyed hearing different ideas in class; a traumatizing experience, a toxic relationship, insecurities, etc. I think that if I were to make future animations of this style I would also want to make them open to interpretation, to make them more impactful for the viewer.
In the end, there is a scene of acceptance between the character and the goat. Against what she wishes, she must accept that the goat is a part of her life.
This was my first time animating anything, but I liked it so much I definitely hope to make more soon!
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