Illustration Interpretations of Mina

These are different illustrations i have found online of what Mina would look like and how they have seen it. I really like this one as it shows the way Dracula is controlling her and keeping her at his will, so she doesnt realise what is happening, i also like how Dracula himself is dressed all in black and almost like a shadow over her, and the way she is wearing white, because she is innocent and her being tied up i think represents controlling her.



This is more of a digital, comic book sort of style of Mina and i have chosen this as i want to portray the controlling of Mina and how she would look when done so, So the eyes glazed over and some sort of mark on her forhead, so that it shows whose command she is under and how much Dracula loves her he would do this to her, even though she has no say in the matter. I like the way it is a comic book style, but that is quite modern and thats not how the character is supposed to be done, but the way they have interpretated of what they think it would be like is good to know, as im creating how i would see her.







































This is a sort of moodboard i found from tumblr of how Mina is portrayed and how she feels, i like it and how it looks very romantic and thats how it looks when she is with Dracula, he makes her feel things she hasnt before. I like the modern way of using the pearl necklace with red beads as though she has been bitten instead of marks on the neck. It sort of sets a mood that makes you think of images of what she would look like from the book and the atmosphere of what they thought it would be like and where.



















https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9125003-dracula


https://www.tumblr.com/search/wilhelmina%20murray

31/01/2016

My Character Design

I have decided to choose Mina Murray from the Bram Stoker's Dracula as i think that her character is very interesting and you can do a lot of things with it. I want to focus on when Dracula feeds her his blood to control her and i want to portray her that way, as though she is hypnotised and does what he wants.

To me Mina is very innocent and doesnt find things appropraite of what Lucy speaks of, and wants to be married to Jonathan as soon as possible, but when she meets Dracula she becomes a entirely different person.

I like all the different intrepretations of Mina as they are interesting and are not all the same as each other.



Mina Murray(Harker) Bram Stoker's Dracula Film



















Mina Murray Dracula Tv Series.


















Mina Harker in League of Extrodinary Gentlemen Film

Mina in TV Series Penny Dreadful.





























http://www.geocities.ws/lotr_obsessed2931/Mina.html

http://dracula.wikia.com/wiki/File:Mina-dracula-nbc-35893022-1280-852.jpg

http://k8monstrscloset.com/2014/05/13/top-5-interpretations-of-mina-murrayharker-from-dracula/

Victorian Beauty Ideals

Introduction of Victorian Beauty Ideals

In the Victorian Era beauty was that they had a pale complextion and that was how upper class woman looked and wanted to as it showed they were upper class, to do this they used zinc oxide, and a white mineral powder, and they tried all kinds of other products that were sometimes lead based and some would even eat these poisons and was said only the most fanciest women would.

Spots were what they were interested in and blackheads were healed using steam every night and also sulphur was used for two to three months. Makeup and cosmetics was commonly used by performers and prositutes, so they were seen as wrong if you want to be seen as a upper class woman that you are, so they barely wore any on their face, with cold cream being applied first, which is what we know as priming, then rouge on the cheeks, with powder to make the face not look greasy,the parts of the face such as the eyebrows were done using lead and atimony sulfide and the lips were mercuric sulfide and was to look like you were not wearing any makeup.The big no no was wearing the wrong makeup if you was upper class, but the youth were encouraged to wear cosmetics and makeup other than the older generation.






Book 1:

Mulvey.K. Richards.M. Decades of Beauty.1998.The changing image of Women (1890s-1990s) 26/01/2016


Book 2:

Marsh.M. Compacts and Cosmetics.2009.Beauty from victorian times to the present day. 26/01/2016


Internet Source:
http://www.xovain.com/makeup/victorian-era-beauty
L.Caitlin.
(26/01/2016)

http://beautifulwithbrains.com/2010/08/06/beauty-in-the-victorian-age/
Beautifulwithbrains.2010.
(26/01/2016)

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a 200 year old book written by Mary Shelley and the plot is about a Victor Frankenstein who creates a monster made from the parts of people who have died, which he wanted to resemble a man, but he is not viewed well by the public and things dont go very well.

It is a short novel, only 24 chapters, which is good as i think it works, its named science fiction,but there are nothing to show this except for Frankenstein creating the monster. He created a female companion for the monster, but all goes wrong and he has to destroy her and thats makes the monster want to hurt him.The novel is very slow and starts with when Frankenstein is young and then into after he has created the monster. Some of it is hard to read, as it is quite old, as it is the language is of that era. 


Victor Frankenstein at the start seems very smart and innocent and he starts to read books and becomes interested in philosophy, but he gets into the scientific way of thinking, as he studies in Ingolstadt at the University intending lectures with professors and finding out things and what he wants to do.

I think that it shows the way it was suppose to happen, not like the movie version with quotes such as "Its Alive", which i think sounds like a cheesy line and was a way to make it interesting, but he doesnt actually really say very much when he creates him, it kind of skips it, and i think that Frankenstein really regrets it though, as he rejects him and the monster doesnt understand or like it, so he goes and tries to destroy everything his maker has and holds dear to him.

 Frankenstein was a good scientist, but when creating this, and he thinks about the consequences later, so the novel shows more of what the monster did afterwards and how Frankenstein dealt with it. Its show his character to be very selfish as he makes it and then decides he doesnt want it as soon as the murders start, so then you are left thinking why did he makes this creature.

Overall at the start Frankenstein studies very hard and hardly leaves his laboratory, as he wants research and experiment, so he has hardly slept at all, as he has had his mind and body on it so much. He seems very obsessed with creating this and seems very anxious of what will happen, but as you get into the novel he seems to be scared of what will become of him as he has created this, because he retreats to his room, very nervous, pacing up and down, when he eventually falls in bed with his clothes still on.

It seems as though he doesnt want to be around this thing and fears it, and even calls it a daemon, and doesnt see him as to do any good, and even suspects he could have murdered his brother, as he thinks no human could do so, and which is why he has come back to his home town of Geneva and to find out who did do so.




























http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_mary/frankenstein/

http://www.gothic.net/top-ten-most-depressing-horror-books/

11/01/16

https://wordery.com/frankenstein-mary-wollstonecraft-shelley-9780141393391?currency=GBP&gtrck=bkFVaGZBdVpjMmt6K3Z3bjN5ejlDalY0RFRQLzBWSVBmWDEySmtRZU96Zk5NVVVIMjJ2dEJuMzh5MVNXb01GbVVMNk9ONTc5bnBWZEpKVTZ2NWZXSVE9PQ&gclid=CjwKEAiAws20BRCs-P-ssLbSlg4SJABbVcDpuJz95_2D8RJuBismh-TdbLD5ftC6E7skjpcitnvFBRoC2iPw_wcB

11/01/16

Bram Stoker's Dracula- Professor Abraham Van Helsing

Professer Abraham Van helsing is a Dutch, monster hunter during the 18oos, also a doctor and philospher, and part of a group called the Crew of Light that hunt down and kill Dracula. 

When i read it i saw Van Helsing as a man who was eccentric and dressed with a sort of cloak like a detective, kind of like the actor in Van Helsing the film, but i saw him much older though. The way he would make a entrance would be as soon as he entered you would look. Bram Stoker wrote the character in a way that made me think that he is a intellect and knows anything about everything, and knows how to act in completely different situations.

In the book Stoker has portrayed him to be the hero of the story, by making the world better, as he know what is going on. When it comes to it he is a very good person and shows it when he helps lucy by asking her the acceptance of a cure and he understands the importance of what he has to do. Stoker has made the character unique and eccentric, which makes him stand out and memorable in the book. 

Van Helsing seems to see positive in things when the others seem not to, as he laughs at times, when he speaks to anyone in the book about Lucy being dead, he  is sympathetic and shows that he wanted to save her and knew what was being done to her.

The plot is basically Dracula is a Count and wants to go to England and Jonathan Harker a lawyer is to help him with all the paperwork side of it, as he wants to buy a house there, but jonathan does figure out there is something weird going on. Travels to England and from then on drinks lucy's blood each night, meets Mina and wants to turn her, so he can control her and be with her forever. Dr Van Helsing is called to help Lucy and be the hero for everyone.


Overall Van Helsing is very smart and knows all about the supernatural, and seems to know how to kill them, and helps Dr Seward along the way when dealing with what was becoming of Lucy and how to see things in certain ways that he may not understand, and when he has done his job, goes away like he came in, being the hero, which makes it very hard for you not to like him.

The book itself is a novel which is fiction, and it is all written as journal entries and letters from each of the characters, so then you learn about what they are thinking and how they have observed about has and is happening.I think the book is interesting and the more you read you can relate to the characters, but in some places as it is a very old book, the words i sometimes cant understand, but it has a glossary which helps, so i should read that to then know what they are refering to.

I do like Mina, but in places she seems helpless of what to do for Jonathan and is shy of what things mean in terms of marriage, but when helping Lucy when she disappears one night into the garden and finds her laying on the bench with Dracula crouched over her drinking her blood, but as a wolf like creature, but goes as soon as Mina sees him, and she does come to Lucy's aid very quickly, which is what i like about her and that she is very smart when it comes to medicine and ways of thinking that women wouldnt have been able to have done in that era.

Towards the ending it seems that Van Helsing and the group know what they are doing when wanting to go and kill Dracula, but it seems as it goes wrong slightly. But when all is done Van Helsing goes like the way he came in to it.

Van Helsing has been shown in different ways over the years and because he is so interesing and stands out he can be taken out of context and shown as young, grumpy and lonely, even actors playing that in films.


                   









http://sarahneanbruce.me/2010/11/15/beyond-bram-stoker%E2%80%99s-way-of-the-vampire-by-sarah-nean-bruce-chapter-2-in-hd/

https://www.blackgate.com/2012/03/09/bram-stoker%E2%80%99s-dracula-reconsidered/

10/01/16

http://www.shmoop.com/dracula/dr-van-helsing.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dracula/canalysis.html