Like Friedrich, like Böcklin

Coloured sketch vs. still from an animated scene

As an artist, I seek inspiration primarily in the history of art. While my animation is generally influenced by Eastern European masters like Yuri Norstein and Jiří Trnka, for this scene, I turned to German Romanticism, particularly my all-time favorite—Caspar David Friedrich and his haunting forest landscapes.

Dark silhouettes of towering trees, the glowing light of an autumn morning, and the overwhelming silence locked in the small spaces between the trees—these elements shaped my vision.

Another key inspiration was Symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead. While the light in my scene comes from the rising sun, in contrast to Böcklin’s eerie illumination from outside the canvas, I borrowed his idea of casting warm light onto an otherwise shadowy landscape. This effect adds atmospheric depth, making the falling birch leaves stand out with their golden hues against the darkness—just as Böcklin’s light grazes the cliffs and the lone, ghostly figure on the boat approaching them.

It’s that suffocating interplay of light and shadow that I remember from the forests of my childhood—where even on the brightest days, the woods held an eerie, inescapable mystery.

Still from the animation

Initial sketch in colour