"The Secret of the Ushers"
Illustrations for the design of the DVD edition of the game "The Secret of the Ushers" from the horror anthology based on the works of E.A. Poe "The Raven".
A horror game based on the plot of the story "The Fall of the House of Usher" immerses the inhabitants of an old noble estate in a dark and mysterious story.
"During the whole dreary, dark, dead autumn day, when the clouds hung oppressively low, I rode alone through a surprisingly joyless area and, as dusk began to thicken, I finally found the Usher House in my field of vision. I don't know why, but when I first looked at the building, I felt unbearably depressed. I say "unbearable" because it was in no way softened by the impression, half-unpleasant because of its poetry, produced even by the most gloomy images of nature, full of desolation or fear. I looked at the view that presented itself to me–at the house itself and at the unpretentious landscape of the estate –at the gloomy walls– at the empty windows that looked like eyes–at the rare, dried sedge–and at the rare white trunks of rotten trees–and experienced a complete collapse of spirit, which I can most worthily compare with that of all earthly sensations What an opium smoker experiences when he comes to himself is a bitter return to reality – a terrible fall of the veil. His heart froze, froze, ached – his mind was hopelessly numb, and no amount of imagination could inspire him with anything sublime. Well, I thought, what made me so confused when I was looking at the House of Usher? The mystery turned out to be unsolvable; I could not cope with the ghostly fantasies that began to swarm while I was thinking."
The story of Edgar Allan Poe was published in the 30s of the 19th century, so the costumes and hairstyles are designed in the style of romanticism. The interior and architecture retain traces of the Empire style. Since the story is a fiction containing allegories and metaphors, then there is visual stylization in the illustrations. The sculpture of Lucifer of Liege in the interior was used as an allusion to the poem "The Abode of Ghosts". And the author's metaphor of moral decay in certain strata of society at that time is depicted, as in the story itself, as a growing crack in the walls of a doomed building.
The color scheme is selected taking into account the fact that the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the game based on it belong to the horror genre, but the project itself is an advertising one.
The color scheme is selected taking into account the fact that the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the game based on it belong to the horror genre, but the project itself is an advertising one.
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