The Great Thread of Ichabod Feeling Fear

A study in character emotions, or rather, a single emotion.

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How many ways can you draw fear?

We're looking at facial expression, body pose, and use of clothing/props.

His hat pulled down for "protection" is fear.

The first big scare of the story uses a full body pose.

Reeling back is fear.

Hiding behind something is fear.

This is also quite funny, his face against the horse's ass.

Crawling low and tight is fear.

Arms close, hands fumbling at the mouth is fear.

Hiding under his own hands, looking back is fear.

Hiding INSIDE his own clothes is fear.

(I'm posting these more or less in chronological order in the story.)

Head low, shoulders hunched, knees up is fear.

Guys, Ichabod hasn't even met the Headless Horseman yet. These so far have all been from sounds in the forest.

Cocooning himself in his own limbs is fear.

One eye shut is fear.

Covering his eyes and peeking out is fear.

More hiding, this time under the horse's saddle.

We don't see a lot of closeups so when we do, they're meaningful.

Small pupils in wide eyes are fear.

A gaping mouth, which we've seen a lot of, even without a scream, is fear.

Look closely across these and you'll see a great variety of mouth poses.

Interesting to note is we never see his teeth.

Constant sweating is fear.

Have you noticed it in nearly every shot?

(Another funny interaction with the horse.)

Now the horse, who has been unaffected, joins in the fear.

He serves also for comic relief to balance the high stakes fear Ichabod feels.

Profusely sweating is fear.

Looking at camera is fear.

And finally, screaming is fear.

Hair flaring out is fear.

(Damn, these are hilarious drawings too.)

Just dropping this in here for context because this is where Ichabod meets the Headless Horseman for the first time.

From this point forward, Ichabod is pursued. He no longer fears the unseen.

Shaking is fear.

More detailed eyes at a crucial moment is fear.

Not to mention most of the other things we've already covered combined here: hair, mouth, sweat.

Flying around in the air uncontrollably is fear.

Scrambling to turn away is fear.

Arms straight out, fingers spread is fear.

This is very different to the close, tight poses he had earlier. An evolution of posing in storytelling is fear.

This part of the story has a lot of wide shots of the chase.

Simply put, running away is fear.

Interaction is fear.

Closeness is fear.

A stretching neck is fear.

Retreating is fear.

Holding onto his hat is fear.

More humorous open posing in the chase. Ichabod swings around the horse's neck here.

Not having control is fear.

Facing the wrong way is fear.

Facing his enemy is fear.

Pupils popping out from the eyeballs is fear.

Cowering behind a friend is fear.

More open posing, flying around, no control - all fear.

Trying to stop while sliding toward danger is fear.

Close calls are fear.

Hanging on tight is fear.

Watching his pursuer is fear.

Collision is fear.

A sudden realization is fear.

Also, this is the only time we see Ichabod's teeth, at least that I noticed. Knowing how animation is produced, it probably means nothing, just an inconsistency.

Going face to "face" with your mortal enemy is fear.

This is so brilliant because it makes the audience wonder what he sees.

Putting his all into getting away is fear.

Dropping these for context because we're at the point where Ichabod crosses the bridge to safety.

But the Headless Horseman throws his jack-o-lantern at him.

The last time we see Ichabod in fear, he resembles more of what we saw early on - frazzled hair, extended neck, sweat.

But there's also something new we haven't seen yet.

His unique quivering mouth for this crucial character moment is fear.