Animation Backgrounds scenes

These images were the concepts for the leopard and hunter jungle scenes, just me trying to get a feel for the background and experimenting with how I want to handle colors and tones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cosmology, Creation myth story notes and Audio

Soooo I was having a little trouble writing out my cosmology so with the aid of my mom I tried recording myself telling my story out loud to help me get my thoughts together as well as write out some notes for future reference.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the audio recording to link to this blog once I figure it out i'll post it but for now this is my cosmology. I'm sure I have some grammatical errors here and there but this is the general idea to start off with.

The creation myth of the triumvirate of Cerberus

 

my Cosmology:

The universe was created by a great humanoid being of light that expelled it's energy to fill the darkness with the light of stars and planets. With every new thing that creator made it used up more energy and over time became weak. Unbeknownst to the creator the excess power surging throughout the darkness gave life to another being, a massive shadowy wolf with a thousand eyes. The wolf beast skulked through the darkness and devoured various stars releasing their energy back into the universe and the creator itself. At first the creator was angered that the beast was eating up its creations till it realized that every time a star died the creator would gain back it's energy and became strong enough to give new life to new planets and stars. 

 For a time this was the cycle, the wolf beast would devour old stars while the creator gave life to new stars, the two massive beings became companions allowing each other to survive. After many centuries the creator longed to fabricate others like itself and give them the power to give life, coming across a solar system the creator chose a planet orbiting a yellow star and poured it's energy into the tiny rock. The creator watched as the crust shifted and water formed onto the surface, the creator poured more of it's energy into the world and watched as trees and mountains grew from the earth, finally the creator poured even more energy into the world and humanoids began to form. The creator thought about the beast fondly and formed many more creatures so the humanoids could have companions of their own. The creator looked upon the planet fondly but as it turned to leave it felt weak, suddenly it's legs degenerated from underneath it, it's hands and arms disintegrated before it's eyes, as the population of life grew the planet pulled more and more energy away from the creator threatening to suck it dry. The beast came forth, seeing the creator grow weaker and weaker it turned to devour the planet before it could steal away all the energy but the creator would not allow it.

The beast could only watch as the creator began to fade, it saw the suffering of the creator and the planets inhabitants as the never ending clutches of illness, famine, carnage and chaos befell them. It was then that the beast reached inside itself and produced three sets of it's own bones, it then reached up and plucked out one of it's eyes from the center of it's forehead and sent it and the first set of bones to the planet below, the black shape of a wolf formed around the bones and the eye and thus became Mortis the Shepherd of illness and famine. The beast reached inside itself for a second time and plucked out it's still beating heart. It sent the heart and the second set of bones down to the planet below, the red shape of a wolf formed around the bones and the heart and thus became Nex the Hunter of carnage and blood shed. The beast reached into itself one last time and produced a small shred of it's soul, the beast sent it and the last set of bones to the planet below, the blue translucent shape of a wolf formed around the bones and shred of soul and thus became Obitus the companion of those to die a peaceful death. The Triad bounded across the world relieving the suffering of the dying, returning their energy to the creator above. When the creator was strong again it embraced it's companion, the creator took from it's body a reasonable quantity of energy and distributed it across the world allowing the planet's inhabitants to continue to create life of their own, The creator and the beast left the planet and continued into the black void knowing the three descendants of the beast would keep the balance amongst all the living things and allow the even flow of all energy on the earth.        

 

Extra Notes:

 

 

Triumvirate

Trinity

Troika

Triad

Triume

Triunity

Trine

Triplicate

Ternion

trio

 

 

Wolf = devour

Consume

Swallow whole

Take nourishment

 

Her wolves release the energy of the souls.  The energy sits in the void of their stomachs until it is released

The energy is released when they breath it back into people.

 

Her image of the wolf with the glowing ball in it's mouth is part of this mythology

 

A creator = artist

Creator = beginning

Creator = causation

Creator == genesis

Creator = maker

Creator = celestial

 

Release = liberation

Spring

 

 

Being = animal, beast, body, conscious thing, creature

Entity, living thing, organism, soul

 

 

energy= animation, spirit, power, vitality, force, life,

 

Cerberus =

Curator, keeper, overseer, protector, steward, bodyguard, cleaner, escort, custodian, guardian, angel, attendant, champion, chaperone, defender, paladin, sentinel, shepherd, watchdog

 

Colors

Black, red, blue

Next step - look up the meanings of these colors

 

Eyes and third eye

Look up the symbolism

 

 

The void

Then there is pulsing light = expelling his energy and pulsing in all directions

Energy swirling into a massive form - mixing with the darkness - like the soul eater - but darker than dark  with highlights revealing his form. Like a black hole - he absorbs light.

 

Illustrations will accent the story

Color will be added to important concepts like the triad

Journal 1

I'm currently writing out the Cosmology of my Characters in full detail, I started writing it 5 days ago but have since then gotten distracted by productive tasks as well as non-productive Tasks but it is my goal to have it done by tomorrow evening Jan 26 2015 and have it posted and sent to my teacher.   

Pvc Mannaquin frame plan and Materials

Cat Run Animation Draft 2

It's still very rough but i'm working on cleaning it up and adding more frames for smoothness.

This is the next part after the cat run cycle, the Jaguar runs into a clearing a comes to a sudden halt before surveying it's surroundings.
This is about 15 frames.

Animation Storyboard: Second scene

Animation: Story Boad first scene

Animation: Script

I ashamed because I actually wrote out this script about year ago before I made my Story board and animation rough draft and completely forgot that I had.
Derp.

I'm still tweaking the ending but I figured I would go ahead and post what I have now.

SOUL CATCHER
SCRIPT:
 

EXT. on the streets of a city in Russia/ North Korea. Night.

Opening Titles

Scene Notes: Back ground has color but everything is muted

            Shows the top of city line and a beautiful night sky, it is snowing. Camera scrolls down to show the snow covered, empty, street below. A man walks slowly, huddling down the street coughing, shows other signs of sickness. Collapses in an ally and covers himself in old newspapers and magazines. Mortis appears and surveys the man as he coughs and hacks and then becomes quiet. Mortis crouches over the dying man, open his mouth and begins to inhale the man’s spirit shown as a white smoky essence. The camera slowly zooms in on a magazine cover that acts as one of the homeless man’s blanket, the Magazine cover is that of a tropical jungle.

Scene Notes: (Mortis (representation of the mind with the third eye) looks at the situation from afar but inspects the subject closely and for a long time. He waits in semi-plain site, symbolism for how starvation and sickness is never a guaranteed thing. )

EXT. Tropical jungle in Africa or Amazon ( big cat is a jaguar or a leopard).

The scene transitions into a tropical jungle scene looking over a tall canopy. The scene is quiet until the sound of a gunshot is heard and birds fly from the trees. The camera zooms down to the base of the forest, a jaguar runs through the woods, Nex runs (or at least a red is seen as the cat is being shot at. Nex looks like he is stalking/ hunting as well, more active than mortis). It jumps into a clearing taking a minute to survey its surroundings before climbing up a tree. The hunter quickly emerges from the woods tensely searching for his target. He looks around but doesn’t see the Jaguar in the tree ready to pounce on the hunter, the hunter wips around with his gun just as the cat leaps from the tree and attacks him. There is another bang before the scene becomes quiet, both the hunter and the cat lay on the ground dying, the cat shot in the chest the hunter has an open neck wound (or claw marks on his body). Nex sniffs around the dying cat, as it takes it’s last breath Nex quickly and deeply inhales it collecting it’s spirit before moving on to the suffering hunter. The angle changes to the hunter’s point of view looking directly up at Nex as the spirit looks down waiting to collect the soul, he begins to open his mouth as we the audience knows what is about to happen. The angle quickly changes to a far view as a bird looks down watching as New finishes collecting the soul of the hunter. There is a pause, then a sound is heard ( a scream, another gun shot, the sound of an accident happening, etc. ) Nex quickly turns to the sound before quickly hurrying off. Soon after the bird takes off.

Scene Notes: (Nex’ s costume design could be more animalistic he crouches and almost walks on all fours unlike Mortis and Obitus)

EXT. Nursing Home / average middle class American home.

Scene Notes: The scene is very slow with quiet moments and pauses.

            We the viewer’s follow the bird from the last scene as it fly’s to the window ledge of Nursing home/ average American home. The camera zooms past the bird on the ledge to the inside of the room where we see an elderly woman sitting in a chair looking through a photo album. The camera angle changes looking down at the woman and her album, from this angle we see Obitus sitting on the floor next to her, head slightly resting on her knee like that of a loving pet patiently waiting. The woman closes the album and leans back in her chair her breathing becoming slightly heavier. Obitus watches as she takes her final breaths, coming off the floor he leans in very close and gently inhale’s her spirit. After the spirit is collected Obitus steps back taking a final gaze at the old woman before fading away.

EXT. Last scene in maternity ward of hospital

               

Cat Run Animation Draft

Been working on another walk cycle for my animation, there will be more to this with the cat running from flying bullets.

Animatronic First Draft

Motion Following Wolf animatronic



Instructables How I created this animatronic:

Soul catcher draft

First draft of the first scene of my animation:
Soul Catcher from Aunumwolf42 on Vimeo.

Illustration Drafts: The first 4

Artist Statement

Artist Statement

In my work I explore mythology and abstract subjects such as life and death, using anthropomorphism and other symbolism to analyze the relationships humans have with these concepts. Combining these explorations through various digital media such as animation, illustration and robotics I create one interactive experience based on my own fabricated mythology about the afterlife.

I have always had a curiosity and love for the natural world.  Wolves especially have had an impact on me as an artist and a person.  Their beauty, strength, independence and dedication to family have always resonated with me.  My love and spiritual connection with wolves drove me to learn more - to study their anatomy, behavior and their relationship with the world.  I simultaneously became more fascinated with the mythology surrounding wolves and the recurring themes connecting canines and the afterlife.

Though wolves’ are known for their predatory nature I have never seen them as a threat but as a vital and intricate piece to the flow of life and, through my own experiences I have come to approach the subject of death with the same outlook. 

Through my work viewers come face to face with my interpretation of death as represented by the three wolves, Obitus, Nex and Mortis. Each entity’s name, as well as its characteristics, are representations of different types of fatalities and are linked to how society perceives them, as well as being a representation of the mind, body and soul.

The characters act as my own artist rendition of the Greek guardian of the underworld Cerberus, and inspired me to continue my studies of mythology. My research influenced me to develop my characters further through inventing a creation story and adding to their appearance.

The digital tools and software I use in my work help me strive to better understand these characters and help me to bring them further into reality, by giving them a history, creating a narrative of my characters’ creation and personality. Through mediums like animation and animatronics I can explore how my characters move, react and interact to their surroundings. Through these installations I intersect the world of the spirits with the world of the living.

 

-Christiana Broughton