Preliminary Thumbnails

Just some initial ideas. I like numbers 2 & 4 but it would be great to get some feedback. if you see something you like or you have any suggestions please comment.

     This one was just a bit of fun really. I was going for a David Cronenberg approach with this, crawling across the floor, possibly fresh out the telepod, but it just doesn't seem to fit with what I'm going for.

Life Drawing with Charcoal

                      Figure 1.                                                                         Figure 2.


I'm not used to using charcoal, I try and avoid it if I can as it is rather messy and I never have any hairspray, but I really enjoyed this figure study session. In terms of drawing, the rubber was just as Important as the charcoal to help create the form and lighting. Although it took me a little while to build up the confidence to change my picturewhen it was required. I think of drawing in charcoal to be a similar experience to drawing in Photoshop.

Head Studies

                Figure 1.                         Figure 2.                             Figure 3.


 Some profile sketches of me and my animal. The picture of the Giraffe I took from the internet and the two of me were accomplished with a complex series of mirrors I hooked up in my room as My webcam's stopped working... spending so much time looking at myself I have come to the very groundbraking and shocking conclusion .....that I could probaly do with a shave.

Skull Studies

 Figure 1. Giraffe Skull

Figure 2. Human Skull

The Giraffe has a truly Fantastic skull already and I'm almost reluctant to alter it in any way but the posibilities the creature holds are just too exciting. I think the horns are a must for my hybridization along with the nasal ridge as they are a major defining feature on the Giraffes head, also the wide set eyes as they conjure up an almost melancholic demeanour which I think will help me greatly as I try to tread the imperfect path of humanity.

However the feature that grasps a large portion of my focus is simply this, the Giraffe has no front teeth on it's upper jaw. I really want to incorporate this into my own face purely because I think it'll be hilarious but trying to avoid the trap of humour will be a tough one.

Hand and Foot Studies

 Figure 1. Foot Study

Figure 2. Hand Study

Just a couple of sketches here trying to get down the shape/makeup of some of the key parts of the anatomy that I'd like to focus on. Giraffes evolved over hundreds of millions of years into cloven hoofed animals, gradually evolving from walking on five digit feet to only walking on two digits, the remaing three fingers reducing in size to now being almost non existant. On a human these two fingers would be the middle and ring finger. I'm hoping to upload some sketches of Giraffe anatomy soon and my own ideas on how splicing the two anatomical designs might realistically work.

Life Drawing

             Figure 1                              Figure 2                                Figure 3

Figure 1 is just me tentatively drawing with an HB pencil taking care not to make any mistakes, drawing lightly and making sure every little detail is in before moving on to the next part of the...THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO DRAW!!! I'm not a beginner at life drawing so I should be avoiding obvious traps like this one.

Figure 2 is much more of a free flowing drawing with a loose style. Here I am attempting to bring the picture out of the page using only tones and shades and using the whole arm and not just the wrist to draw. No lines at all. Although I had to cheat a bit with the hair I feel this was a really successful drawing that I really enjoyed creating. Drawn mostly with a 6B to really get those dark tones on the page. the picture's not to good tonally but that just the camera I assure you.

Figure 3 is supposed to be landscape but Blogger wouldn't accept the file in any other orientation than this. Again looking more in depth at form and as opposed to a simple line drawing. I wasn't a huge fan of this position mainly because of the perspective so that shall be my main focus next time.

The Fly 1958 Review

Figure 1. The Fly poster

In This Classic 1950's American sci-fi horror directed by Kurt Nuemann an over obsessive Professor Andre Delambre (David Hedison) is manipulating the very laws of physics with his teleportation devices. His revolutionary idea requires the disintegration of matter into single atoms which are then projected through the air and are reassembled in the correct order in the corresponding teleportation unit. The Professor appears to be on the edge of a breakthrough, after successfully teleporting a guinea pig he decides to test his invention on himself when, due to a single moment of carelessness, an ordinary housefly enters the teleporter and the two are inadvertently spliced together.

 

Figure 2. Andre-fly

The fly headed and armed creature, previously professor Andre, is very suggestive of the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians where theriocephalic (Theriocephaly - the condition or quality of having the head of an animal- see figure 2) depictions of humans with animal heads were worshipped as deities. The most famous of which being Horus, always pictured with the head of a falcon and Anubis, depicted with the head of a jackal. Although what seems to stand out in this instance is that the hybridized Andre-fly is more of a creature and relates back to Greek Mythology where humans were subjected to horrific metamorphosis as punishment for their pride.

Figure 3. Andre and Dandelo

This film touches on the ethics of playing God and introduces a state of karmic retribution where one man is punished for seeking to elevate mankind above and beyond godlike stature. It is noticeable that this film warns of the dangers of the rapid advance of science and the amount of power one man can possess, “Stripped of a voice, this Fly channels fears about what science...specifically nuclear energy...might yield during the Cold War.” (Hedison,1958) here Hedison reflects on his portrayal of the fly and relates to us the fears 1950’s America had of exposure to atomic radiation and the threat of a nuclear war with the Russians. As we see in figure 3 Andre attempts to teleport Dandelo, the family cat, with unsuccessful results and also in figure 2 it is clear that his experiment has gone disastrously wrong thus feeding the public’s fear of the super advancement of radioactive technology.

Figure 4. THE END

List of Illustrations:

(Figure 1) http://www.speedyshare.com/search/The_Fly_1958_-_Mikey_s_Movies_Horror_and_Exploitation.1381939.html

(Figure 2) http://mutantville.com/blog/3444/the-fly/

(Figure 3) http://www.hollywoodgothique.com/2006/03/friday-cat-blogging-the-fly-1958/

(Figure 4) http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=the+fly+1958&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=1086&bih=528&tbm=isch&tbnid=yBW7JGO5x6rWIM:&imgrefurl=http://skygecko-nat.blogspot.com/2010/10/fly-dir-kurt-neumann-1958.html&docid=ohNWkgyJDKf1rM&w=1337&h=578&ei=1ieKTv8Rw6nwA7ub0FU&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=714&vpy=146&dur=255&hovh=74&hovw=172&tx=174&ty=69&page=5&tbnh=74&tbnw=172&start=41&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:41

Bibliography:

(Hedison,1958) The Fly, David Hedison, 1958. © 20th Century Fox Film Corp./ Courtesy of the Everett Collection. http://blogs.amctv.com/photo-galleries/the-complete-fly/the-fly-1958.php

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Theriocephaly