Herbology- Wizarding Plants

The phenomenon that is Harry Potter has taken the world by storm and even though the final film of the final book is now complete, the Potter craze is certainly not over and its franchise is still growing. 400 million copies of the Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide, 6.9 million copies of the Half blood prince were sold in the first 24 hours of its release, the final Deathly Hallows book topped this even further when in the same time period it sold 15 million copies setting a new world record as the quickest-selling book of all time (Money, 2011). To help deliver the fourth Potter book, the Goblet of Fire, the United States alone allocated 9000 FedEx trucks whose sole purpose was to deliver the new book to eager fans. As a result of its immense success, the book’s author, JK Rowling, has totalled a personal fortune over £600million. (Money, 2011)

It’s not just the movie makers who have benefited from the Potter craze, the franchise alone is worth $24,711,000,000 (Statistic Brain, 2011). The video games franchise alone has brought in $1.5 billion of revenue (LEAW, 2011). Ticket sales exceed $7,216million and toy sales in excess of $7,297 million (Statistic Brain, 2011). Overall the Harry Potter market has been incredibly successful, producing 7 books, 8 films and millions of pounds worth of profit to date.

When filming had finished Warner Bros turned their custom build sound stages in London into every Potter fans dream, a Harry Potter Studio tour. A playground of all things Harry Potter, the Warner Bros Studio Tour is expected to have 5000 visitors pass through its magical gates each day (Sun-Times, 2012). Having been given the opportunity myself to go on the tour, I would recommend it to any Potter or film fan as a fantastic day out. The amount of information on show is perfect for any budding film maker or designer, and there is just too much to take in for a single visit.

Here are just a few of the photos I took whilst on the tour:

For the purposes of this piece of writing, however, I am going to investigate the use of Nature in the world of Harry Potter. When is it used, why is it used, and how is it used so successfully.

Plants have been used as ingredients in medicines and healing remedies for hundreds if not thousands of years. It is widely known that many species of plants contain healing properties, from Aloe’s soothing effects on burns, to Fennels aid to digestion (Linsdomain, 2010a). Many cults, groups and religions have taken the medicinal properties of plants to the next level and have even used them for witchcraft, potions and spells. The following are some examples of plants and herbs that have been used for their magical properties:

Vervain- Placing some next to your bed will prevent nightmares.
Wearing a crown of Vervain gives protection when invoking spirits.
When mixed with water and sprinkled round the home, it can drive out evil forces.
Burying Vervain in the garden will make your plants thrive.

Oak- Known as the ancient tree of the druids and also one of the Fairy Triad (being oak, ash and thorn).
Placing acorns in a window will protect you from lightening.
Planting an acorn at night, in the dark of the moon will bring good fortune.

Hazel- Good for making magic wands.

Dandelion- Tea made from ground and roasted dandelion root will give psychic powers and enable the drinker to call up spirits.

Catnip- Used in love spells.
When used as book marks in spell books, catnip will give the magical words strength.

Almonds -Also good for making magic wands as almond is the plant of air, out of which element magic is formed.

(Linsdomain, 2010b)

At Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter and his classmates must attend their very own classes on magical plants. ‘Herbology’ is the study of magical plants and fungi, including their care, magical properties and uses, whether on their own or in potions. (Harry Potter Lexicon, 2012). JK Rowling at various points in the book talks about specific books related to Herbology:

Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage

Encyclopaedia of Toadstools

Flesh-Eating Trees of the World

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean

Most Potent Potions

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Toadstool Tales by Beatrix Bloxam

(Harry Potter Lexicon, 2012)

She obviously thought it significant enough in the Wizarding world that books would be written about such things, and that young witches and wizards would be taught about them at school. Magical plants are important to the Wizarding community, or at least in the fantasy world they are. The following is a list of specific magical plants that appear in the books:

A

Abyssinian Shrivelfig

Aconite (Monkshood, Wolfsbane)

Alihotsy

Ash

Aspen

Asphodel

B

Beech

Belladonna
Blackthorn
Black Walnut
Bouncing Bulb
Bubotuber
C
Cabbage
Cedar
Cherry
Chestnut
Cypress
D
Daisy
Devil’s Snare
Dirigible Plum
Dittany
Dogwood
E

Ebony

Elder
Elm
English Oak
F
Fanged Geranium
Fir
Flitterbloom
Flutterby Bush
Fluxweed
G
Gillyweed
Ginger
Gurdyroot
H
Hawthon
Hazel
Hellebore
Holly
Honking Daffodil
Hornbeam
K
Knotgrass
L
Larch
Laurel
Leaping Toadstool
Lovage
M
Mahogany
Mallosweet
Mandragora
Mandrake
Maple
Mimbulus Mimbletonia
Mistletoe Berries
Monkshool
N
Nettle
O
Oak
P
Pear
Peppermint
Pine
Pomegranate
Poplar
Privet
Puffapod
Pumpkin
R
Red Oak
Redwood
Rosewood
Rowan
Rue
S
Sage
Screechsnap
Scurvy-grass
Self-fertilising Shrubs
Silver Lime
Snargaluff Tree
Sneezewort
Sopophorous Bean
Spruce
Sycamore
U
Umbrella-sized Flowers
V
Valerian Roots/Sprigs
Venomous Tentacula
Vine
W
Walnut
Willow
Whomping Willow
Wolfsbane
Wormwood
Y
Yew

(List compiled from Harry Potter Lexicon, 2012)

This is quite a comprehensive list, which suggests it is of some significance within the world of Harry Potter. But it is not only in potions that the world of Harry Potter talks about magical or enchanted vegetation. On the outskirts of the Hogwarts grounds is the Forbidden Forest; described as a thick forest with beech, oak, pine, sycamore and yew. It is also said to contain wild and dangerous creatures like the Acromantulas (giant spiders), Thestrals (not so dangerous but still wild), Fluffy (the three headed dog) and many more (Harry Potter Lexicon, 2012). From its description, it suggests to me that the Forbidden Forest is a place of hiding, filled with mystery and the unknown, a place where animals and creatures dwell in dens, it is their lair and humans are not welcome.

“The forest hides many secrets” (Rowling JK, 1997, pg280)

I think it is this element of the unknown and the mysterious that makes forests and natural environments so magical. It is away from our urban jungles, unlike it, free and unpredictable, and I think this unpredictability is a key factor in what makes nature somehow magical.

This is a concept drawing of the forbidden forest by Andrew Williamson. You can see here how Williamson took inspiration from tropical mangrove roots but adapted them for trees 12-14 feet around (McCabe, 2011, pg339).

McCabe, B (2011) Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey. Titan Books, London, Pg 339

In McCabe’s book he quotes the Production Designer for Harry Potter, Stuart Craig saying that he wanted the Forbidden Forest to feel like it had grown out of something real, that it was based on something real.

“The forest is recognisably normal on the outside...but the deeper you penetrate it, the bigger it gets, the more intimidating, the thicker the mist, and the greater the mystery”.

Stuart Craig, Production Designer

(McCabe, 2012, pg339)

I purchased McCabe’s book Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey whilst at the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour. It is reveals an excellent insight into the world of Harry Potter but also into the workings of the film industry, in particular the involvement of the art department.

When I was reading through the book I was particularly looking out for information, opinions and design decisions related to the nature side of the potter world. Some interesting things came from my reading.

“In order to create a believable world, all the places the characters inhabited needed to be credible. To achieve this, the sets needed to feel real, no matter how magical they might be.” (McCabe, 2012, pg323)

This is a quote from Stuart Craig (Production Designer) and I think it is a very good point that he makes. I had read similar ideas throughout conducting my research this year but Craig sums it up well. It links back to one of my previous blog entries after I spoke to Sean Myatt, a Tutor from NTU, and he said that to create fantasy you first need to create reality, its then the process of breaking it where fantasy is created. If we can relate to something in a fantasy film it makes it more easily believed because that element of reality is familiar to us- it’s then only a small jump to accept the fantasy element of the design.

In the fourth film, The Goblet of Fire, Craig talks about the design for the lake environment where the merpeople live. “...they enter the murky underworld of a lake filled with plant life, rocks, and creatures you imagine could exist for hundreds of years deep in a Scottish loch without being discovered and disturbed” (McCabe, 2012, pg129). It’s his use of the word “could” that I think is the key to designing for fantasy.  If you can convince an audience that something fantastic and magical could exist then your job as a designer has been successful. Craig goes on to say later in the book that rather than inventing something new and bizarre, the designs they used in Harry Potter were always exaggerated from something identifiable, “The magic, when it does appear, is all the stronger because it is born out of something that is recognisable. This makes the magic somehow more effective when it finally appears, whether it manifests as ghosts, wand effects, or moving staircases” (McCabe, 2012, pg323). This principal is the same throughout the design, from the exaggerated Gothic architecture of Hogwarts, down to the delicate leaf structures of a Mandrake root. It is all based on the recognisable.

The Mandrake root is a good example of how they have used this principle of starting with a recognisable form and breaking it into the fantasy genre. This concept painting is by Dermot Power and it shows the full body of a baby mandrake:

McCabe, B (2011) Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey. Titan Books, London, Pg 426

It’s clear to see that the plant has a humanoid body shape like a baby with leaves growing out of the top. The identifiable element is the baby shape (with matching cries in the film) then the fantasy twist is that it’s actually a baby plant, so has leaves and is made of roots. Part of making something credible is giving it a purpose and a back story. For the mandrake it is that when it is removed from its pot it cries like a baby (with sometimes deadly consequences) but it has a reason for doing that; self defence. Everything in Harry Potter has a back story, a purpose, a history, a reason for being. Even the great Whopping Willow has a purpose for being at Hogwarts; it is revealed in the third book/film that it was planted the year Remus Lupin started Hogwarts as a student, to protect the entrance of a secret passage where Lupin fled during the periods he was due to turn into a werewolf. To make it credible it is given purpose.

Having taken a brief look into the world of Harry Potter and it use of plants, herbs and nature I have found some useful tips for my own work. The work for my MA is almost over but it will be useful for when I continue my research or for future design projects. I think one of the most important things I have established from this research is that nature already has an air of magic about it. It’s mysterious and in areas where there are some large organic structures, like deep forests, the magic is heightened. You don’t need to do a lot to a tree to make it feel a little bit magical. Hattie Storey, Art Director on Potter had this to say about wands, ““I think the more successful wands are organic looking, maybe whittled out of a bit of root or branch...To me, they are more mysterious and magical” (McCabe, 2012, pg481). She feels that the more successful wands, the most magical, the most enchanting looking wands, are those made from natural, organic, branches or roots. Its the ones that look most natural that feel most magical.

Another useful technique Potter has taught me has been to modify the existing. When designing the merpeople concept designer Adam Brockbank said that “Traditionally, there’s a break between the fish part and the human part...but we wanted to create creatures that followed a principle of naturalism and believability, and so we decided not to have that break.” (McCabe, 2012, pg431). They advanced the preconceptions we had of a mermaid and developed it to something new, something different.

The final and I think most important design tool was to start with something identifiable. It’s no good designing a tree that looks nothing like a tree, because the audience won’t believe it and so it will detract from the story. By basing a design on something the audience can relate to they will already have a connection with that object, then when you enhance it or exaggerate it they are much more likely to believe it. If they believe it “could” be possible then it was successful.






LEAW.com, 2011. Harry Potter statistics [online] Available at http://www.leawo.com/blog/2011/07/the-final-adventure-of-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-2-received-over-43-6m-box-office-receipts-abroad-since-the-theater-release/ [Accessed on 17/07/2012

Linsdomain.com, 2010a. Herbs and Plants [online] Available at http://www.linsdomain.com/herbs.htm {Accessed on 17/07/2012]

Linsdomain.com, 2010b. The Magical Properties of Herbs and Plants [online] Available at http://www.linsdomain.com/herbs.htm {Accessed on 17/07/2012]

McCabe, B (2011) Harry Potter Page to Screen: The Complete Filmmaking Journey. Titan Books, London

Money.co.uk, 2011. Twilight vs Harry Potter [online] Available at http://www.money.co.uk/misc/twilight-vs-harry-potter.htm [Accessed on 17/07/2012]

Rowling, J.K (1997) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Bloomsbury, London

Statistic Brain, 2011. Total Harry Potter Franchise Revenue [online] Available at  http://www.statisticbrain.com/total-harry-potter-franchise-revenue/ [Accessed on 17/07/2012]

Sun-Times, 2012. ‘Haryy Potter’ tour opens in London [online] Available at http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/11617134-421/magic-harry-potter-studio-tour-opens-near-london.html [Accessed on 17/07/2012]

The Harry Potter Lexicon, 2012. Books (and one play) by title [online] Available at http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizworld/books.html#flesh-eating_trees_of_the_world [Accessed 17/07/12]

The Harry Potter Lexicon, 2012. Herbology [online] Available at http://www.hp-lexicon.org/hogwarts/classes/herbology-class.html [Accessed 17/07/12]

The Harry Potter Lexicon, 2012. The Forbidden Forest [online] Available at http://www.hp-lexicon.org/hogwarts/castle/forest.html [Accessed 17/07/12]

DragonVale

DragonVale is a theme park style social game, where players look after and breed dragons on their own personal floating islands. From mobile game company Backflip Studios, Dragonvale has become a popular free app on the iphone/ipad platform, with an average customer rating of 4.5 stars (itunes, 2012).

itunes image

Dragonvale is a good example of how a well known attraction like a theme park or visitor centre can be given a fantasy twist.

In the game players are given a floating island where they can build their dragon resort. This strait away sets the scene for a fantasy based game, having a giant floating plateau as the starting point for the game. Each dragon is then based on a theme, from basic elements like fire and water to manmade objects like fireworks and mines. There are even limited editions dragons like the Bone dragon, Leap Year Dragon and Reindeer Dragon. This idea of combining different aspects together, I have found has been a good starting point when creating things for the fantasy genre.

http://www.dragonvalebreed.com/all-dragonvale-visual-breeding-charts/

I have not specifically designed any fantasy creatures as part of my role in the Magicians Nephew project but if I was to do some later, combining elements would be a useful place to start. An audience would suspend their disbelief (see earlier blog post) if you present it to them clearly enough. Take dragonvale for example, we know dragons do not exist but when we play the game we are willing to go along with it and pretend. We know fireworks do exists and in some way we have almost certainly all seen them. In Dragonvale they have combined dragons and fireworks to create a Firework Dragon- yet within the world that they have laid out in the game it is totally believable. In another setting it may not work but combined with all the other elements of the game; floating rocks, other themed dragons, magic, back stories, reasons for being etc it makes sense.

This tells me that to help an audience understand they need not only something for their imaginations to latch onto but also a back story and a convincing reason for why. Why does it look like that? Why does it move like that? How does it? Why? Only when all these are put together can an audience relax, suspend their disbelief, and get involved with the world you are trying to create.

I think Narnia and particularly Charn are good settings to design creatures and plants with symbiotic relationships. Charn’s heavily machine and clockwork based world is perfect for creating machine and organic symbiosis; like dogs with mechanical hearts, dragons with clockwork babies, Whales that fly through the sky like blimps, the possibilities are endless. Unfortunately time has run out for doing this as part of our MA work but maybe as a future project we could work on it.

Synergy, Symbiosis and Fanto-symbiosis:

As part of my research I have been looking at synergy; the idea of things working together to create something greater than the sum of its two parts (dictionary.com, 2012). In an article by Peter A Corning , Nature’s Magic, he talks about the idea of synergy and the many examples of its existence in nature. He describes Synergy as being one of the great governing principals of the natural world (Corning, 2003), later going on to suggest that the system of synergy has played a vital role in the evolution of the universe and has influenced the trajectory of life on earth significantly.U

Unlike laws of nature, being rigid, predictable and containing parameters, Corning suggests that the trend of Synergy is open-ended and creative (Corning, 2003, pg2). The difference between natural law and natural synergy is that it can occur randomly, it is “...shaped by the immediate functional advantages- the ‘payoffs’- arising from various forms of synergy” (Coring, 2003, pg2).

Symbiosis is a form of synergy but where the two parts (or more) are organic; two organisms joining together to become more successful as a partnership then they would have as individuals (earthlife.net, 2010).  When these organisms come together and form a single visibly defined body they are called a thallus (britishlichens.co.uk, 2011). The Lichen is a good example of a symbiotic relationship; the combination of an algae and fungi. The fungi benefits by absorbing sugars from the algae and the algae gets protection from the weather as the fungi usually forms the other surface, but also in cases where the lichen forms on a tree, the algae benefits from the fungi’s ability to attach to the tree (earthlife.net, 2010). Lichen has the ability to grow in hospitable environments due to the partnership of the algae and fungi, where as individual organisms they would not survive.

An example of how synergy and symbiosis has been used in the genre of fantasy is in the iPhone game DragonVale, by Back Flip Studios. The game is based on the idea of caring for and breeding magical dragons. Breeding two dragons together results in a new species being created. For example, by breeding together a basic Cold Dragon with a basic Plant Dragon, results in a Lichen Dragon being born.

DragonVale: Breeding a Lichen Dragon (Backflip Studios, 2011)

In this adaptation of synergy/symbiosis two fantasy creatures infused with the power of different elements, when bred together, create a brand new fantasy creature based on the lichen. Two basic dragons mate and produce a more powerful duel elemental dragon.

Another variation of synthesis that Corning talks about is that of Tensegrity within the body. Also known as tensional integrity, Tensegrity refers to the way the forces of compression and tension work together synergistically to maintain structural integrity. He goes on to talk about how our bones, muscles and tendons work together to give us structural stability and mobility. Actin filaments work within our body’s cells to counteract pulling forces and microtubules resist compression (Corning, 2003, Pg3-4). Although separately they work against different forces, together they prevent our cells from pulling apart or being crushed; opposite actions working together to create a positive outcomes.

At the end of Corning’s Prologue he briefly talks about the idea of negative synergy or dysergy (Corning, 2003, Pg6).  He suggests that synergy does not always work in a positive way. I thought about this idea of negative synergy and tried to think of some examples. One example of could be that of genetic mutation. In a study put together by the United States Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE) in 1996, they talk about the effects on the human body due to the introduction of radiation. Their findings were that after the body came into contact with radiation it may not always kill the cells- in some cases it would cause the cells to mutate (ACHRE, 1996, Pg25). This could be used as an example of Negative synergy/symbiosis, where by the two bodies of radiation and the human cell come together resulting in a new existence with negative consequences. The idea of genetic mutation die to radiation has been used in several films, one of the more famous examples being Godzilla, and its numerous remakes over the years. A more positive example of radiation symbiosis are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, part of a comic book by Mirage Studios, 1984.

I think this idea of synergy and symbiosis is a good starting point when designing for fantasy. In our everyday lives we are surrounded by examples of synergy; from bees gathering pollen from flowers, enabling pollination and the production of honey, to two individuals working on their MA project together enabling them to create something better than they would have alone (the example being myself and Hannah). Even if we don’t know the word synergy we are still familiar with the concept. In a previous post I quoted Sean Myatt, a Puppetry and Digital Animation tutor at NTU, saying “to create fantasy you first have to create reality, once you have that, its the process of breaking it where fantasy is made”. To create convincing reality you could use the idea of synergy, creating intertwining ecosystems in landscapes, habitats for animals and complex organic relationships and then once this is done breaking it with the addition of a fantasy element; for example as part of my design for The Wood Between the Worlds I created some trees that grow on floating cogs- the relationship here being that the tree has a stable base from which it can grow, and the cog collects water from the tree resulting in a pool forming, a pool to another world (see storyline). The two cannot function properly without each other, showing a co-dependant relationship.

If we were to give this fantasy based synergy/symbiosis a name it could be Fanto-synergy or Fanto-symbiosis. This would then allow designers to refer to the specific act of designing symbiotic relationships with a fantasy twist. I will try and investigate some more examples of fanto-symbiosis.




Backflip Studios, 2011. Lichen Dragon breeding [edited online image] Available at: http://dragonvale.wikia.com/wiki/Lichen_Dragon [Accessed on 14/07/12]

Corning, P.A (2003) Nature’s Magic: The New Evolutionary Paradigm, Prologue [Online PDF] Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://www.complexsystems.org/pdf/prologue.pdf [Accessed 14/07/2012]

United States Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (1996) Human Radiation Experiments. Oxford University Press, USA

British Lichens, 2011. What are Lichens. [online] Available at:  http://www.britishlichens.co.uk/whatarelichens.html [Accessed on 14/07/12]

Dictionary.com, 2012. Synergy meaning. [online] Available at  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/synergy [Accessed on 14/07/12]

Earthlife.net, Gordon Ramel, 2010. What is a Lichen?? [online] Available at http://www.earthlife.net/lichens/lichen.html [Accessed on 14/07/12]

Work: Narnia- Floating Cogs/Creation scene

New visual for Narnia- I realised I'd done lots of concepts for plants but hadn’t done any of rock formations or natural landscape designs, so I created this image. It shows Aslan in the bottom right hand corner singing (as described in the book), but I have added cogs to the scene as if they are forming from his words, and the floating away to their destination.

I printed this image on the Uni printers and it came out really well, almost perfectly matching the on screen colours so I'm quite pleased. We have started laying out the book this week and this image will be in as a large fold out page for maximum impact.

Work: Narnia- Gate into the Garden

One of the scenes I am designing for is The Garden. This is where the tree from my previous blog post is situated and where Digory plucks a magic apple for Aslan. The Gate has a fairly basic description in the book, just as being Gold, with silver writing on it and surrounded by a wall made of turf. This Concept visual is to represent that gate.

Work: Narnia- Tree in the Garden

This is a rendering of the Tree in the Garden where Polly and Digory have to go and collect a magic apple for Aslan. In the book the description of this tree is quite basic so it left me quite a lot design space to play with. The book does describe the other trees in the garden as being “not only green but also blue and silver”, so I adapted this for the central tree and made it purple, green and silver- this makes it stand out a bit more showing it to be more important.

Inspiration: Bastion

Bastion, in the words of its creators Supergiant Games, is “an original action role-playing game set in a lush imaginative world” (http://supergiantgames.com/?page_id=242)

I really like the visual look of this game; it’s like a moving digital painting. I can see a similar style of illustration in some of my own renderings. The use of colour in the game is effective also to enhance the fantasy element. I like the use of the isometric style view point- this would be a good way of drawing our map for the Magicians Nephew- the simplified perspective makes it easier to draw and easier to read.

I think it would be a good Idea for myself and Hannah to incorporate some bolder character and set combination illustrations as at the moment they two aspects are quite separate in our designs, some beautifully visualised imagery of a character in an environment might help us tie the two aspects together.

I particularly like this image as it seems to bring elements from all the environments within the game into a single representational image- at a glance it shows all the environments. Id quite like to produce something like this but it will have to wait till the end, as I still haven’t designed all the environments yet.

All images from  http://supergiantgames.com/?page_id=242

Work: Wood between the Worlds SECOND render

Render number two, this is slightly more what I envisioned in my head but I still don’t think its right- yes it shows the look but it doesn’t quite feel like it’s giving enough information. I might do some tree concepts to try and explain the Idea a bit more; this would help give a wider picture of the whole design...I’m conscious that I'm running out of time though so it may have to do.

Work: Wood between the Worlds render

I’ve finally started designing the Wood between the Worlds... only slightly behind schedule. I started by sketching the design out then running it through Photoshop. It proved very difficult to render and I got quite frustrated with it, and almost gave in to despair! But then I tried a different rendering style using a little bit of photo collage to create a different look, resulting in this...

It’s not really what I want but as an image I think it looks quite nice and dynamic so I’ve kept it as some development work. Now I have to try and render it how I want it to look...however that may be.

Work: Dancing Lawn

This scene originally only started out as another tree concept, but as I got into it it sort of developed into a whole scene.

The basis for the design is around the location called “Dancing Lawn” it doesn’t actually appear specifically in the Magicians Nephew but it does appear in some of the later books. It could however be incorporated in some way into our film adaptation.

I wanted to play more with the idea of natural geological formations rather than just looking at individual trees. I wanted the area to look like the natural stone had been forced up and then a giant tree had grown across the central expanse, creating a sheltered cave-like space. To link with the Dancing Lawn idea where Narnian creatures could gather and throw outdoor celebrations I’ve played with the Idea that they have built bridges to connect all the stone monoliths together, allowing access to the larger grassland area. Giant Mushrooms also grow on the white stone forming smaller platforms around the larger rocks.

I wanted to do some more sketching because I don’t really do much actual sketch rendering, I develop my designs through sketch but once I have the basic forms I then put it into the computer and run it through Photoshop. So I wanted to have a go a sketching a design to completion, if nothing just for my portfolio.

I then added some colouring in Photoshop and added some extra shadows for a more three dimensional feel. I’m quite pleased with it now it’s done, and it may become one of the visuals for the EXPO, as it’s the size of an A2 page.

Work: Some more Flora

The concept designs for some Narnian plants are getting nicely underway. Here are the latest developments in the world of plants.

These first sets of 4 trees are designed to be decorative trees. They are very well trimmed and naturally quite ordered in their appearance. They could be suitable for the Garden Scene I am designing for later but for the moment I’m quite happy with letting them sit on the back burner for a bit.

The Bare Birch is a nocturnal plant, in that during the day it looks like a leafless twig, but at night it comes alive, emitting a turquoise glow from its sap that gathers in pockets on its branches. This creates the illusion of glowing leaves, only visible in the darkness.

This is a Candelabra Birch. Still a member of the Birch species it has the distinct white bark. The Candelabra is so named because of its branch structure which forms vertical catkins that grow upwards like candles.

This is a Fire Bud Tree. Its delicate leaves grow upwards, matting together to create a plume-like head, which resembles a tongue of flame.

 

The final decorative tree is the Flowering Horn. This simple leafed bushy plant grows naturally into the pronged form, where a single rose-like flower blooms all year round. If the flower is removed the plant withers.

This walking tree is one of the talking trees chosen by Aslan himself to become part of the Council to help look after Narnia. Its distinct yellow colouring is present in all the council members, distinguishing them from the other inhabitants of Narnia.

This is my second rendering of the Glowing mushroom- I tried to soften some of the edges under the mushroom to make it look a bit more organic and less strait edged. I think it works better now these changes have been made.

This final plant is my first water based plant. The Semi-Aquatic Giant Lily grows out of the water until it suspends itself by its strong roots above the water’s surface. This plant still needs a little bit more of a back story about its purpose etc

Work: Some initial designs

Now we are on the final stint towards the MA we have started focusing our work down, organising what we are going to be doing for the EXPO and our final work submission.

I started off by working up my Water Lettuce design a bit, adding more detail to the render, incorporating some feeding examples, leaf structure etc. The idea for these designs would be that they are conceptual studies, designed to show an overview of possible flora the director could populate any scene with, therefore a back story and contextual information needed to be developed. So with each plant I will add a brief description and relevant information to paint a visual, verbal and analytical picture of the plants.

After producing the Water Lettuce layout, I talked it over with Hannah and we both decided it wasn’t laid out quite how we wanted. It looks too scientific and doesn’t bring across the idea of clockwork, exploration or In-situ observations. So we sat down and had a big discussion about the book, layout and general guidelines on presentation. The following is the layout board we created:

We outlined example page layouts for every page eventuality so that the process of putting the pages together would be easier. We also designed any extra details we wanted like the Clockwork Page Runner and its colour variations, the page background etc and we got a quote from a book printing company and stuck samples down of the paper types etc.

This is the first page we put together using the new layout. It has some key images of the main plant, an example of the flower, an example of a creature Hannah designed to dwell in the tree and some sketch development images of the creature. The key written information is then added outlining purpose, botanical information, height, habitat etc I like this page layout, the background is effective but not too overpowering. I still think it needs a little bit of work as it still doesn’t sit comfortably on the page but we will sort that later.

This is an initial rendering of a fungus I designed for Narnia. I have written some background information for it if it needs it but this particular plant might just be put in the book as a standalone image rather than a fully developed layout page.

 

Since finishing these we have done many more images and designs but I will update those onto here later.

Of Monsters and Men

This is a Music Video featuring Of Mice and Men. It was produced by a company called WeWereMonkeys    (http://weweremonkeys.com/)

Hannah and I are looking at it as a good style for our own Animatic for The Magicians Nephew. We like the quirky nature of it and the puppet-like style. Using real life elements and CG is how we envision the real production to be made so this links well...the songs awesome too!