Thursday, 28 January 2016

Supervisor Meeting Week 3

This week, I presented Brian with some sketches I made of father Dagon attacking people in the ocean ,attacking ships and submarines. These were ideas I had for comic pages were the protagonist visualised the future of what may happen. I had the idea of including a splash page to illustrate the words ;

"of a day when the land shall sink, and the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium." (Lovecraft,1919)

I showed him my rough pages and he gave me some further advice on the first page's environment shot. The buildings lacked the use of curves and were too clean. Although I made an improvement, they were needing some further iteration. He was kind enough to give me a loan of a book called "Tin Tin's Adventure At Sea which was a documentation of how Hurge got his inspiration for the characters and ships.

I talked about how I could portray  the passage of time in the comic. In the story, he wait for three days for the land to become enough to walk on. However, it was difficult to portray that in the two panels that I currently had. To overcome this, I may have to duplicate the scenery and make some alterations by showing a day and night montage.

The panel where the protagonist meets the ethnologist was another obstacle to cover. Brian said it was under his nose but it just wasn't spot on. Some things that Finn and Brian suggested was perhaps to portray the panel with the moment were the protagonist leaves the ethnologists office with little to no success. I suggested using some gestures and body language to show that the ethologist shows full superiority over the protagonist whose body language will be weaker and more feeble.

The last page was so rough that it gave Brian some difficulty trying to understand it properly . It was meant to show the panel of a shot of the protagonist whose back was facing the door where a hooded figure stands at the doorway. the second panel was meant to be the perspective of the monster but Brian had some difficulty understanding this. He told me that its was an example of breaking the 180 degree rule when it came to using camera angles in a scene. Many shots should not surpass 180. Unfortunately this first iteration did. To fix this, I can choose a different angle for the protagonist to appear in, one that is with 180 degrees. In addition, I also showed him artwork I was working on for a convention next month.

My next stages are:
  • To look at that book Brian has given me. 
  • Continue developing my comic based off the feedback.
  • implement the sketchbook drawings into the comic pages
  • Plan the splash page illustration is case It is needed.
Reference

Lovecraft, H.P. 1919. Dagon. The Vagrant. (11): pp.23–29.

Horeau, Y. and Farr, M. 2004. The adventures of Tintin at sea. London: John Murray.

Book Design: Framing

I went to the McManus Gallery in Dundee to look for paintings that were made around the time period of the 1910s. Brian said my frames looked more Georgian and did not reflect the painting frame style of the 1910s. He suggested that I take a visit to the local art museum.
















 Photos of painting frames from the 1910s

These are a series of photos I took of the framework of paintings from the 1910s. The frames were wooden and included straight geometry with curved decors between them. Some of the frames were different colours. With this reinforced research, I can still apply my Lovecraftian frame decor and still allow me to make it look like it was a painting from that time period.

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Monolith Development

Creating the monolith was a challenge. Many previous iterations of the obelisk took on a column form. I however wanted to make the monolith look artificial out show a off world architectural style.


Monolith Mood Board


Location Sketches

The above image shows my thoughts about the placement of the monolith as well a rough floor plan of one of the environment I have planned for the comic.




Monolith Sketch

I was eager to avoid the generic round stone or Pyramid top square shaped column approach that were made. However  wanted to integrate curved and angled elements to my final design. I liked the idea of Dead Space's Marker and I even considered making it look a bit like that. I designed the monolith before for a previous project but that version resemble more of the dark portal from Warcraft instead of an obelisk.


Original Monolith from Spatial Constructs project


 Perspective Grid 

Grayscale Illustration of the Monolith

I wanted the final iteration for the monolith to show curved angles and they helped connect with teh organic creatures and appeared like a fish's tail. In addition, I have been slowly making changes to the monolith's design and determining which iteration is the best approach. I like the fish tail motif because it has a native and worldly appearance.





Rough illustrations of the main protagonist encountering the Monolith at the bottom of the chasm.
Here is a colour test to see if the combination of blue, yellow and green can work as a suitable colour scheme for this object.



Gray Scale Iterations


Final Iterations for the Monolith object

To fit the mood of the development work I applied the same brown crumbled up paper art style.
 I also create some hieroglyphs drawings




Early Hieroglyph Sketches



Hieroglyph Iterations

 These are iterations of these drawings are meant to appear on the monolith. I was thinking about allowing the front to show the main hieroglyphs of father Dagon killing a blue whale. I have chosen a blue whale because it helps emphases the creatures' large scale.I also found that hieroglyph drawings were quite difficult to draw with out including perspective.



Monolith Model Sheet

However I felt that there should be more space on the front for the monolith. This may lead to me extruding the model to appear wide enough for the hieroglyph markings to appear.


Revised Monolith Model sheet

Monolith Moodboard Accessed on 24/10/15

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/077/785/i02/monolith-1.jpg?1439493575
http://www.unmotivating.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/A-Sandstone-Monolith-in-the-Black-Sea.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61bIvQ8YNSL._SX425_.jpg
http://www.konbini.com/en/files/2015/08/71b816cf7dd2bebf1eed94becbe972ac-810x539.jpg
http://www.georgefox.edu/college-admissions/located/slideshow/oregon/or-haystackRock-l.jpg
http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/174552/Crystal_monoliths.jpg
https://usoksglobal.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/moonwatcher.jpg
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/places-you-wont-believe-actually-exist#.rybQjD13Z
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Low-Angle-View-of-a-Carved-Column-the-Monolith-Gustav-Vigeland-Sculpture-Park-Frogner-Park-Posters_i8285465_.htm
http://www.specialart.ch/galleries/monolith/monolith_2.jpg
http://tuttocartoni.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/schwarzenegger-incontra-lovecraft-dagon.html

Prop Research: Protagonist Props and Rowing Boat Development

For the major props that appear in the story, I looked at several images of 1910 items such as crates, back packs and even rowing boats to see how they appeared during that era.


Prop Mood Boards


1910 Syringe Mood Board


Protagonist Props 


Rowing Boat Mood Board


Rowing Boat Iterations

The iteration I like the most is the bottom one as the cloak covers the crates and food supplies.as we need to see show how the  character was able to survive for a long period of time. 

Image Links

https://southpoledoc.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/discovery-hut-lamp-oil-crate.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/04/08/bf/0408bff4c74ab1a6033352d6221ca2cb.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPqa2lNX_kd86TGsuvCC6YhNkOaOMq7JWAP6GSC7tnILnGyCXJfCTTAm2zdQxiP5s7cm8-ytT23FpT4KwBjkmxueBKA_f-qdTXKS7xIkTSS2zI0-P7OE37snzLLYeqUuy9fYHrb61WKP4h/s1600/CSC_0064.JPG

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WW1USARMY-NY-6-M-G-1916-HAVERSAK-BACKPACK-2-bags-1-mess-kit-spoon-knife-fork-/261737855356
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/--MAAOSwDwtUrF~e/s-l1600.jpg
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WW1USARMY-NY-6-M-G-1916-HAVERSAK-BACKPACK-2-bags-1-mess-kit-spoon-knife-fork-/261737855356

Syringe

http://www.bcmamedicalmuseum.org/object/993.1152.1
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/hommedia.ashx?id=8924&size=Small
http://adoseofhistory.com/category/medical-technology-old-new/
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8f/ed/a4/8feda4113d9f4ea2a007721491f13051.jpg
http://www.bcmamedicalmuseum.org/object/i1451w.jpg

Morphine Side Effects

Since the main charter is using morphine as a way to ease this pain that he is suffering from after his experience in the pacific, I wanted to make sure that I represented the effects of Morphine appropriately.
Morphine can occasionally create hallucinations. The patient can feel drowsy if he is overdosing.

According to drugs.com (2016), there are several side effects that occur when taking morphine;
  • Abdominal or stomach pain 
  • blurred vision 
  • bulging soft spot on the head of an infant 
  • burning, crawling, itching, numbness, prickling, "pins and needles", or tingling feelings 
  • change in the ability to see colors, especially blue or yellow 
  • chest pain or discomfort 
  • confusion 
  • cough 
  • decreased urination 
  • dizziness, faintness, or lightheadedness when getting up suddenly from a lying or sitting position 
  • fainting 
  • fast, pounding, or irregular heartbeat or pulse 
  • headache 
  • hives, itching, or skin rash 
  • increased sweating 
  • loss of appetite 
  • nausea or vomiting 
  • nervousness 
  • pounding in the ears 
  • puffiness or swelling of the eyelids or around the eyes, face, lips, or tongue 
  • severe constipation 
  • severe vomiting 
  • shakiness in the legs, arms, hands, or feet 
  • shortness of breath 
  • slow heartbeat 
  • sweating or chills 
  • wheezing 
  • cold, clammy skin 
  • flushing or redness of the skin, especially on the face and neck 
  • irregular, fast or slow, or shallow breathing 
  • lightheadedness 
  • loss of consciousness 
  • low blood pressure or pulse 
  • pale or blue lips, fingernails, or skin 
  • pale skin 
  • pinpoint red spots on the skin 
  • pounding in the ears 
  • shakiness and unsteady walk 
  • unsteadiness, trembling, or other problems with muscle control or coordination 
  • unusual bleeding or bruising 
  • very slow heartbeat

I had elements of these symptoms in my mind when I was designing protagonist's morphine endosed appearance.

At the moment, I'm needing to revisit this design as he only partially shows  some symptoms of morphine side effects.
 I think it would be appropriate to suggest that he could be making overdoses.
With that in mind I found these additional symptoms that occur when he is overdoing on morphine,
  • Constricted, pinpoint, or small pupils (black part of the eye) 
  • decreased awareness or responsiveness 
  • extreme drowsiness 
  • fever 
  • increased blood pressure 
  • increased thirst 
  • lower back or side pain 
  • muscle cramps or spasms 
  • muscle pain or stiffness 
  • no muscle tone or movement 
  • severe sleepiness 
  • swelling of the face, fingers, or lower legs 
  • weight gain
In the final comic, I was panning on including a section where the main protagonist takes the drug and we see that the effects cause these haunting shadows to disappear while he is surrounded by faint cloud of multiple saturated colours to show that he is defended by a barrier.
In the Dagon comic adaption featured in  Lockwood's The Lovecraft Anthology (2011) ,there is a use of saturated water colors that give the impression of the ways hat morphine can alter your vision to see certain colours. To help connect it with madness the imagery does show chaotic elements like how some ink blots drip down into the next panel.

Images from the Lovecraft Anthology Volume 1

Here is a scene form my comic which will be the protagonist taking morphine to allow him to be free of haunting imagery.

Comic Page Sketch


Refined Comic Page

References

Drugs.com, 2016. Morphine Side Effects in Detail - Drugs.com. [online] Available at: http://www.drugs.com/sfx/morphine-side-effects.html [Accessed 27 Jan. 2016].

Kaye, P. n.d. Hospice World. [online] Hospiceworld.org. Available at: https://www.hospiceworld.org/book/hallucinations.htm [Accessed 27 Jan. 2016].

Lockwood, D. 2011. The Lovecraft anthology. London: SelfMadeHero.

Friday, 22 January 2016

Rough Pages and Dagon: Literature Comparison

During the first Semester, I worked on a rough pages for the entire story. To help get an understanding of what is expected I have chosen to use the original Dagon text to help illustrate how the story will be told through comic form. I have decided to go into a lot of depth to tell the story as much as I can. In one version of the story, one artist summarized the comic into only a few pages and another managed to tell the story in just one page. My aim to try and tell the comic as much as I can. 
Underneath each image is a segment of text from Dagon which the image is supposed to highlight.


Page 1

"I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone, makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from this garret window into the squalid street below. Do not think from my slavery to morphine that I am a weakling or a degenerate. When you have read these hastily scrawled pages you may guess, though never fully realise, why it is that I must have forgetfulness or death."


Page 2

"It was in one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific that the packet of which I was supercargo fell a victim to the German sea-raider. The great war was then at its very beginning, and the ocean forces of the Hun had not completely sunk to their later degradation; so that our vessel was made a legitimate prize, whilst we of her crew were treated with all the fairness and consideration due us as naval prisoners. So liberal, indeed, was the discipline of our captors, that five days after we were taken I managed to escape alone in a small boat with water and provisions for a good length of time.




Page 3

When I finally found myself adrift and free, I had but little idea of my surroundings. Never a competent navigator, I could only guess vaguely by the sun and stars that I was somewhat south of the equator. Of the longitude I knew nothing, and no island or coastline was in sight. The weather kept fair, and for uncounted days I drifted aimlessly beneath the scorching sun; waiting either for some passing ship, or to be cast on the shores of some habitable land. But neither ship nor land appeared, and I began to despair in my solitude upon the heaving vastness of unbroken blue."


Page 4

The change happened whilst I slept. Its details I shall never know; for my slumber, though troubled and dream-infested, was continuous. When at last I awakened, it was to discover myself half sucked into a slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about me in monotonous undulations as far as I could see, and in which my boat lay grounded some distance away.
Though one might well imagine that my first sensation would be of wonder at so prodigious and unexpected a transformation of scenery, I was in reality more horrified than astonished; for there was in the air and in the rotting soil a sinister quality which chilled me to the very core. The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish, and of other less describable things which I saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain. Perhaps I should not hope to convey in mere words the unutterable hideousness that can dwell in absolute silence and barren immensity. There was nothing within hearing, and nothing in sight save a vast reach of black slime; yet the very completeness of the stillness and the homogeneity of the landscape oppressed me with a nauseating fear.
The sun was blazing down from a sky which seemed to me almost black in its cloudless cruelty; as though reflecting the inky marsh beneath my feet."



Page 5

" As I crawled into the stranded boat I realized that only one theory could explain my position. Through some unprecedented volcanic upheaval, a portion of the ocean floor must have been thrown to the surface, exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths.
So great was the extent of the new land which had risen beneath me, that I could not detect the faintest noise of the surging ocean, strain my ears as I might.
Nor were there any sea-fowl to prey upon the dead things.
For several hours I sat thinking or brooding in the boat, which lay upon its side and afforded a slight shade as the sun moved across the heavens. As the day progressed, the ground lost some of its stickiness, and seemed likely to dry sufficiently for travelling purposes in a short time. That night I slept but little, and the next day I made for myself a pack containing food and water, preparatory to an overland journey in search of the vanished sea and possible rescue.
On the third morning I found the soil dry enough to walk upon with ease. The odour of the fish was maddening; but I was too much concerned with graver things to mind so slight an evil, and set out boldly for an unknown goal."


Page 6

" All day I forged steadily westward, guided by a far-away hummock which rose higher than any other elevation on the rolling desert. That night I encamped, and on the following day still travelled toward the hummock, though that object seemed scarcely nearer than when I had first espied it. By the fourth evening I attained the base of the mound, which turned out to be much higher than it had appeared from a distance, an intervening valley setting it out in sharper relief from the general surface. Too weary to ascend, I slept in the shadow of the hill."




Page 7

"I know not why my dreams were so wild that night; but ere the waning and fantastically gibbous moon had risen far above the eastern plain, I was awake in a cold perspiration, determined to sleep no more. Such visions as I had experienced were too much for me to endure again. And in the glow of the moon I saw how unwise I had been to travel by day. Without the glare of the parching sun, my journey would have cost me less energy; indeed, I now felt quite able to perform the ascent which had deterred me at sunset. Picking up my pack, I started for the crest of the eminence."


Page 8

"I have said that the unbroken monotony of the rolling plain was a source of vague horror to me; but I think my horror was greater when I gained the summit of the mound and looked down the other side into an immeasurable pit or canyon, whose black recesses the moon had not yet soared high enough to illumine. I felt myself on the edge of the world, peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night. Through my terror ran curious reminiscences of Paradise Lost, and Satan's hideous climb through the unfashioned realms of darkness."


Page 9

"As the moon climbed higher in the sky, I began to see that the slopes of the valley were not quite so perpendicular as I had imagined. Ledges and outcroppings of rock afforded fairly easy footholds for a descent, whilst after a drop of a few hundred feet, the declivity became very gradual. Urged on by an impulse which I cannot definitely analyse, I scrambled with difficulty down the rocks and stood on the gentler slope beneath, gazing into the Stygian deeps where no light had yet penetrated."


Page 10

"All at once my attention was captured by a vast and singular object on the opposite slope, which rose steeply about a hundred yards ahead of me; an object that gleamed whitely in the newly bestowed rays of the ascending moon. That it was merely a gigantic piece of stone, I soon assured myself; but I was conscious of a distinct impression that its contour and position were not altogether the work of Nature. A closer scrutiny filled me with sensations I cannot express; for despite its enormous magnitude, and its position in an abyss which had yawned at the bottom of the sea since the world was young, I perceived beyond a doubt that the strange object was a well-shaped monolith whose massive bulk had known the workmanship and perhaps the worship of living and thinking creatures.
Dazed and frightened, yet not without a certain thrill of the scientist's or archaeologist's delight, I examined my surroundings more closely. The moon, now near the zenith, shone weirdly and vividly above the towering steeps that hemmed in the chasm, and revealed the fact that a far-flung body of water flowed at the bottom, winding out of sight in both directions, and almost lapping my feet as I stood on the slope. Across the chasm, the wavelets washed the base of the Cyclopean monolith, on whose surface I could now trace both inscriptions and crude sculptures. The writing was in a system of hieroglyphics unknown to me, and unlike anything I had ever seen in books, consisting for the most part of conventionalised aquatic symbols such as fishes, eels, octopi, crustaceans, molluscs, whales and the like. Several characters obviously represented marine things which are unknown to the modern world, but whose decomposing forms I had observed on the ocean-risen plain."


As you can see, the use of visuals helps limit the need for reading descriptions.



Page 11

"It was the pictorial carving, however, that did most to hold me spellbound.
Plainly visible across the intervening water on account of their enormous size was an array of bas-reliefs whose subjects would have excited the envy of a Dore. I think that these things were supposed to depict men -- at least, a certain sort of men; though the creatures were shown disporting like fishes in the waters of some marine grotto, or paying homage at some monolithic shrine which appeared to be under the waves as well. Of their faces and forms I dare not speak in detail, for the mere remembrance makes me grow faint. Grotesque beyond the imagination of a Poe or a Bulwer, they were damnably human in general outline despite webbed hands and feet, shockingly wide and flabby lips, glassy, bulging eyes, and other features less pleasant to recall. Curiously enough, they seemed to have been chiselled badly out of proportion with their scenic background; for one of the creatures was shown in the act of killing a whale represented as but little larger than himself. I remarked, as I say, their grotesqueness and strange size; but in a moment decided that they were merely the imaginary gods of some primitive fishing or seafaring tribe; some tribe whose last descendant had perished eras before the first ancestor of the Piltdown or Neanderthal Man was born.
Awestruck at this unexpected glimpse into a past beyond the conception of the most daring anthropologist, I stood musing whilst the moon cast queer reflections on the silent channel before me."


Page 12

"Then suddenly I saw it. With only a slight churning to mark its rise to the surface, the thing slid into view above the dark waters."




Page 13

"Vast, Polyphemus-like, and loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith, about which it flung its gigantic scaly arms, the while it bowed its hideous head and gave vent to certain measured sounds."




Page 14

"I think I went mad then."

I decided to include the last panel to show that he managed to escape okay. However that panel may be more beneficial to be on the next page.


Page 15

"Of my frantic ascent of the slope and cliff, and of my delirious journey back to the stranded boat, I remember little. I believe I sang a great deal, and laughed oddly when I was unable to sing. I have indistinct recollections of a great storm some time after I reached the boat; at any rate, I knew that I heard peals of thunder and other tones which Nature utters only in her wildest moods."


Page 16

"When I came out of the shadows I was in a San Francisco hospital; brought thither by the captain of the American ship which had picked up my boat in mid-ocean. In my delirium I had said much, but found that my words had been given scant attention. Of any land upheaval in the Pacific, my rescuers knew nothing; nor did I deem it necessary to insist upon a thing which I knew they could not believe. Once I sought out a celebrated ethnologist, and amused him with peculiar questions regarding the ancient Philistine legend of Dagon, the Fish-God; but soon perceiving that he was hopelessly conventional, I did not press my inquiries."


Page 17

"It is at night, especially when the moon is gibbous and waning, that I see the thing. I tried morphine; but the drug has given only transient surcease, and has drawn me into its clutches as a hopeless slave. So now I am to end it all, having written a full account for the information or the contemptuous amusement of my fellow-men. Often I ask myself if it could not all have been a pure phantasm -- a mere freak of fever as I lay sun-stricken and raving in the open boat after my escape from the German man-of-war."


Page 18

"This I ask myself, but ever does there come before me a hideously vivid vision in reply. I cannot think of the deep sea without shuddering at the nameless things that may at this very moment be crawling and floundering on its slimy bed, worshipping their ancient stone idols and carving their own detestable likenesses on submarine obelisks of water-soaked granite."


Page 19


 " I dream of a day when they may rise above the billows to drag down in their reeking talons the remnants of puny, war-exhausted mankind -- of a day when the land shall sink, and the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium."


Page 20


"The end is near. I hear a noise at the door, as of some immense slippery body lumbering against it. It shall not find me. God, that hand! The window! The window!"


The use of visuals and the lack of dialogue helps summaries the main points of the story.

Original text by H.P. Lovecraft 1917 Sourced and accessed from