16:10

Summer project: thumbnail of environment

Part of the island of MU from the birds eye view
12:28

Summer project: concepts of characters

13:59
13:19

Summer project: Character designs

sleeping poses of my character (Ekahau). And finally, both of my characters together







 
18:56

Summer project: Design of my characters

16:20

Summer project: Ekahau character design

13:30

Summer project: coloured character

I was playing with the skin colour of my character. The legend of MU says that all race people lived in the island. I like the last one the most, I think he looks like Indian the most



12:29

Summer project: face expressionsof characters

19:49

Summer project: Story for the animation

One Mayan (Ekahau) is sleeping under the palm tree.

Sun clock shows 12, the hour when Mayans pray for Gods.

Another Mayan (Ci Bolon Tum) trying to wake up Ekahau. However he does not wake up, it seems he did not even feel that someone tried to wake him.

Ci Bolon Tum tries to wake him up several times again by poking, screaming to his ear. Then Ekahau wakes up. And starts walking very slowly, acts sleepy.

While Ci Bolon Tum starts praying to God statues, Ekahu instead of praying falls asleep again.

Then Gods go angry, because on Ekahau.

Sky turns dark, storm begins leading into an earthquake… Lava appears from the statues mouth and then the misery begins…. However Ekahau is still sleeping.

Ci Bolon Tum, jumps on him trying to wake Ekahau up, then after unsuccessful try, he pulls Ekahau’s leg and starts dragging him.

Both characters disappear from the camera view.

Ground pulls apart because of the earthquake, pyramids starts falling apart.

Then two tsunami waves floods the island of MU. Everything comes down ande a little boat appears with both of the characters: Ci Bolon Tum is rowing the boat and Ekahau is still sleeping calmly inside the boat.
16:12

Summer project: character thumbnails

Possible faces for Mayan
13:59

Summer project: first pyramid designs

I looked at some animation styles and here are my first designs for a pyramid. After I select one, I will use Mayan/Aztec ornaments to decorate it.
22:34

Summer project: designs for God statue

These are two first designs for my God statue.
17:46

Summer project: thumbnail of environment

16:03

Summer project: faces for the God's statue

11:41

Summer project: environment thumbnail

I still need to work on buildings. I wanna create a part of a MU, where Mayans are living, as well as to develop the town center and pyramids.  
13:13

Summer project: thumbnails of environment

Environment thumbnail of the island of MU
12:02

Summer project: thumbnail of a man

Thumbnail of man, living in Mu island. I was inspired by Aztec and Mayan statues, and colours and plans of a jungle.
21:41

Summer project: first hand research

Couple of photos from the newly open chocolate museum in my home town. Chocolate came from Mayan culture, so musuem was filled with information about their culture. That was an amazing opportunity for me to see statutes  of Mayan, as well to get some information about them.





20:58

Summer project: First hand esearch

Some photos of traditional Mayan costumes during the folk dance festival I participated in



20:53

Summer project: New influence map

Even my music does not relate the culture of Mayan or any Indians. It reminds me ocean, threat and danger, action. That led me to the legend of the lost continent of MU islands. I decided to have my own music for the animation
20:42

Summer project: the myth of MU



In Mayan myths the lost content of MU, where the Islands where white and black people lived as equal, in other words it was motherlands of Men.. However they slowly become more needy and made the God angry. After a horrible day and night the island where flooded and drown in the Pacific Ocean. It was believed my Mayan people that it later on divided into 10 pieces which created lands on the earth.

I found quite a few sources leading to the topic. As well I was always interested in Mayan culture. I adore Mayan style, which can lead to my animation style.



20:19

Summer project: research

I am reading books and looking through the web pages to find a god myth or legend I can base my story on. However I did not find a story which would be suitable for me about mer people, but found more interesting creatures I might can work on, they are quite similar to mer people though. I think if I select any of these three it would give me more freedom to create good character design as well.


Blue men of the Minch

These supernatural sea creatures were said to live in underwater caves in the Minch, a straight between Lewis, Long Island and the Shiant Islands near Scotland. The Blue Men looked like humans with blue skins. They where infamous for swimming alongside passing ships, and attempting to wreck them by conjuring storms and by luring sailors into the water. If a captain wanted to save his ship he had to finish their rhymes and solve their riddles, and always make sure he got the last word. The Blue men were actually hierarchical, as they were always ruled over by a chieftain. This led to the assumption they are somehow related to mermen. Some think the Blue Men may be Fallen Angels. 


Bunyip 

Bunyip literally means devil, or spirit. It is a mythological creature from Aboriginal Australia that was said to lurk in swamps, creeks, riverbeds and waterholes. Aborigines thought they could hear their cries at night. They believed Bunyip took humans as a food source when their stock was disturbed, preferably women, and they tended to blame the Bunyip for disease spread in the river area. Bunyip supposedly had flippers, a horse-like tail and walrus-like tusks. It is now said that Bunyip are a figment of Aborigine imagination, because the cries they heard actually belonged to possums, or koalas. The cries of women supposedly being captured may actually have been sounds of a barking owl. 


Fosse grim

According to Scandinavian mythology, Fosse grim was a water spirit that played enchanted songs on the violin, luring women and children to drown in lakes and streams.


As well some interesting places:

Bermuda

In the Atlantic Ocean a triangle-shaped area between Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in other words known as the Bermuda Triangle. The area is nearly a million square miles wide, and extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the Caribbean Sea. A series of mysterious disappearances of ships and planes has surrounded this location with insinuation and myth. People claim that in this area the laws of physics are violated, and it was even suggested there is extraterrestrial activity there.


Underworld

The Underworld is a mythological realm of the god or goddess of the dead, where the spirits of the deceased stay


Mu

Mu was a continent once located in the Pacific Ocean that is believed to have sunk into the depths of the sea. Monsieur A. Le Plongeon derived the idea of Mu as a continent from ancient Mayan writings. S.M. Enzler, (unknown) 'Water Mythology' [online], http://www.lenntech.com/water-mythology.htm [accessed 09/06/2012]
20:16

Summer project: thumbnail 3

I am still far away from the complete character designgs.. however still looking at fished and other ocean creatures. This time I tried to play with colours after looking Betta splendid and jellyfishes.
22:39

Summer Project: experimenting with Maya

first attempt to model merman on Maya. Just experimenting. The purpose why I did that to see if I am capable of making models like this. However this one is not really successful, but I learnt from my mistakes and next model should be much better
17:16

Summer project: Thubnail 2

Another thumbnail for character design

15:23

Summer Project: first thumbnail of merman

Very first thumbnail of merman

00:03

Summer project: Influnce mapp

23:41

Summer project: first ideas for the animation

After a couple of weeks of having some rest from all the work I'm starting again! I had Soundscape 19 from the mystery blue box, which I am gonna upload soon. Thanks to blue box mistiness I got a music which is really intensive and reminds me of war or something evil. I started to read some myths and legends in various sources. And the one I liked related with the ocean, which led me to a mysterious creature of mermen. Mermaids are quite popular among stories and tales, however male version of merman is not that much. Merman is opposite to mermaid: is ugly and unattractive. however they share same feature: double sided behavior. They are really friendly at the beginning however likes to steel souls of the human and lock them in the cage. I read many legends from different cultures and so far found Irish/Scottish one the most familiar to the story i want to do.. I hope to find some interesting tales to base my story on. Merman