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Mermaid Sculpture pictures

The stones were made out of wood sanded into shape using a disk sander, then painted. They were then dry-brushed with white acrylic to add texture.

Mechanical Toothless 5 (finished pictures!!!)

attention! This post will have the finished pictures to showcase my Toothless automata toy but I didn’t take any so will add some once college starts again !!!

Mechanical Toothless 4.5

Making the Mechanism pt 2

When drilling all the holes, the pieces were held in place using the vice.

Now I had drilled all the holes into the wood and brass strips, I found small nails that were slightly wider than the holes so they would cut into the edge, therefore be less likely to come out.

Finally, I could screw all the pieces together. The finished result closely resembled my initial plan. While this piece was very strong, I covered the entire thing in hot glue in case any pieces came loose later on.

During this process, I lost one of the wings, so had to make a new one. This meant drilling more holes into the wood to attach the copper wire into. This was done with an extremely fine drill-bit and drill. The copper wire was shaped by bending it over a metal pipe, then each end was stuck into one of the two drilled holes. Both the copper wire and holes were both filled with contact cement beforehand and allowed to dry for a minute. I made sure to put the copper wire loops through the loops on the body when attaching the two together.

Next, I made the poles for the wings out of aluminium(?). While doing this, I realised that a wooden dowel for the body might not be strong enough, so replaced it with another metal pole, attached using contact cement.

The ends of the pole were flattened using pliers, then punched and drilled.

Initially, I had one pole for each wing, which I attached to to the main mechanism dowel using a small length of copper wire (this worked poorly). However, when I turned the handle of the toy, the wings tried to move forward but couldn’t because of the way they were attached to the body. The pole also could not move forwards and backwards because the hole wasn’t big enough. In order to fix this problem, I used the diagram of the toy in part 4 for reference, and noticed that the pole attaching to the wings was segmented, allowing one half to freely move back and forward.

I cut the metal in half, punched and drilled it and attached metal rings to hold them together. However, this didn’t work properly as the diameter of the ring meant that the top metal pole would just fall to the bottom of the ring, causing the wing to barely move.

The wings, at this point, had small holes drilled into them which the metal pole was attached to with a loose screw to allow them to move.

After realising that I couldn’t attach the poles to the main mechanism using copper wire, I used a strip of metal that already had holes punched in it. I bent the strip round the wooden dowel and put a screw through the two sides of the strip with the pole in the middle. This worked slightly better than the previous alternative so I was happy.

It was at this point that I didn’t have time to fix the problems that arose. In terms of movement, Toothless could do half a rotation before the poles became stuck and wouldn’t move anymore. I believe this is because the hole in the wooden stand is too small to allow the poles to move the required amount. Unfortunately I didn’t have any time to test this theory before it was due in, but I may try and fix it if I have the chance in the future.

Mortal Engines Worksheet Narrative

This is the narrative for my box project:

Toothless Design Worksheet

Freakshow Character Worksheet

Mechanical Toy Movement

The movement of our mechanical toys are similar to the movements of creatures

The Divine Beasts in LOZ: Breath of The Wild are mechanical creatures that the player has to free from corruption and return to the Champions. They are composed of cogs and gears, and move in a similar way to the automata toys which also move in a gear based system. Various parts of the creatures rotate and twist in a robotic fashion which mirrors the same kind of movement that we have created with our own mechanical toys.

God of War Gameplay

The game-play style of God Of War is similar to our mechanical toys in that they require you to pull, rotate and move objects in order to get other objects to change/move. This is similar to how our mechanical toys have a handle that must be turned or some kind of mechanism that has to be manually activated.

Howls moving castle

One of the main similarities between Howl’s moving castle and our own mechanical toys is the visual appearance: both are made out of wood and metal and have visible hinges and mechanics on the outside. The movement of the castle itself is also pretty simple - but also somewhat haphazard, which I think could also describe the motion of Toothless since it doesn’t quite work.

Horizon Zero Dawn

The creatures in Horizon Zero Dawn are all robotic, and are composed of mechanical joints and appendages. Like automata toys, you can see every piece moving in a synchronised motion in order to create the organic movement- for example when the creature is running you can see the individual feet, leg and shoulder joints rotate around their own hinges (unlike a regular creature in which you wouldn’t be able to see this). The design on the creatures is also similar to how a wooden/metal toy could be designed- the body and legs are all broken up depending on where it needs to move so that each piece can move individually (as it cannot stretch or bend- much like a wooden toy cannot). While my mechanical toy is a lot simpler than this, it has wings which were intended to move in a similar way as the bird creatures from this game.

NieR:Automata

Many of the characters you fight in this game are robotic, and have very simple movement such as bending arms and turning bodies/heads. This simple movement reflects the motion we’ve managed to create in our own automata toys. On top of this, due to the design of the robots, you can easily tell which parts have been designed to move due to the hinges on them - another feature which is also visible on our own (for example the wing hinges on my own toy). They also look relatively simple and easy to construct out of metal or wood due to their basic shapes, much like our own.

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Mechanical Toy - Wooden Dragon Automata

I have chosen this toy to analyse as it works in the same way I intended my own mechanical toy to.

The torso of the dragon is held up by a central wooden dowel that’s connected to the main mechanism below. It is attached to a piece of wood which has the mechanism dowel running through it. However, the two are not glued together so the body dowel always remains upright - with the help of the extra wood attached to the mechanism dowel. The body dowel also goes through a large hole in the base which gives it space to move back and forward as it rotates.

The wings are attached to the mechanism through thin metal poles that have loops at the top and bottom. These allow it to remain upright when attached to the mechanism and also to move with the wings. The holes in the base are to allow the wings to move back and forwards with the body.

The head and tail are attached to the body via hinges. They are then attached to the base using another two hinges and a wooden dowel. This allows them to remain at the right height while being able to move with the body.

When the handle is turned, the wings and the body move in alternation to each other - this is because the height of the mechanism dowel is different for both parts so one will move up while the other moves down, and vice versa.

I really like this mechanical toy as the combined movement of the body, wings and tail/head in multiple directions makes it look really organic. The movement is also flawless so it looks really smooth, and the pieces are are simply designed but look really effective. The black and gold colouring also really appeals to me.

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5 Mechanical Toy Artists

Peter Markey

Peter Markey has created many mechanical toys after being fascinated by the idea that creations from wood could create fluid wave movements. His style is particularly recognisable because of his use of bright colours and very blocky, square figures. His sculptures were not intended to be realistic and he avoided carving any of the wood he used to create the iconic look. The characters in his models are also painted very simply (they have no shading and are usually just simple flat colours) and don’t have a lot of detail to them, but I think this is effective. However I feel that his lack of carving also makes some of the aspects of his work quite eerie - especially the cube faces. Furthermore, I think that the way he paints eyes is quite unsettling - they are extremely bright and wide which reminds me of a doll. But in terms of the movement, I like how he has created the contrast between the rough designs and shapes and the flowing movement that’s created when the handle is turned. Most of the movement in his designs is relatively straightforward but this works since it matches his style. I, personally prefer carved and more complicated designs but his work is a good example of how even simple block characters can be an appealing design.

Keith Newstead

Kieth Newstead is an automata artist whose works differ greatly from other artists. Both the movement and models themselves are a lot more complex than what you’d expect for a moving toy, and this means that they look very visually appealing. Due to the complexity of the mechanisms he uses, as well as his choice of materials for his automata (he often uses metal to create the majority of his models, as well as for the metal poles that support and help them move) I think that his work gives off a very steampunk vibe. I also think that the amount of movement in each one of his pieces is incredible- so much so that it looks realistic and natural. His work doesn’t just have one piece that moves back and forwards, it’s many components that are interconnected and move with each other - for example in the automata toy above, the wings, legs, shoulders, neck, mouth, eyes and head all move individually to create an amazingly accurate representation of how an actual horse would fly. The colour palettes he uses in his work are also very nice as they aren’t too bright and fit perfectly with one another. Overall, his automata is one of my favourites, and I could look at his work for hours as the sheer amount of detail means you don’t truly see everything that’s going on the first time you’re watching it move.

Fi Henshall

Fi Henshall’s work is very unique upon a first glance. Unlike the previous two artists, instead of carving her models from wood or moulding them out of metal, she uses the bodies of dolls that already have pose-able joints. I think this is a really smart idea since it saves time, gives the models a realistic appearance, and means that creating movement is a lot easier as the joints are already able to rotate or move without difficulty (so you don’t have to make your own hinges or ball/socket joints.). However, contrary to this, I think that the doll bodies also look a little out of place with the rest of the sculpture which is wooden and metal. Another iconic feature of Henshall’s work is that most of her models appear to be made out of recycled parts- particularly metal and plastic that has been reused from tins or packaging (a lot of the metal she uses is decorated with patterns that could suggest it was originally part of a product). This gives her work a lot of colour - which doesn’t always go well together. This makes her work look a bit childish in my opinion as nothing is coordinated. Her movement is also relatively simple, as she focuses primarily on the settings and models. I think the subtlety works though.

LUDStuff

LUDStuff creates a lot of automata toys which are some of my favourites. I like his style as it’s very cartoony but also really detailed. In order to achieve the level of detail in his models, he creates the bases for his models out of wood but then covers them in super sculpey - especially when making the faces. This instantly gives the characters a lot of expression and life, and therefore makes their movement a lot more believable. The bases of his models are also very simple and aesthetically pleasing to look at. He also carves a lot of his pieces and sands them so they look a lot more organic and lifelike - as well as incorporating other materials such as metal and fabric for clothes. His models movement is relatively simple but still looks really interesting.

Kazuaki Harada

Kazuaki Harada creates automata that’s made out of wood - but sometimes adds details made out of other materials to add to the realism of the scene. All of his models are very creative and unique, and range in levels of complexity. This door model for example is very realistic and has a simple up and down movement to allow the roller to paint it. The concept for it is simple yet it works really well - I also especially like how the mechanism is hidden behind the door as it adds to the whimsical nature of the roller painting by itself. His other models are a little more complex- for example his dot matrix printer automata.

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The Best Monsters

Monsters are a key part of storytelling particularly in films, games and books. Here are my personal favourite monsters that I've seen (excluding games).

1.Hyde

Hyde is from the novel ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde’ and is an alternate side of Jekyll which is created using a potion that was created to separate man’s two sides into good and evil. The potion however does not work as expected and instead Hyde is contained within the same body as Jekyll and is described as ‘pure evil’ unlike Jekyll who still contains both qualities.

Hyde is one of my favourite monsters for many reasons - for one his appearance in the novella is somewhat ambiguous which leaves it up to your imagination as Stevenson writes ‘I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why’ and ‘there is something wrong with his appearance; something displeasing’. Throughout the book the only real description of his face is that it is horrible but for unknown reasons, which I think is really effective as it forces the reader to imagine him in a way which would make them feel scared.

I also like how Hyde is part of Jekyll and is also somewhat relatable as he is a personification of all the things humans can’t do because of the societal impact or fear of being caught. We can sympathise with Jekyll’s reason for creating him.

However, his control over Jekyll’s body grows more throughout the story like a parasite slowly destroying its host - which is tragic as we know there is nothing he can do as they’re one being. He starts off as being simply Jekyll’s mind with a different body, but as it progresses, he morphs into his own being, causing Jekyll a lot of grief as he has to try and undo the actions which he both is and isn’t responsible for. Overall,I really like the concept of the villain sharing the same body as the human as it makes the story a lot more interesting - the monster can never truly be defeated without a great sacrifice - killing them both.

2.Venom

Venom is another monster I really like for a variety of reasons. The main one being that he’s not truly evil unlike his appearance would suggest - his goal isn’t set in stone and he just does what he wants - whether it benefits the rest of his race or not. This quality is very relatable and almost human of him which I think is cool.

I really like his black and white design as I think the contrast makes him a lot more eye-catching - and especially the way his limbs behave (for example when he helps Eddie knock out the villains and keeps him on the motorcycle). Another aspect of his visual appearance I really like is how he looks intimidating - due to his height, almost hulk like stature, and extremely large number of teeth.

On top of this, I like how Venom has a sense of humour- especially one which contrasts his monster-like voice as it instantly makes him more likeable.

Venom’s partnership with Eddie is also another reason he’s such an appealing monster - he starts off using Eddie as a host in order to take over the planet but as he befriends him, he realises that he would rather stay with Eddie instead of helping his planet to take over - even saving the world by killing the symbiote leader. His impulsive behaviour and sudden change of heart is not what you’d expect from his character. I also like how he only kills bad people towards the end of the movie- rather than just killing for fun. It’s a nice surprise to like the character who you’d typically expect to be an unstoppable killing machine.

3.Bill Cipher

Bill Cipher is the main antagonist from the animated TV series Gravity Falls. He is definitely one of my favourite monster characters - for one his appearance is very unconventional for a ‘villain’ character. upon a first glance he doesn’t look threatening and could easily be mistaken for a sidekick of the hero or magical creature - but also kind of resembles the common iconography for the Illuminati, which I think is interesting. His shape-shifting abilities also add to this - he takes many different forms throughout the show, including this one during the finale:

His character in the show is very cryptic and mysterious - he is foreshadowed in the title sequence, talks backwards, and even foreshadows events that haven’t happened in the show yet by showing them on his face (for example Stanford’s existence which only comes into the show many episodes after).

His personality is also very enjoyable to watch as he’s very immature and crazy - but at the same time makes very serious threats (ones that would be unexpected from a children’s cartoon). His strange and creative actions can only be described as ‘weird’ for example when he removes all the teeth from a deer’s mouth to give to Gideon, which is unusually creepy - and another reason he’s such an amusing character. However, while his actions are somewhat funny, he also threatens the kids, saying he’ll ‘make them into corpses’ and disassemble their molecules. He also stabs forks into his arms and exclaims that ‘pain is hilarious’ during points in the show- thus displaying the more non serious and childlike side of his personality. His voice is also really unique and high pitched- but also changes to a much deeper and villainous voice when he’s angry which is a really nice detail in my opinion.

Unlike Venom, Bill has no morals or care for anything but himself- using people and animals as his literal puppets.

His entrances in the show are also really cool - during one scene the moon is revealed to actually be his eye, which his triangular body then forms around. He also appears from a variety of triangle shaped objects such as Dipper’s window.

Why do we need monsters culturally?

Monsters are present in all kinds of media including films, games and books, and are often an embodiment of our fears in some way shape or form. Hyde, for example is a monster who is the embodiment of the Victorian anxiety that people had a hidden side to them. I think there are many different reasons why we like having monsters in our literature and stories.

One of the reasons that monsters are created is so that people feel they have ‘an explanation’ for the things that happen to them- since we feel the need to know why things happen - and when we don’t know, we start to theorise. Furthering this, we want something that we can hate - so creating a monster is the perfect way to achieve this as it collectively unites humans.

I think that people create monsters also as they want to believe that there are more things in the world that are yet to be discovered. It makes the world a lot more interesting if you believe in conspiracy theories about Moth-man or Bigfoot.

Also, we like being scared - we like reading about monsters because they terrify but also really intrigue us, and are a lot more interesting than anything else going on in our lives. Reading about a monster in a book horrifies you but in a fascinating way- in that you don’t want to put the book down and instead want to know the grim fate of Dracula’s victim, for example.

Monsters also make stories a lot more interesting- without them there is no challenge or goal, or quest for the hero to defeat.

Super Sculpey Artists

Ryan Firchau

Ryan Firchau is an artist who works primarily in super sculpey to create small maquettes of characters he’s created. He specialises particularly in creating monster characters that often somewhat resemble animals. His models are usually posed in a simple stance - they are often just standing, and his anatomy could be described as semi-realistic. His characters (particularly the second one) do not look particularly realistic due to their stylised bodies and heads (the bones for example look more cartoonish and simple), but still look very appealing and unique. He also adds a lot of texture to his work, particularly fur, which helps bring his sculptures to life even more. I especially like the amount of detail in the designs and sculpts of his characters. The semi-realism and monster theme of his work is the sort of style I aspire to achieve with my own super-sculpey model. The small sizes of his work are also similar to the size I made my own model.

His painting is also very impressive and really helps the creatures to look organic and believable - which I aim to do with mine. It also makes the sculptures really stand out.

I think that his inspiration comes mainly from realistic animals such as Sabre-tooth tigers and dogs.

Kiana Reed

Kiana Reed is an artist who works in Super Sculpey and other types of clay to create models of characters from video games and other media (including Monster Hunter, Overwatch and Fortnite). Her work is very detailed but not as smooth- she also doesn’t appear to have a particular ‘style’ per say as her sculptures replicate the style of the original character design. I really admire her skill to be able to replicate the designs from these games perfectly Some of them, however have very interesting poses: the dragon in particular has a very organic stance with the outstretched wings -it looks like it’s in motion, which can be hard to achieve.

I think that, like Firchau, her anatomy is also semi realistic as it resembles something realistic but in a less detailed form.

One of the best parts about Reed’s work in my opinion is her painting skills and how they really enhance the shadows and light on the characters, giving the different parts of the dragon texture to make it look more life-like and soft/scaled.

The fantastical nature of her work relates to my own project as I am also creating a mythical creature who is female (like her other character sculpts who are mostly women).

Joaquin Palacios

Joaquin Palacios is a super sculpey artist who creates incredibly realistic fantasy sculptures. Most of his sculptures actually include more than one type of clay - such as fimo. He is one of my favourite sculpture artists for a variety of reasons.

I really like the theme in which he works- characters in a fantasy setting, especially mythical creatures, really appeal to me. The characters are extremely detailed and have many eye-catching accessories. The poses of his characters is another reason why I love his work- they flow nicely and look like a frozen action shot from a move which is really impressive to me. The detail in the sculpt, most notably the characters expressions, is also a highlight of his work as you can clearly see their emotions and personalities. You can really see the great attention to detail in these models.

On top of this, I think that his anatomy is extremely realistic - he does such a brilliant job sculpting it that even the centaur combination looks believable. The way he sculpts creates the impression that you can actually see the bones and muscles underneath the character’s skin which is a real inspiration for me.

Although his sculptures are unpainted, they still look finished and incredible, which is something i’d love to be able to do myself one day.

In terms of similarities - his subject matter is quite similar to mine, as well as the way he sculpts the hair.

I think that his inspiration would definitely be fantasy films or games such as League of Legends or World of Warcraft, or possibly Monster Hunter.

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Freak-Show Character - Mermaid Inspiration

This is the design for my character based on the theme of ‘Freak Show’ - this was drawn after the model was completed.

This was one of my original ideas when designing her:

When creating this character I took inspiration from many things - here is the pinterest board I created for it:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/lunarscape8/interactive-media-creature-design/

This shows my initial ideas before Skyrina became a mermaid. When designing and making her she was inspired by a Wendigo (from Algonquian Native American folklore). I really liked the idea of a tall character with an animal skull for a head that had a very visible rib-cage - since Wendigoes are associated with extreme hunger. I also like their unsettling and skeletal appearance - particularly in these depictions:

artist

link to video

I was really fascinated by the idea of the legs on the second drawing as they’re digitigrade (as opposed to plantigrade like human legs) so the creature walks on its toes. The image above was a strong inspiration for me not only because of the leg design, but also the long dark hair and the antlers, as well as the spine. When originally making Skyrina she had digitigrade legs, but they eventually became a tail as it was too complex. Wendigoes were also a big inspiration because of the deer-like features they possess which I really wanted to incorporate.

I wanted a character that combined creepiness with beauty - hence my next main inspiration for this project: Ball Jointed Dolls. I really liked the style in which they were painted and the proportions of the faces were very appealing to me. I also really liked all of the intricate detail- especially the eyes. I planned on giving the sculpture similar proportions and a body/head size ratio to these dolls as I thought it would look really elegant and contrast well with the creepier aspects of her design.

Mermaids were my other key inspiration for this project - particularly mermaid dolls and paintings, as they are very aesthetically pleasing to me. I was also partially inspired by the freak-show spectacular- the Feejee mermaid, which although turned out to be a hoax, definitely created the possibility of a mermaid themed freak show character for me.

All of my inspiration for this project came from illustrations or sculptures that other artists had created - as opposed to films. The creatures that inspired me are from fiction and legends as opposed to reality as I find this subject a lot more interesting.

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Freak Shows - P.T Barnum

P.T Barnum was an American showman who lived in the 19th century. One of the most notable parts of his career was his travelling Museum, in which he toured America with an array of people who were considered ‘freaks’ by the rest of the world. While a lot of his attractions on his tour were just fake stunts designed to earn money, he also had a number of actual people who had suffered through various conditions that deemed them ‘freak-worthy’. A lot of his performers has been forced into the industry young, but some of them joined him of their own accord (rather than being asked/already being in the industry) due to the difficulties in their current life because of their afflictions - and he paid them well, helping them to live as best as they could.

His shows were so popular because in the 19th Century, people that had various deformities were seen as a form of entertainment by the rest of the world as they were so ‘strange’. People didn’t really understand them either as medical knowledge was more limited, which only lead to more curiosity and intrigue about why the people were this way. They also attracted a lot of attention because they were out of the ordinary and (from the way they were advertised - i.e The Elephant Man) people did not believe that such things existed without seeing them in person. Another key reason is that, through various cultures and beliefs, deformed people were seen as ‘evil’ or ‘demons’ which made them even more appealing to the public due to the idea that people like to be scared. The way P.T Barnum advertised the ‘freaks’ was also another reason for such appeal - creating intricate backstories and presenting them as otherworldly creatures/things only read about in stories etc.

They were not only popular among the general public, but also among many scientists at the time, particularly as they took place during the Victorian era - which was a time in which science was rapidly advancing as well as being debated against religion and other theories. Scientists were also very interested in seeing people who had these deformities in order to learn more about the human body and how it works.

P.T Barnum collected a wide variety of people to use in his shows, including albino people, particularly tall/short people as well as people who had tattoos. Here are some of the people included in his shows:

Joseph Merrick

Also known by his stage name ‘The Elephant Man’ Merrick joined the freak show due to the severe deformities in his face and body. He gained a lot of sympathy from the public as well as interest from many, especially scientists. He performed with a group of others and visited many places. During this period, he was treated very well and paid a lot of money.

George Contentenus

This man joined P.T Barnum as he was covered in tattoos, which in the eyes of the public, made him into a ‘freak’. The tattoos were very intricate and included many different species of animal as well as flowers. His actual life-story and reason for his tattoos is unknown, but his stage backstory was that he was on an expedition and was kidnapped. He then had a choice between being sacrificed or tattooed - and if he lived, he could go free.

William Henry Johnson

William Henry Johnson became known as ‘Zip the Pinhead’ due to a deformity that he was born with that made his head slightly cone shaped. When be became a performer, he had all of his head shaved except for a patch in the middle, and was paid to sit in a cage wearing a fur suit and badly play a violin without speaking. He was advertised by P.T Barnum as a different kind of human who ‘proved evolution’ as he was intended to look like a gorilla or monkey more than a human. He was very well paid for this job and continued to perform into his late eighties.

The Feejee Mermaid

This creature was created by P.T Barnum in an attempt to attract more money and attention to his shows. It was supposed to be a mermaid resembling creature that had the torso and head of a monkey and the tail of a fish - but in reality was just half a monkey sewn to a fish.

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Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Darwin’s theory of evolution was published during the 19th Century. Charles Darwin was a Victorian scientist whose beliefs caused some controversy among many Victorian citizens. During this time, both Religion and science were strongly believed in and the people were divided - as the industrial revolution was happening, many scientific advancements were made. On the other hand, religion was key part of Victorian society so a lot of people refused to accept Darwin’s beliefs as they contradicted their own views. The Victorian people thought very highly of themselves, believing to be superior to other species since they were created by God in his own image.

Darwin’s theory of evolution stated that all living organisms have evolved from much simpler organisms over time, and are all similar and interconnected in some way. This meant that humans descended from Apes which, in turn were descended from other animals. Not only did this directly contradict the Creationism theory that was very popular among religious people, it also hurt their pride to think that they were related very closely to an animal. It destroyed the idea that people were superior to any organism because they were ‘special’. Many people would not accept this to be the truth.

Darwin’s theory was also shocking as it contradicted the other well known theory of evolution at the time. It also suggested that evolution happened by itself, and such complex creatures came about by themselves - rather than being so complex that they must have been created by a higher power (such as God)

Strange Animals

A lot of animals function in similar ways to each other, but there are some exceptions to what scientists would consider ‘normal’.

The Duck Billed Platypus

The Duck Billed Platypus is a very unique mammal that has several unique characteristics that are unlike any other. It has a venom spike which can cause extreme pain in humans, lays eggs (mammals typically give birth, unlike this platypus), has no stomach and feeds its young through ‘milk patches’ which excrete milk the same way humans sweat.

Axolotls

Axolotls belong to the same group of amphibians as newts and salamanders, but unlike the latter, remain aquatic all their life. They also do not lose any of their juvenile features once they grow up (unlike humans with their baby teeth for example), and have the remarkable ability to regenerate. This incredible skill can be used to regrow limbs and bones - for example their legs, spinal cord and skin. They can withstand a lot of damage because of their ability to rebuild themselves perfectly time and time again. The rebuilding also leaves them without scars.

The Mantis Shrimp

The Mantas Shrimp is a crustacean that possesses several unique abilities. One of the most amazing traits about this shrimp is that it has 16 colour cones in its eyes. Humans have 3 - red, blue and green - these allow us to see every colour created from red, blue or green light. The shrimp having 16 allows it to see colours we couldn’t even begin to imagine, as well as ultraviolet light.

The shrimp can also move its limbs fast enough to boil water (which briefly reaches a sun-comparable temperature) as an attack mechanism. On top of this, these appendages that can accelerate at the same velocity as a .22 caliber bullet, and can strike prey incredibly fast with an enormous 72kg of force.

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The Gothic Horror Genre

what is the gothic horror genre - begun in victorian era

The Gothic genre was most popular around the 18th and 19th century, particularly in Victorian England. The genre itself was very dark and often horrific, featuring the supernatural, crime and violence- as well as many Victorian anxieties such as demons and the duality of man. It was very popular among a range of audiences due to the often unspeakable and mysterious stories the books told; they were intriguing, and people could escape the reality of every day life to something much more interesting.

3 examples of Gothic literature that was written around this time is Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Frankenstein and Dracula.

Jekyll & Hyde

Jekyll and Hyde is a novel about a scientist, Dr. Henry Jekyll as he attempts to research the duality of man by trying to separate the alleged ‘two sides’ into wholly good and evil. He succeeds in his experiment, allowing him to transform into ‘Mr. Edward Hyde’ who is the physical manifestation of Jekyll’s ‘evil side’. Jekyll uses the cover of Hyde to commit crimes and other atrocities without having to worry about damaging his own reputation, which was a big concern in the Victorian Era. However, the more he turns into Hyde the less he can control him, and eventually has to use his potion to turn back into himself - Hyde being his ‘true’ form who is an unstoppable psychopath. Jekyll kills them both in order to stop Hyde’s actions as he cannot control him.

Hyde is the monster portayed in this novel as he is the personification of a lot of victorian fears: he is not only apelike which scares them due to the evolution controversy at the time, but is also an example of how different people can be when they know they will not get caught - and how animalistic and cruel they can be.

Dracula

Dracula is the story of a man named Jonathan Harker who travels to Dracula’s castle to discuss real estate with him. Upon his arrival, he does not realise that Dracula is, in fact a vampire who possesses incredible abilities and powers. Upon his visit to the castle, he becomes Dracula’s prisoner. Once he realises what has happened he escapes over the wall. At the same time, Harker’s wife’s friend Lucy gets bitten by a vampire which turns her extremely pale and makes her ill. One of the men who proposed to Lucy consults his mentor Dr Van Helsing who is knowledgeable on the topic of vampires. The two try to save Lucy but she dies and transforms into a vampire instead. This results in them having to stake her through the heart. They then go after Dracula who did this and kill him as well.

Frakenstein

A scientist named Victor Frankenstein has a desire to discover the secret of life, and after many years of research on the topic he is convinced that he can create it. He collects body parts and attaches them together, then uses electricity to bring the creature to life. Instead of amazement, he was horrified by the thing he had made. He left it and returned to his home to try and forget about what he created. Shortly after, his younger brother was murdered by the creature. On top of this, one of the youngest members in the frankenstein household is executed as she’s suspected to be the murderer. Victor Frankenstein has a lot of remorse as he knows its his fault they’re dead. The creature admits he killed William and wishes to have a mate. Frankenstein creates a mate for him but destroys it as he fears the consequences. The creature swears revenge and kills his future wife on their wedding night. Victor chases the creature to the north where they both die.

All 3 works of fiction contain monsters which are inhuman - which I think is interesting as it’s like the Victorians were too scared to believe that the human race -- their race-- were capable of committing such ruthless acts of murder - therefore had to make all of the antagonists monsters so that they could distance themselves from them. It made them feel better to pretend that the monster was some kind of hellish creature or abomination than to accept that the human race too was guilty of the same crimes.

Penny Dreadful

Penny Dreadful was a series of stories that first came out in the 19th century during the Victorian Era. They were essentially comic books that depicted tales of crime, murder and violence - most of which were true stories. The name that was given to the stories was based on the themes they contained as well as the very cheap price - one penny.

The stories also occasionally featured horrifying monsters such as vampires, werewolves and demons. They were extremely popular at the time as they offered an escape for the Victorian people- to transport them out of their regular lives into something much more exciting.

The comics were most popular around the 1860s and were originally aimed towards young men, however as time progressed they started to appeal to a younger target audience - children. This lead to an increase in violence among young people, some of who started copying the characters in the book with their violent deeds.

The Penny Dreadful TV series debuted on May 11th 2014 and is based on the stories that occurred in the old comics, as well as other prominent tales in the Victorian Era - such as Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde. The series has a Victorian aesthetic and has a horror genre- reflective of the original Penny Dreadfuls. The TV show is filled with crime as well as many Gothic monster characters such as Dracula and Van Helsing.

The opening credits scene is shown below:

This credits scene I think very accurately represents the tone and genre of both the comics and show- thanks to the use of dark, almost sinister colour palette and orchestral soundtrack. It also contains violent imagery which alludes to the themes of crime and scientific experimentation that is features in the show. Some of the main cast are included as well as some props and features from the set- all of which have been dressed typically of the Victorian Era.A large number of animals and insects are also present in the show which adds to the theme of science and possible links to Darwin's theory of evolution - which was a very controversial topic during the Victorian Era.

The series itself also has a line of comics that were created based on it that begun in 2016:

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period that occurred throughout the 18th and 19th century in which many countries started to become industrialised. During this era, there was a large increase in the use of steam power and machinery - as well as automated processes being used to create things (instead of people creating things by hand - for example textiles). This era also brought forth many useful inventions such as photographs and steam engines. Due to the amount of new materials being used, a lot of poverty was caused despite the power that the industrial revolution brought to many cities, particularly London. London’s size grew rapidly throughout the period as the population dramatically increased, as well as the new machinery and factories taking up a lot more space. Due to this, it ended up covering nearby towns and villages completely with its new industrialised technology.

The increased use of steam power is one of the main ways in which steampunk is inspired by the Industrial Revolution. The idea of steampunk focuses on an alternate reality in which steam power has remained to be the primary source of energy - therefore pipes and steam engine-style machinery parts are common to see in many steampunk themed creations. Due to the much older period it is set in, steampunk also utilises a lot of older looking technology such as cogs, gears and pipes as opposed to modern circuit boards or wires. Steampunk fashion is also typically inspired by the Victorian Era, as it consists of dresses, top hats, tailcoats and other similar attire such as corsets, which were particularly iconic at that time. This ties into the Industrial Revolution as it took place at the same time.Steampunk also typically features two common materials - metal (particularly brass) and leather, since they would’ve been the materials that were available during the Revolution (unlike modern materials like plastic and carbon fibre).

Steampunk is present in a variety of media for example the following films, each of which portray it in their own way, some more subtle than others.

Resident Evil

Resident Evil - Milla Jovovich

Milla Jovovich’s iconic wardrobe in this movie is a much more subtle use of steampunk in my opinion - the only clear references to the motif are through the weathered leather aspects of her outfit (such as her belt) as well as the dark brown and black colour palette - two colours that are commonly used. The metal decorations and buckles are also somewhat reminiscent, as it’s not something you’d see on a character from the modern era. I also like how her outfits remind me of something post apocalyptic (which steampunk has been known to take inspiration from on occasion) as seen particularly in the first picture, which is another way the two are related. Overall however, I think they could’ve made it more obvious that this was the motif that they were trying to achieve, like the following two examples - but on the other hand I think the subtlety fits in nicely with the rest of the film.

Hell-boy - Golden Army

This film I think embodies the steampunk aesthetic a lot more clearly - from the outfits and colour scheme to the goggles and robots(?). The costumes worn are mostly brown and made of leather or metal which is a key part of the style. The goggles are also made of leather and also look like they’re made out of pieces of clockwork or scrap metal. They are very intricately designed and appear very genuine as if they would actually work- and look like something straight out of the Industrial Revolution. The robot character on the right also does not look modern like you’d expect and instead looks like it was made a long time ago - also in-keeping with the signature colour scheme.

Hugo - Automaton

The automaton plays a large part in Hugo and is designed to fit the steampunk style era in which the film is set. Contrary to what you’d expect, the face and hands are made from metal which appears very rusted and weathered (rather than prosthetic skin for example). It looks like it’s been made relatively simply as well, with the exposed bolts on the face and the welded lines. This embodies the Victorian and steampunk theme well as it looks very old and simple compared to the technology we have available now. The rest of the body is also made very simply- the automaton isn’t filled with circuits and modern machinery, but instead looks like it’s powered by clockwork or steam.

The rest of the film also has a Victorian aesthetic which adds to this.

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