Research

 

Researching potential relevant styles to incorporate into the design of my comic/animation. Both decorated Samien and Greek urns have been used for story telling throughout history. Illustrated on them, the design tells a story through intricate and informative images. Whilst Samien pottery has quite a monochromatic colour variation, Greek Urns are the opposite with a starkly contrasted black and orange design.

- Perhaps I could use the different styles of pottery to reflect the different time periods?

- The Greek urn is more practical in terms of reflecting comic storyboards and is a style I’ve used before

- The Samien pottery would offer some interesting options in terms of new colour ranges etc..

 Below is an informative email from Headland suggesting avenues of research I could explore within the project. For example exploring traditional dress and accessories of Roman and iron age clothing so it can be reflected accurately within the project. 

It is an important reminder that the project needs to reflect history as accurately as possible and this will be a challenge.

Within my research for this project I haft to ensure I am factually accurate and am creating illustrations that portray a correct representation. This is because of the nature of how this project is going to be distributed in an educational manor and as a result I haft to ensure it is correct. Below are the beginnings of my research on the appearance of Iron Age and Roman architecture with a focus in particular on the farms and towns at the site.

Research facts:

- Iron Age people were farmers. Metal ploughs were used so that people could collect and grow more crops. This was a time  when new crops started being farmed, like wheat, barley, peas, flax and beans. Iron Age people kept cattle, sheep and pigs.

What was life like in an Iron Age hill fort?

By the end of the Iron Age many people lived in hill forts. The forts were surrounded by walls and ditchesand warriors defended their people from enemy attacks.

Inside the hill forts, families lived in round houses. These were simple one-roomed homes with a pointed thatched roof and walls made from wattle and daub(a mixture of mud and twigs).

In the centre of a round house was a fire where meals were cooked in a cauldron. Around the walls were jars for storing food and beds made from straw covered with animal skins.

Iron Age farmers grew crops and vegetables. They kept geese, goats and pigs and had large herds of cows and flocks of sheep. Some people worked as potters, carpenters and metalworkers. Men and boys trained as warriors. They had to be prepared to fight at any time.

Here are some facts about Roman farms and farming.

• Roman farming was necessary to feed the population, and it was also seen as a noble profession. Citizens were considered important if they owned a lot of land.
• Wheat was one of the most important crops and was widely grown in England. Plenty of wheat was needed to make the bread to feed the large Roman armies.

• The Romans also grew olives and grapes, kept oxen, cows and goats for milk and cheese, and bees for honey. They also grew onions, peaches, apricots, cabbage, garlic and mustard. 

Low status Roman farm 

• During my research I was keen to ensure that my work accurately portrayed the environment that Headland Archaeology are excavating as a result I planned some meetings to check that what I was doing was correct.
• In terms of the Roman farm I found they explained that the farm I had found was actually a villa which isn’t the style that would be in the UK, they suggested I look up a Low status Roman farm which I did.

• Above is stone carving of Roman farm workers which I thought was really interesting because it looks like the shape of it could fit into the comic structure. I really think this could be a style I could incorporate/ or at least the type of layout for the farm workers.

Clothing

Iron Age clothing and accessories 

The clothes of Iron Age people were made from wool and dyed with natural vegetable dyes (from plants and berries) in: blue, yellow or red.

Bracae (trousers) would be worn under a tunic, held at the waist with a belt.

Over this would have been a cloak with a striped or checked pattern, fastened by a brooch.

The Celts also liked to wear metal jewellery, with symmetrical designs on. Brooches and pins would have been used to fasten their clothes.

A torc (gold neck ring) would be worn by important people like chieftans and warriors.

In comparison I am also looking at Roman clothing for the character transition 

Clothing in ancient Rome generally comprised a short-sleeved or sleeveless, knee-length tunic for men and boys, and a longer, usually sleeved tunic for women and girls.

More general research on animals/building/games

Interesting looking games/dice

• Small details like these games show how much research is important within this project.
• Small details like the spirals on the dice are really important if I want to maintain the comics accuracy
• It is also a nice touch to add details like these to the final animation/comic

Initial inspiration

Spider-Man into the Spider-verse

I recently watched ‘Spider-Man into the Spider-verse’ which was a really technical animation combining multiple different animation styles. What I really liked about the film in particular was the comic style scenes. In particular as seen in the images below the comic box structure has been incorporated into the film in multiple different styles. This was the film that inspired me to do a comic styled animation. 

 After deciding that I wanted to incorporate a cartoon style into my animation as well as make a comic I decided to look at some comics I find inspiring to influence my work. The below comic is one that I found on on Instagram which is being sold on Etsy. I really like the unique style of comic boxing which is really original. I would really like to incorporate the design decisions taken within this comic as I think it would be really interesting to animate smaller sections of a comic in. For example in the fist page of this comic the rocket could be animated to move across the boxes up and out of shot.

Hergé

Hergé is an artist that I have been inspired by for a long time. In particular I have always liked the amount of detail he includes within an image, telling a whole story.Below are two images showing the front covers of two of his comics. My favourite is ‘Red Rackham’s treasure which shows

My Breif

My idea:

For this project I would like to create an animation in the style of a comic. I wasn’t sure when to base the animation and as a result decided that approaching a museum would be a good course of action. My explanation of my brief  was that I wanted to create a campaign for a current exhibition to advertise it in lockdown.  My idea was to create an educational animation that included information about the exhibition as-well as having it accompanied by posters, colouring pages, leaflets and other similar items. However, the fist problem I encountered was the fact that the museums have been closed in lockdown and resultantly I decided to approach Headland Archaeology. They responded very positively to the idea and gave me the option to either re brand them or to do a community based project informing a local town of the dig that is occurring there. I chose the community based project as I think the comic/ animation I want to do will suit the audience for this project which is primary/high school.

As a result of choosing this brief I was then tasked with creating a presentation with which I would firstly present to Headland Archaeology and then I would present this with Headland to the council.

Some outcomes from my project with a Louder than War which is a style I would like to use again

A few images from a comic competition I previously entered which reflect the style I would like to use in this project

Below is the project proposal I put together which was then incorporated into Headland Archaeology’s project proposal for the main meeting. I essentially showed relevant parts of my previous work which would be reflected in the upcoming project. In particular a previous comic I had made in the style of a Greek urn. I also discussed potential outcomes such as the posters/animation/colouring sheets.

Meeting with Headland Archaeology before presenting to the client over zoom:

One of the Archaeologists during my meeting with Headland Archaeology mentioned how I could explore ‘The birth, life and death of a Roman’ which I thought was a really interesting idea and one I would definitely like to explore. It would give me the opportunity to explore the site throughout a period of life whilst also incorporating the finds from the dig throughout.