thoughts after the final

From my first idea to the last idea, my thesis concept has refined based on much research and user testing. At first I only knew my project will be about designing 3D creatures and make them believable. Through my discovery of a new field of research called chimeric experimentation and my encounter of the Discovery Channel series titled Alien Planet, I started shifting my 3D creatures towards the science direction. Thus I came up with the idea of creating a science lab that concentrates in creating new breeds of human that are part animal. Although this was an interesting idea and had provoked curiosity from many other people, I got carried away by the social and environmental issues which were not completely my interest. Thus, I decided to not lock myself into the laboratory idea and just focus on character creation with an intended approach from a scientific point of view.

I think this pre-thesis class was a very productive experience. I have developed my general and broad idea into one that is much more specific and coherent. Considering the final presentation, I believe I did a satisfactory job. By stating my elevator pitch first, I gave a clear idea of what my thesis project will be. Then I presented my inspirations and precedents, followed by a detailed example of a piece in my project and what I would like to accomplish in the future. I tried to engage the audience with adequate visual aides and minimum text. And in return, I had received many helpful comments and critiques, including new suggestions such as relating to comical characters, thinking about the need for hyper-realistic creatures, and using exactly what animals. Although I still need to specify the direction to which I will take my project, I feel that I have gained enough help to assist me in making the decision next semester.

I think I am in a good position now in terms of preparedness to go into next year. I have the urge to stay with this idea for my thesis project because I am interested in both the technical and conceptual aspects. I will take my current idea and further develop it into a more solid concept, following by the actual production of the project.

new elevator pitch

For my thesis, I will create a series of hyper-realistic hybrid humanoids and explore the possibility of adding animal features to the human body.

My thesis is about approaching characters creation from a scientific point of view. The final permanent presentation will be a website that contains all the information about these creatures. The thesis presentation will be an installation that mocks a scenario inside of a science lab.

final presentation

Here is the power point presentation for the final.

sketches of tortoise man embryo

Here are some sketches of the embryonic stage of the tortoise man. The drawings are based on Ernst Haeckel's drawings.

During the 4^th week of the fertilized embryo, also the phylotypic stage, all vertebrates look the same. Humans, turtles, chickens, fish. And it is during this period we injected giant tortoise genes into te embryo.

And then for the next months, it developed into a form that is more identifiable. And instead of growing into what normal babies would, it had some tortoise features, like the shell, the tail, and the shape of the head.Then it leaves the embryonic stage and reaches the fetal stage, which is from the 9^th week to until the baby is born.

The 40th week is what the infant looks like:

This is when he is one year old:

This is when he is two years old:

baby turtles

Here are some images of turtle and tortoise embryos I found on the internet.

from the embryos

Becuase I want my creatures to be more plausible, I have decided to reaserch on the stages in which babies are born. Then, I will create the creatures from their embryonic stage and morph them into their grown up stage.
Here is a representation of vertebrate embryology drawn by a well known evolutionary biologists, Ernst Haeckel. Although there has been some questions about the authenticity of these drawings, I think I will focus more on the visuality and less of the sciences.