Inception
At the start of Summer, 2015, I was faced with deciding what to do for my MFA thesis. At the time, I had ideas for four proposed thesis projects to present, and narrowed the end result from there. They were:
While I would by no means imply that the project that is now the Amphiterra Project was a last resort, it did end being chosen from among four proposed projects by means of elimination. However, I do think that Amphiterra in its final state carries many of the ideas from the proposals that were rejected. The paleoart influence is obvious, and the whole original premise of that thesis was enacted on my recreation of Triadobatrachus massinoti. Taken from the children’s book is the scale of the project, driving me to make dozens of illustrations. The influence of the animated short is somewhat looser, but it does have a focus on bizarre animal anatomy that is prevalent throughout Amphiterra.
The more technical title for the Amphiterra project that I rarely reference is 'Speculative Evolution as an Approach to Creature Design'. Generally speaking, MFA candidates approach the thesis from a perspective of having a problem to solve or address. My technical goal was to improve and streamline the creature design pipeline for media through the lens of speculative evolution.
So, what is speculative evolution? Often abbreviated to SpecEvo, it is a largely dead genre of fiction based on hypothetical situations in the evolution of life. As stated, it generally takes a ‘What-If’ question, turns it into an event, places that event somewhere in the timeline of life’s evolution to extrapolate out the results over the course of millions of years.
It generally includes lore on the creature’s life and behavior, presented in documentary style.
Examples of ‘What-If’ scenarios in classic SpecEvo works include:
Once I had settled on the SpecEvo project, it was of utmost importance to find a ‘What-If’ that could sustain this thesis for the duration of the project. The right question would fall in a sort of ‘goldilocks zone’ defined by three parameters I set:
Based on these categories, I generated three possible ‘what-if’ questions.
-What if a meteor increases mass and speed of the moon, tidal forces cause alternating extreme flooding and extreme drought?
-What if dinosaurs hadn’t gone extinct in America, and were there to be domesticated by European settlers?
-What if the earth hadn’t gotten drier during the carboniferous period, preventing the age of reptiles?
Ultimately, weighing my options, I went with the third, which is precisely the ‘What-If’ question that forms the basis for Amphiterra. More on the context of this particular what if question can be found by looking at the WORLD page.
With my ‘What-If’ question chosen, I felt confident moving onto the next major step in the process, RESEARCH.
- A study in paleoart: Using digital sculpting, digital painting, or both, I could apply what I’ve learned about anatomy and concept art to the reconstruction of a newly described or obscure extinct animal.
- In doing so, I could research and argue against the flaws in modern paleoart. To back up my assertions, I could submit the work to paleontological authorities for review, or get feedback from prominent paleoartists.
- This thesis was ultimately rejected as the scope did not seem great enough for the amount of time involved unless I were to take it to a level more befitting a degree in paleontology rather than an MFA.
- In doing so, I could research and argue against the flaws in modern paleoart. To back up my assertions, I could submit the work to paleontological authorities for review, or get feedback from prominent paleoartists.
- A children’s book featuring scientifically accurate dinosaurs.
- The idea was, if we make children’s media with scientifically accurate dinosaurs, then that would be the image the next generation grows up with, and we can keep moving forward in our understanding instead of being saddled with the representations Jurassic Park gave us.
- This thesis was ultimately rejected as the proposed children’s book style would not test my skills as an MFA, as well as the existence of books that are already actively working towards this goal.
- The idea was, if we make children’s media with scientifically accurate dinosaurs, then that would be the image the next generation grows up with, and we can keep moving forward in our understanding instead of being saddled with the representations Jurassic Park gave us.
- An animated short, featuring vignettes exploring the weird anatomy of the octopus, presented in the non-narrative style of the 1940’s Warner Bros. short.
- Production would involve recruiting a team of students and taking a directorial position, and be representative of an animation pipeline.
- This thesis was rejected due to scope and scale, I could never have accomplished it in a satisfactory manner during the amount of time available to me.
- Production would involve recruiting a team of students and taking a directorial position, and be representative of an animation pipeline.
- A project focused on speculative evolution. It would be an exercise in creature design, based on a hypothetical ‘what-if’ scenario in the history of life. My goal would be to show a method by which modern creature design could be expedited and improved in terms of creativity and believability.
- The deliverables for the project would involve a suite of creatures, presented in various media-types to showcase my skills across the board.
- As you can imagine, this is the proposal that became the Amphiterra project.
- The deliverables for the project would involve a suite of creatures, presented in various media-types to showcase my skills across the board.
While I would by no means imply that the project that is now the Amphiterra Project was a last resort, it did end being chosen from among four proposed projects by means of elimination. However, I do think that Amphiterra in its final state carries many of the ideas from the proposals that were rejected. The paleoart influence is obvious, and the whole original premise of that thesis was enacted on my recreation of Triadobatrachus massinoti. Taken from the children’s book is the scale of the project, driving me to make dozens of illustrations. The influence of the animated short is somewhat looser, but it does have a focus on bizarre animal anatomy that is prevalent throughout Amphiterra.
The more technical title for the Amphiterra project that I rarely reference is 'Speculative Evolution as an Approach to Creature Design'. Generally speaking, MFA candidates approach the thesis from a perspective of having a problem to solve or address. My technical goal was to improve and streamline the creature design pipeline for media through the lens of speculative evolution.
So, what is speculative evolution? Often abbreviated to SpecEvo, it is a largely dead genre of fiction based on hypothetical situations in the evolution of life. As stated, it generally takes a ‘What-If’ question, turns it into an event, places that event somewhere in the timeline of life’s evolution to extrapolate out the results over the course of millions of years.
It generally includes lore on the creature’s life and behavior, presented in documentary style.
Examples of ‘What-If’ scenarios in classic SpecEvo works include:
- What if the dinosaurs never went extinct? (Dixon, Dougal. The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution, 1988)
- -What if dragons were real, and had evolved from dinosaurs? (Discovery Channel, The Last Dragon, 2004)
- -What if, after an apocalyptic event, humans had to adapt to an aquatic lifestyle? (Kurt Vonnegut, Galápagos, 1985)
Once I had settled on the SpecEvo project, it was of utmost importance to find a ‘What-If’ that could sustain this thesis for the duration of the project. The right question would fall in a sort of ‘goldilocks zone’ defined by three parameters I set:
- Event needs to be big enough to cause a major shift in the evolutionary tree, BUT event needs to be small enough to be plausible.
- Event needs to be far enough in the past to affect major change in the timeline, BUT recent enough that we can use knowledge of evolutionary history to support it.
- Event needs to be interesting enough to provoke intrigue, BUT plausible enough to be feasible.
- Geological
- Based on semi random fluid system of tectonic activity.
- Example: What if Africa rejoined with South America during the Cenozoic?
- Based on semi random fluid system of tectonic activity.
- Cosmological
- Involves physical location and properties of objects in space on a cosmic scale.
- Being so drastic, might push Earth out of its ‘Goldilocks’ zone.
- Examples: Meteor increases mass and speed of the moon, tidal forces cause alternating extreme flooding and extreme drought.
- Human Interference
- Changes would be very recent on the evolutionary scale, so alterations to extant species wouldn’t be drastic.
- Examples: What if humans domesticated boars as hunting companions instead of wolves?
- Changes would be very recent on the evolutionary scale, so alterations to extant species wouldn’t be drastic.
- Climatological
- Event is based on the semi-random occurrences of the Earth’s climate.
- Example: What if the earth hadn’t gotten drier during the carboniferous period, preventing the age of reptiles?
- Event is based on the semi-random occurrences of the Earth’s climate.
- Other:
- Anything that doesn’t fit any of the other categories.
- Examples:
- What if the Earth’s atmosphere were as dense as that of a gas giant?
Based on these categories, I generated three possible ‘what-if’ questions.
-What if a meteor increases mass and speed of the moon, tidal forces cause alternating extreme flooding and extreme drought?
-What if dinosaurs hadn’t gone extinct in America, and were there to be domesticated by European settlers?
-What if the earth hadn’t gotten drier during the carboniferous period, preventing the age of reptiles?
Ultimately, weighing my options, I went with the third, which is precisely the ‘What-If’ question that forms the basis for Amphiterra. More on the context of this particular what if question can be found by looking at the WORLD page.
With my ‘What-If’ question chosen, I felt confident moving onto the next major step in the process, RESEARCH.
