Capoeira male references

Using Fuze I customised a character that could be similar to my capoeira character and took screenshots of different poses that could be useful in the construction of my character.

Brother and sister Sean and Laura Matsuda from Street Fighter:

 

The skin colour and hair suggests Brazilian, as well as the colour scheme for Laura.

Bernhard Siegfried Albinus on human anatomy

Whilst taking a look at a PDF of the book Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblet (http://www.pdf-archive.com/2014/02/26/anatomia-obbligatorio-simblet-anatomyforartist-intero/anatomia-obbligatorio-simblet-anatomyforartist-intero.pdf), I came across Bernhard Siegfried Albinus. 

"Bernhard Siegfried Albinus is perhaps best known for his monumental Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani, which was published in Leyden in 1747, largely at his own expense. The artist and engraver with whom Albinus did nearly all of his work was Jan Wandelaar (1690-1759). In an attempt to increase the scientific accuracy of anatomical illustration, Albinus and Wandelaar devised a new technique of placing nets with square webbing at specified intervals between the artist and the anatomical specimen and copying the images using the grid patterns. Tabulae was highly criticized by such engravers as Petrus Camper, especially for the whimsical backgrounds added to many of the pieces by Wandelaar, but Albinus staunchly defended Wandelaar and his work."

"The foundation for Albinus's illustrations is the human skeleton. Many anatomical drawings begin with the outside of the human body and then work their way deeper, but Albinus carefully removed all the muscle and ligaments so that the illustrations begin with the skeleton. He preserved the soft tissue and then added it to the skeleton to make his "muscle-man".

In the "Account of the Work" at the beginning of his book Albinus gives a detailed explanation of the methods he used to prepare his skeleton and muscle-man. For support he used a tripod as well as numerous cords passed through the spine, arms, and legs that were then attached to his walls and ceiling. After making minor adjustments with pieces of paper and wood, he explains how he checked the accuracy of the skeleton's pose, "I next looked out for a thin man, of the same size with my skeleton, and making him stand naked in the same position, I compared the skeleton with him." Albinus endeavoured to set a new standard in anatomical illustration by developing a technique of viewing the specimen through nets with grids that made the perspective and proportion of the human body more accurate. 

In addition to the plates of skeletons and muscle-men, each placed in a lush, natural scene that helps to animate the figures and "emphasize the harmonious and natural beauty of the body," there are over 300 superb drawings of separate muscles and muscle groups."

I find the repetition of this series interesting as each plate is different but very similar. The presentation of the layers of the human body is fascinating as well. It is an innovative way to explore human anatomy in an artistic way. It also aids in understanding the layers of the human body from the skeleton to the external muscles. 

Week 4, Meeting with Ryan

Discussed the use of 3D posing software, e.g Poser and Fuze Mixamo to aid in the understanding of the way the body moves as well as to aid in the construction of a base pose.

Discussed looking at anatomy books, for example Anatomy for the Artist by Sarah Simblet.

Talked about doing rough drawings of the skeleton, or rather stick drawings, of the poses and research images that I found to better understand and help my drawings.

Capoeira man test sketches

Below is a moodboard of Brazilian men. A starting point to figure out skin colour, hair colour, facial features.

Hair moodboard. Different hairstyles to try out and see what works and what doesn't for the character.

Below are tests for skin colour and hair style:

Below is the original painting. The skin tones above and below it were achieved using the dodge and burn tool as well as playing around with the colour settings. This was done to get a quick idea of what looks best. Personally, for this character I prefer the darker skin tone. 

Testing out different hairstyles: 

Moraingy (Moringue)

Moraingy (Malagasy) or Moringue (French) is a weaponless, bare-fisted striking style of traditional martial art that originated during the Maroseranana dynasty (1675-1896) of the Sakalava Kingdom of western coastal Madagascar. It has since become popularised throughout Madagascar but particulalrly in coastal regions, and has spread to neighbouring Indian Ocean islands including Reunion, Mayotte, Comoros, Seychelles and Mauritius.

Participation in this form of combat was originally limited to young men, allowing elders to judge their physical fitness and strength whilst providing an opportunity for the youth to gain prestige and test their abilities. Today, while the average age of participants is still between 10 and 35, young people of both genders may practice the sport.

Moraingy matches must, by tradition, be accompanied by music (often salegy) to induce a trance-like state in the fighters and participants, contributing to the spiritual and communal experience of the fight. As part of this experience, participants typically engage in dances during and between the matches that are meant to provoke the supporters of the opposing party, while the crowd cheers and jeers loudly.

Moraingy is considered a half-distance or long-range fighting sport with punches predominating but with some kicks permitted. Types of punches include straight punches (mitso), hooks (mandraoky), downward slanting punches (vangofary) and a punch similar to an uppercut (vangomioriky). Defenses include guarding and sidesteps, but neither the attacks nor defenses are standardised, creating higher variability among individual fighters and between regions than in international boxing.

The Reunionais form of moraingy is less violent and more inspired by the choreography and acrobatics of Brazilian capoeira than the original Malagasy form. The use of jumps and stomping makes it spectacular.

Video:

Meeting with Ryan, week 2

Question asked:

Does the questionnaire need to be featured in the dissertation?

Answer: Should be, it's part of the methodology.



The methodology is how you test the practical. The practical, questionnaire, results (presented data), changes made due to questionnaire, will be put in the methodology. It shows progress. Perhaps I could also do a second questionnaire or evaluate the characters myself after the first round of changes, or use other people's opinions again.

It's ok to have rough concepts to present to people and have them judge then produce more refined concepts or paintings.

Plan/ draw out methodology, perhaps in a powerpoint or word document as it will be easy to change and add to.

Having a clear idea of intro, abstract, methodology and conclusion will make the lit review easier.

Methodology and lit review should be roughly the same length of around 2000 words, as a guide.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo is a Korean martial art which is a blend of the indigenous Korean fighting styles of taekyeon, gobeop and suak, with influence from foreign martial arts such as kare and Chinese martial arts.

There is emphasis on speed and agility. Kicks also seem to be the main focus.

In games:

Juri from Street Fighter:

Juri by Alexnegrea 

Chae Lim from KOF:

Baek Doo San from Tekken: 

As can be seen in the games, the clothing does not necessarily represent the fighting style , however a few characters have the South Korean flag on the clothing somewhere.