Minor Project: Bogeymen Descriptions

Mr Plimsolls:

An old man with a bald head, and a hunched back. During Summer he would wear a peaked cap, a white vest top, white to the knee shorts, brown calf high socks and white plimsolls. Lived in a bungalow with an overgrown front garden, with a giant hedge that covered the entire house, hiding it away from view.
The young girl would see him, early in the morning, shuffle up and down the road, stick in one hand and bag in the other. He would pause, waving his stick and shouting out before continuing his pace down the road. One Summer the girl had such bad nightmare of Mr Plimsolls, of him staring and stalking her, that she spent an entire summer trapped indoors from the fear of him getting her.

(Story by Catharine Lima)

Life Drawing Clown:

A life drawing model, who was modelling in front of a class of primary school aged students, dressed as a clown, wore a red puffy wig on his head and face mask that had a overtly smiley face with a red nose. Wore a purple suit coat, with yellow striped pants, a white shirt and a big comedic bow. Looked scary enough to implement a fear of clowns.

(Story by Kav Bala)

O' Barney:

An aggressive neighbour, he was an unshaven, bald, rough looking man who wore a blue duffel coat. Would stare at his neighbour's house from a nearby field. Was also involved in multiple cases of property damage to his neighbour including, slashing tires, smashing his neighbour's front door and almost doing violent act to his neighbour. The son, my cousin, was terrified of the run ins he had with O' Barney.

(Story by Matthew Robinson)

Mr Polo (The Two Brothers):

Two Polish brothers who, to the young boy, looked "impossibly old and undoubtedly weird". One brother was never seen, acting as though he was a shadow, while the other brother, referred to as "Polo"
Polo appearance was similar to a baby's, bald and neckless, bulky build with skin that appeared grey. He was wrapped up in layers and layers of woollen clothing, and was elusive and mysterious. Picking ingredients in his garden like a witch or warlock. Because he looked and acted so different, hidden in mystery, the boy next door felt as though he brought fear and the cold with him even in hot summer days

(Story by Phil Gomm)

Werewolf Dad:

A dad who when asleep sounded so beastly it was like he turned into a werewolf in his sleep. It scared his daughter so much that she would lay in bed as straight as a mummy trying not to move just in case the werewolf came into her room to eat her.

(Story by Deanna Crisbacher)


More Descriptions will be added in due time.

Minor/Major Project: Bogeyman Research Assistance @Phil

For my project I am doing it about childhood bogeymen, inspired by my mum's childhood neighbor, nicknamed Mr. Plimsoll who scared her as a kid. I would like to gather a collection of various stories, detailing other peoples childhood bogeymen, to create a good archive of character concepts to have a well informed basis to form character designs from. The main things that I would like answered are things like:

• Who were they to you? a neighbor, a family member, a teacher etc.
• What they looked like (detailed description)? 
• What were the things they did that scared you?

To provide some context as to what I am after here is a synopsis of my Mum's bogeyman, Mr.Plimsoll:

Mr. Plimsoll was an elderly old man who lived down the road from my mum's house as a child. He had a bald head, a hunched back and carried a canvas bag in one hand and a walking stick in the other. In summer he would wear a peaked cap, a stained white vest top, white shorts that went to his knees, brown calf length socks and a white pair of his namesake plimsolls.

My Mother and her Brothers would play "Knock Down Ginger" on the door of his bungalow, that had an overgrown garden. The house couldn't be seen from the outside because of a big bush that so thick that it engulfed the bungalow in its foliage.

He would leave the house early at 6:30, walking up and down the street at a ridiculously fast pace for a man his age. As he did so he would chuck his stick in the air yelling as he went. My mum suffered from nightmares about him, having dreams of him staring in at her through the window. He scared her so much that she spent the entire summer holidays one year indoors.

If you are able to provide you own childhood bogeymen please comment on this post with your stories, providing answers to the questions above. It would be a big help for me in gathering research onto this topic and with the creative process as well.

Minor/Major Project: Influence Maps

Fig 1: Examples include: Fleischer Studios Betty Boop, Popeye and Bimbo, Disney Studios Mick Mouse and the Silly Symphonies
As well as these Kingdom Hearts 2's "Timeless River" and Cuphead is also featured as modern examples

Fig 2: The Artists featured includes: Edward Gorey, Tim Burton, Kenshi Yonezu, Mikolaj Cielniak, Henry Patrick Raleigh, Shan Jiang
Game included: Machinarium

Some in depth style influences that I'm still deciding on for my project. I'm leaning more onto the early cartoon style of the 1930s because of its simplicity and surrealism. However I'd like to feature the Illustrative styles of the Victorian and Edwardian times in some way. Maybe as a style shift to make the bogeymen appear more monstrous? At this point I still planning out what i want to do and achieve for the characters and the project as a whole so I shall keep experimenting.

Year 3: Minor/Major Project: Stylistic Ideas

As a result of both by Initial Influences and the talk I had with Alan, I have decided on two distinctive style ideas that i would like to have for my project. As my Project is about Childhood Fears around people that can be classed as a "Bogeyman" I want to go down either the root of early animation or a more illustrative style.

Fig 1: An Example of a Rubber Hose Style Character- Minnie Mouse

Rubber Hose Animation started of in the 1920s and was a staple of American animation for good couple of decades. Famous examples of this style of animation includes early Disney work like Steamboat Willie (1928), and The Skeleton Dance (1929) as well as the works by the Fleischer Studios (maker of "Swing you Sinners" 1930 and Betty Boop) as well as Paramount Pictures. The first notable character associated with this new style of animation at the time was Felix the Cat, a character that would spawn a whole series of imitations including Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Bimbo the Dog. A key characteristic of this type of animation is the flexibility and surrealist nature of it. As this was a first time experience for animations, almost every action a character did was exaggerated in a way that could be perceived as accidental.

Fig 2: Example of the Rubber Hose style of Animation

This is one of the styles of Animation that I like the style and it can give very odd and surreal results for my characters. I could focus on the key aspects of the designs for the characters and how to exaggerate their movements in a way that could be scary. There is also that aspect that old cartoons from that era in general has a certain creepy vibe to it just by how chaotic and surreal the animation can be at times and I'd like to achieve something similar.

Fig 3: Illustration by Edward Gorey

The other Style I'd like to go for is a more illustrative style by artists like Edward Gorey, who was an American Writer and Illustrated his works with pen and ink, depicting scenes from Victorian and Edwardian times in a unsettling way. His art style could fit into the category of gothic but there is a certain type of surrealist nature to his illustrations as well that has become a major influence in many artists nowadays, a big example being Director Tim Burton as well as the art direction in the film the Babadook (2014).

Fig 4: Example of the Gothic Illustrative style present in 2014's The Babadook

This is another style that I would like to explore as it as some horror roots to it which, in my opinion, fit the world of Mr. Plimsole very well. The style was commonly used in Victorian and Edwardian children books so there is a connection to the effect it has on child as well. I would have to go into more detail texture wise to achieve the ink on paper technique associated heavily in the style.

Adaptation B: Casting Call- Ludlow Fitch and Joe Zabbidou

Fig 1: Ludlow Fitch

Fig 2: Joe Zabbidou

Here are a series of actors that I envision would play the characters of Ludlow and Joe from The Black Book of Secrets. The main goal of this exercise was to find people that fitted with the character descriptions of the two characters. This is to help in envisioning a clearer understand of how I want my character designs for the two to be using the characteristics of these actors and director. The general aspects that I looked for when casting the two characters, was piercing eyes, a youthful face and a slim figure for Ludlow and wild hair, a tall and serious older looking man who fitted the mentor role that Joe provides to Ludlow. The ages of the characters are not specified in the book but Ludlow is a boy in his teens while Joe is anything 40 and above as deducted from the description of him in the book of having greying hair.

Adaptation B: Environment Research

Pagus Parvus:

• "The village dated from times when people were at least six inches shorter and all dwelling were built accordingly." "- that doors and windows were made narrower than was usual and ceilings were particularly low"- Chapter 3 Page 11

• "It was a small village clinging for its life to the side of a steep mountain in a country-" "-It comprised one cobbled high street lined on either side with a mixture of houses and shops built in the style that was popular around the time of the great fire in the famous city of London. The first and second floors/ overhung the pavement. In fact, sometimes the upper levels  stick up so far out that they restricted the sunlight. The windows themselves were small with leaded panes, and timbers ran in parallel lines on the outside walls. The buildings were all at strange and rather worrying angles, each having slid slightly down the hill over the years and sunk a little into the earth."- Chapter 6 Page 27

• ";Pagus Parvus existed in a grey light that was cast by clouds that never seemed to go away,"- Chapter 16 Page 89

• "Sitting as it was on the exposed side of a mountain, covered in snow eight months out if twelve and rained on the other four, Pagus Parvus was not popular with  outsiders..."- Chapter 16 Page 89

Pawnbrooker:

• "The shop itself was quite tiny. The distance between the display window and the counter was no more then three paces. Joe went behind the counter and opened the solid door that led into a back room. A tiny window on the far wall allowed the dusty-moon-glow to lighten the gloom. The furniture was sparse and worn: two ladderback chairs and a table, a small stove and a narrow bed pushed up against the wall. In contrast the fireplace was huge. At least six feet across and nearly three deep, it took up almost the whole of one wall. On either side of the hearth sat a faded upholstered armchair. It was not much but it would do."- Chapter 3 Page 13

• "- I took the opportunity to examine the goods in the shop window. the jewellery was bright and pretty, the hurricane lamp was polished and looked in working order. The timepieces were wound and ticking."- Chapter 10 Page 51

• "He fixed to the pole the universal symbol of the pawnbroker: three polished golden orbs stuck together in the shape of a triangle."- Exterior, Chapter 6 Page 30

• "- Joe's display benefited from the addition of a flower vase in the Grecian style, a pair of leather braces with silver clips (one missing), a sturdy pair of scuffed boots (only slightly down at heel), and a set of decorative brass buttons. The chamber pot sat in the corner next to the wooden leg."- Chapter 14 Page 79

• "... Joe took everything he was offered, even the most ridiculous and worthless items- a moth eaten, slightly mouldy stuffed cat being one such example- and paid good money as he promised"- Chapter 15 Page 86

• "As most customers came in wheezing after climbing the hill, Joe instructed that a chair be set by the door and it was gratefully received." -Chapter 15 Page 87

Adaptation B: Character Research

Ludlow Flitch:

• "He truly was a pale and sorry figure, undersized, undernourished and shivering so hard you could almost hear his bones rattle. His eyes were striking though, dark green with specks of yellow, set in a ring of shadow. His skin matched the snow in tone and temperature"- Page 15

• "I took the opportunity to jump down and sneak a look in the cab, wherein I found a leather purse, fringed printed silk scarf and a pair of gloves. I wrapped the scarf around my neck and slipped the gloves over my numb fingers. The purse contained only a few pennies but it was a start."- Chapter 2, Page 8

• "As for the boy, his skinny, short-legged attendant who went him everywhere (Joe Zabbidou),he seemed a sly little demon. He wore gloves that looked suspiciously like his own, the ones Jeremiah was certain the coach driver had stolen. And those big dark eyes. Jeremiah had never once managed to hold Ludlows gaze. He always had to look away."-Chapter 19, Page 121

• "'I can run fast and curl up so tight I can hide in the smallest places'" -Chapter 4, Page 17

• "Ma suggested that I be sold to a chimney sweep. My skinny frame more than suited to the narrow, angled chimneys,"- Chapter 10 Page 49

• Wore a grey shirt- Chapter 4, Page 17

• "He resembled so many City boys, dirty and skinny. He certainly smelt like one. His clothes were barely functional (apart from the scarf and gloves which were of much higher quality) and he had a distrustful face that gave away the wretchedness of his past existence. His was bruised and his mouth was very swollen, but there was a spark of intelligence - and something else - in those dark eyes" Chapter 4 page 19

• Has all of his teeth- reason he escaped to Pagus Parvus was because his parents wanted to rip out his teeth to sell them to the rich for booze money-Established in Chapter 1

• Suffers from Travel Sickness- Chapter 2, page 7

• Pickpocket- Established in Chapter 1

• "Ludlow wondered idly if any had a pocket worth picking"- Chapter 6 Page 33

• "Ludlow was always a few steps behind, no higher than Joe's elbow, trotting to keep up"- Chapter 17 Page 97

Joe Zabbidou:

• "It was not easy to describe Joe Zabbidou accurately. His age was impossible to determine. He was neither stout nor thin, but perhaps narrow. And he was tall, which was a disadvantaged in Pagus Parvus." Chapter 3, Page 11

• "Joe was dressed suitably for the weather, though unheedful of the current fashion for the high-collared coat. Instead he wore a cloak of muted green, fastened with silver toggles, that fell to his ankles. The cloak itself was of the finest Jocastar wool." Chapter 3, Page 12

• "On his feet Joe wore a pair of black leather boots, highly polished, upon which sat the beautifully pressed cuffs of his mauve trousers. Around his neck was wrapped a silk scarf, and a fur hat shaped like a cooking pot was pulled down tightly over his ears. It could not fully contain his hair and more the a few silver strands curled out from underneath." Chapter 3, Page 12.

• "With every step Joe took, a set of keys hooked to his belt jingled tunefully against his thigh. In his right hand he carried a rather battered leather satchel straining at the seams, and in his left a damp drawstring bag from which there emanated an intermittent croaking." Chapter 3, Page 12

• "For now he had to deal with the pawnbroker. Every time he thought of Joe, That string bean of a character whose hair defied description,"- Chapter 19 Page 121

• "Without a doubt Joe was the breath of fresh air the village had needed for a long, long time."- Chapter 21- Page 128

• "Sometimes conversations with Joe were like riddles"- Chapter 16 Page 91

• "Joe was indeed coming down the street in his usual jaunty pace. He had the grip of a mountain goat. Right now one or two villagers were wondering whether his shoes did contain those telltale cloven feet."- Chapter 22 Page 139

• "Joe was a man of few expressions"- Chapter 16 Page 90

• Has a pet frog named Saluki- glistening skin in a patchwork of vibrant reds, greens, yellows. Unlike any frogs in Pagus Parvus. Her feet aren't webbed but instead more like long-fingered hands with knobbly joints and toes. - Chapter 6 Page 29 Treats her like a queen, feeding her the finest bugs, snails and worms- Chapter 16 Page 90