affinity designer Busy illustrating and animating 66 (!) animals for a new Interactive Map

[John Rostron]

On 3/29/2022 at 12:32 PM, Alfred said:

A White Rhino 🦏 … isn’t white!

 I have always understood that the word 'white' in White Rhino is a corruption of the dutch word for 'wide'. This refers to the wide upper lip of the White Rhino in contrast to the narrow, pointed upper lip of the Black Rhino.

John

[Alfred]

20 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

I have always understood that the word 'white' in White Rhino is a corruption of the dutch word for 'wide'.

Ditto.

20 minutes ago, John Rostron said:

This refers to the wide upper lip of the White Rhino in contrast to the narrow, pointed upper lip of the Black Rhino.

I couldn’t have told you that bit!

[jmwellborn]

@MmmMaarten  So far the elephant is still my favorite.  His trunk movements differ within the video, and both versions are so alive!  I think of the story of Bandoola when I look at him.

[MmmMaarten]

7 hours ago, John Rostron said:

 I have always understood that the word 'white' in White Rhino is a corruption of the dutch word for 'wide'.

Interesting. I am also surprised to see how some animals names are directly taken over from Dutch into English, like 'Springbok'.

 

2 hours ago, jmwellborn said:

@MmmMaarten  So far the elephant is still my favorite.  His trunk movements differ within the video, and both versions are so alive!  I think of the story of Bandoola when I look at him.

 

I'd never heard of that story before so don't know the story, but searching on Google that looks like a great illustrated book with a nice style.

Personally, I quite like these ones I've created today:

 

L'hoest's Monkey

 

And the Laptop-til... uh... Leptoptilos  😁
(pay close attention to his 'ball' 🤣 )

 

[jmwellborn]

@MmmMaarten  Yes -- today's animals are delightful.  Lot's of motion!  Bandoola is the true story of an incredibly brave elephant who helped save many people during the Second World War.  If you can find a translation I think you would really like it, being an "animal person."   

[iuli]

Thanks a lot for sharing your fantastic work, all of your pieces are equally great! So far the Asian elephant is my favorite, because alongside Eurasian magpie is the animal I appreciate the most. (Despite the difference in size, they do have something in common: they are recognizing themselves in the mirror, they’re self aware — only a handful of species are).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test

 

[LastGrasp]

On 2/23/2022 at 10:12 AM, MmmMaarten said:

Busy illustrating and animating 66 (!!) different animals for on a new Interactive Map. Happily using Affinity Designer for all graphics on the map to have them vector-based.

Starting with the elephant  🐘! Such beautiful animals! 😀

 

This is awesome! How do you do it?

[MmmMaarten]

12 hours ago, iuli said:

Thanks a lot for sharing your fantastic work, all of your pieces are equally great! So far the Asian elephant is my favorite, because alongside Eurasian magpie is the animal I appreciate the most. (Despite the difference in size, they do have something in common: they are recognizing themselves in the mirror, they’re self aware — only a handful of species are).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test

 

Thanks for the info! I didn't know about the cleverness and passing the mirror test by the Eurasian Magpie. I see them a lot around here in the streets and find them beautiful tho! Will look at them differently now.

 

11 hours ago, LastGrasp said:

This is awesome! How do you do it?

Thanks for the nice words! Lots of coffee, illustrating/animating/programming, a little bit of magic, but above all loving what you do and endurance! 😉

PS, wait 'till you see the full map with all 66 animals! It's pretty fun to see them all doing their thing I think! 😀

 

Have a nice weekend!

[MmmMaarten]

Okapi (family of the Giraffe 🦒)

 

Hamadryas Baboon

 

Red River Hog

 

Spotted Hyena

 

Blue Wildebeest

 

Bali Cattle

 

Indian Antelope

 

 

[jmwellborn]

The baboon is exceptional.  I love his mouth movements!

[MmmMaarten]

2 hours ago, jmwellborn said:

The baboon is exceptional.  I love his mouth movements!

Thanks! Because there are 66 real time animating animals on the map I need to optimize and limit movements as everything needs to run smoothly at the same time. But some animals I like to give a little more expression/livelyness. Also to have some dynamics. Not every animal is great for lots of animation. Some animals are just more 'easy going'.

Only 1 animal left to animate at this point! 😀

--

Red Panda. This animal is so beautiful and has such a great color in real life!

 

Sloth Bear 🧸

 

[jmwellborn]

The little panda is charming!  Yes, I can imagine that looking at all 66 at one time will be an amazing experience.  Where to look!  Oh, look!!!  No, look over here!  All the while, the water continues to flow around the many islands.

[MmmMaarten]

Yeuh! The last one! 🎉 😀 🥳

 

The Zebra Mongoose is doing some stretching! 😀

 

[jmwellborn]

The mongoose is remarkable.  Very muscular legs and neck!  What a charming way to finish the project.

[MmmMaarten]

19 hours ago, jmwellborn said:

The mongoose is remarkable.  Very muscular legs and neck!  What a charming way to finish the project.

Thanks! It's not the finish of the project tho... actually the animated animals on the map are 'just a part' of the full map! 😀