There are times when I need to recharge my input. I seek inspiration from the world around me. This time around in the creation of new creature for the new season of Awang Khenit an animation production from Sead Studio, I took a peek at the Taiping Museum. It happens to be located not far from my place of birth which is North of Perak. I was told that there are many skeletal frames of animals that will give me some creative input for my designs.
This museum is older than the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur and is located in the heart of Taiping in the state of Perak,Malaysia. It houses many collection such as insect specimens, nature collection and archaelogical items. It also houses the skeletal remains of some animals that are extinct or extremely rare. This building is 120 years old.
The entry rate for an adult is relatively cheap. It costs less than buying a packet of meal. Of course to encourage the younger ones to visit the museum, entry for children in school uniform and kids below 12 is free.
This is the skeletal remains of a tiger. Here from the skeletal remains we will be able to understand the anotomy and muscle proportion. In my mind there are some ideas running to make this a monstrous tiger with some side features. This animal is prominently featured in our Malaysian logo and mascot. Our football team is named the Malayan Tigers or in Malaysian language 'Harimau Malaya' to signify the ferocity and tenacity of this creature.
This is a 'Kubong' or better known as a flying squirrel.I imagined it as a flying ride for a fantasy world above the skies.If you also have any idea how to turn this into a fantasy or mythical creature, perhaps you can share some ideas here as well.
Apart from the Kubong, there is a Tapir, this creature is a very cute and lovable creature. When there is only the frame left, it look like some kind of prehistoric animal and we can exploit it for our creature creation.
One of the features of some tribes in Malaysia is the use of mask. It is often used to intimidate other tribes and usually it is fearsome and intimidating. You can see how Hollywood exploit these ideas by creating aliens and 'Mask' from these artifacts.
These mask also makes us ask ourselves whether did our forefathers have bridge themselves to another kind of world where has more than what there is to be offered here.
The image below looks like a character from the Star Wars franchise, 'The Tusken Raider'. Perhaps Hollywood also share my method of creating characters.(yeah..right!!)
The final piece is quite interesting (Exhibit 4). Perhaps this is how we interpret the look of a Malaysian Ghoul the 'Hantu Raya' that inhibits our local forests.Maybe they've seen such creature before back in the old days.Their work is also part of our cultural art which is pretty much invaluable to our new generation.
Apart from merely studying the structures of animals we do find art in the old artifacts. These arts also helps shape our mind towards a different kind of creation, one that views the world from another angle. To me, the world has endless inspiration, it is up to us to explore, create and also imagine. Like we always say, our work are creation of different references bundled into one art.
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