By Eleanor Spence

The Art of:

antastic Voyage

For this project, we were presented with four different bioscientific scenarios; The Zika virus, HIV, how the immune system fights infection, and resistance to antibiotics.

Our challenge, was to create a three minute animation explaining our chosen scenario to a target audience also of our choosing.

The scenario I chose to animate was resistance to antibiotics.

F

ntibiotics and immune system A

nfluence I I immediately thought of medieval knights when designing the antibiotics and immune system. At first, I wanted them to somehow resemble a pill, but later found this a difficult form to merge with a knight. I liked the broad shoulders of the Red Knight (middle left) from Alice in Wonderland, as it implies strength, and decided to work with red, white and blue as colour schemes, as these are often colours seen on pills and tablets.

humbnails T In very early designs for the antibiotics, I tested out both sharp and more rounded shapes. The design on the far left was based on a pill capsule, but I struggled to keep it’s rounded design and give it the appearance of a knight. The 2nd and 3rd designs were a combination of the capsule and the sharper designs on the right.

I decided on red, white and pink as colours for the antibiotics and immune system. However, these designs were far too “evil” looking for the “good guys” of the story. They needed to be less sharp and more square.

I began making the designs more square, while keeping the broad shoulders and slim waists. I moved away from medieval armour and based the skirt and helmet parts on Ancient Greek hoplite armour. It was important that the antibiotics were recognisable as good soldiers, and not scary to the audience.

I wanted the immune system had to appear more as a defender than a fighter. They carry no weapons other than a large shield that I shaped to represent a white blood cell.

mmune System I

ntibiotics A

The antibiotics wear different symbols on their chests. When the bacteria mutate, they too wear the symbol of the antibiotic that killed them, or that they killed themselves.

arients & Props V

The antibiotics carry spears, in order to keep with the hoplite inspired armour.

uper antibiotic S

The Super antibiotic is based more on Spartan armour, especially the helmet.

he Cocoon T

The super antibiotic appears from a cocoon. Three sections of the cocoon spin

around the antibiotic as it moves and attacks. This antibiotic is a last resort, so I wanted the cocoon to both resemble a pill, but also to be implied as a container

for the power of the antibiotic.

The ground where the cocoon has landed is shown to be damaged, and the

surrounding area is changing back to the original pink and red it was before,

showing just how powerful the antibiotic is.

B acteria

nfluence I I wanted the bacteria to be sickly and monstrous in appearance. My main sources of inspiration for them were the sloth and rage demons from the Dragon Age series, and Plaguebearers of Nurgle from Warhammer. The idea was that the bacteria would begin with a very basic form, and grow larger and more monstrous as the antibiotics attempted to defeat them.

humbnails T These very early thumbnails are more complicated than the final results, but I kept the shapes and overall grotesqueness throughout the project, as I felt it was perfect for the bacteria in the world I was creating.

I simplified the designs, choosing to show 4 stages of mutation in which the bacteria grows larger and more terrifying in appearance. I eventually chose a black and green colour scheme for the bacteria, so as not to make them seem apart of the pink and red colour scheme of the healthy environment.

The first bacteria is the smallest and weakest. Though it manages to defeat the immune system, it is no match for the antibiotics. Until it mutates…

tage 1 Bacteria S

tage 2 Bacteria S Now mutated and much larger than it’s previous form, the stage 2 bacteria wears the symbol of the antibiotic it defeated on its chest, showing it has adapted to defeat it.

tage 3 Bacteria S The stage 3 bacteria also wears the symbol of the defeated antibiotic on its chest. However, this one learns to defeat the new antibiotic by studying the dead body of another bacteria. It adapts, defeats them, and mutates.

uper Bacteria S It has now defeated every antibiotic thrown at it, and begins moving swiftly through the environment, taking the infection with it. The presence of this bacteria calls for more drastic measures; the introduction of a super antibiotic, that will kill the bacteria but also leave lasting side effects.

he Claw T Even now, bacteria is adapting to defeat even the most powerful antibiotics. When the landscape is damaged, and the battle appears to be over, the claw of a larger bacteria emerges from the debris, ready to carry on where its predecessors failed.

nvironments E

nfluence I I wanted there to be a stark difference in colour to show the infected part of the environment and healthy part. I was largely inspired by the northern lights, and chose red and green as the main colours. The light pink of the healthy environment represents flesh, while the red indicates inflammation or blood, before turning into the sickly green where the infection is most prevalent.

humbnails T

oncept Art C

ealthy Environment H

acteria Taking Over B

nhealthy Environment U

estroyed Environment D

aking it 3D M In order to build my environments in 3D, I

separated my digitally painted scenes into layers

and added each layer to a different plane, as

seen on the left. This gave the illusion of distance as

the camera moved.

toryboard S

nimation Stills A