Animal Style Research Articles

The peculiarities of the formation and evolution of the animal style in the Tagar culture

The peculiarities of the formation and evolution of the animal style in the Tagar culture

Pazyryk Culture on the Ukok Plateau

The article discusses the unique heritage of the Ukok Plateau in the southeastern part of the Altai Mountains. The author shares findings from research on the ancient Scythian culture in Altai and the archaeological monuments discovered. It has been possible to expand the knowledge about the ancient inhabitants of the Plateau due to the complex research work of the groups of Russian archaeologists from Novosibirsk headed by V. I. Molodin and N. V. Polosmak. Particular attention was given to the discovery by N. V. Polosmak in 1993 on the Ukok Plateau, i. e. the mummy of Pazyryk woman who lived in southern Siberia more than two millennia ago. The mummy was found in a mound of permafrost, so the burial was preserved and appeared to researchers in its authentic form: a larch log cabin was placed under the mound, almost three meters deep from the surface, and six horses, fully dressed and harnessed, killed especially for burial, were placed on its northern side. An important component of the Pazyryk culture is the art of the animal style, widespread among the Scythian peoples. Almost all the items of equipment accompanying the burial of a Pazyryk woman belonged to the products of the animal style. Although this burial was common to the Pazyryk people, it had some extraordinary features. First, the woman's burial was a solitary one, while in the barrows excavated earlier, women were buried together with men. Secondly, the barrow itself was solitary, although, as a rule, all the Pazyryk burial mounds are chains of barrows oriented from north to south. Thirdly, the objects of the accompanying inventory were distinguished by high craftsmanship, and the burial chamber was large. And finally, the silk shirt was a great rarity for the Pazyryk inhabitants. Foreign scientists also took part in the research, applying completely new methods of research. For example, ancient DNA was isolated from the tissue of a female mummy which allowed to study of the racial and ethnospecific features of the representatives of the Pazyryk culture of the Altai Mountains. The found artifacts testify to the presence of a developed culture belonging to the so-called Pazyryk culture among the ancient inhabitants of Altai.

Comments to the article by I. P. Lazaretov “Cemetery of Sektakh and the problem of the animal style in the Tagar culture”

В кратком комментарии атор обсуждает некоторые положения И. П. Лазаретова, высказанные им в статье «Могильник Сектах и проблема звериного стиля тагарской культуры» (с. 312-327) и выдвигает свои контраргументы.

Semiotic space of the Permian animal style. History of problem and modern interpretations

Semiotic space of the Permian animal style. History of problem and modern interpretations

НОВЫЕ НАХОДКИ С ИЗОБРАЖЕНИЕМ МЕДВЕДЯ ИЗ КИПЧАКОВСКОГО АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО КОМПЛЕКСА (ЛЕСОСТЕПНОЕ ПРЕДУРАЛЬЕ)

The Kipchakovo archaeological site complex encompasses several monuments located in the northwestern part of the Republic of Bashkortostan. It is believed to be one of the earliest archaeological centers of the Pyany Bor cul-ture. Therefore, the artifacts discovered on its territory serve as valuable illustrative material reflecting the process of emergence and formation of the Pyany Bor cultural traditions. One of those is the tradition of using bear images in the folk costume. Thearticle analyzes two recent finds of metal garment elements with bear images from the Kip-chakovo settlement and the Kipchakovo burial ground. The first artifact –a bronze onlay with protomes of two bears –wasfound by chance on the territory of the Kipchakovo settlement. The second one –a bronze buckle with the full-figured image of a bear –comes from one closed assemblage of the Kipchakovo burial ground. The onlay has close parallels with some antiquities of the Kara-Abyz culture dated to the 3dand 2ndcenturies BC, while the buckle looks similar to a number of finds, which make up the Pyany Bor and Kara-Abyz archaeological assemblages at the turn of the eras. The authors statethat bear images depicted on both finds represent the same line of animal art development in the aforementioned cultures and belong to a large group of bear images that could be further divided into two sub-groups (early and late) based on some typological variations. An intermediate stage between these subgroups is rep-resented by a belt hook with the image of three bears from the Kipchakovo burial ground. The early type of bear im-ages was formed in the Kara-Abyz culture during the 3dand 2ndcenturies BC under the influence of the Scythian-Sarmatian animal style. The late type started to appear at the turn of the eras and became widespread in the Pyany Bor culture. However, it was genetically linked with the early one. The authors also emphasize the exceptional role of the Shipovo and Kipchakovo archaeological site complexes in the described processes of the bear images trans-formations

TUNCELI'S HISTORY IN STONE: A RAM-SHEEP-HORSE SHAPED TOMBSTONE AND THE BALBAL TRADITION

Gravestones, which fall into the material dimension of cultures, are very important cultural objects. They are monuments that give important information about the cultural world to which they belong, with their shapes and some symbols engraved on them, rather than the objects erected on the graves materially. Especially for the old Turkish cultural world, which does not leave much in terms of written sources, tombstones, objects bearing the traces of traditions, are first-hand sources that provide information about the character of the culture and the history of the people. This situation is valid in Tunceli region, about which there are not enough written sources. In this sense, within our study, firstly, ram, sheep, horse shaped stones and the historical dimension of the balbal tradition were examined, then the traces of these material artifacts in the Tunceli region were examined and their historical evaluation was made. Finally, the examples and historical depths of the ram, sheep, horse shaped tombstone and balbal tradition in different geographies are discussed. As a result of the study, it has been understood that the ram, sheep, horse shaped tombstones and balbals in Tunceli region are concrete examples of old Turkish material culture elements and Eurasian animal style. Again, the similarities of the motifs on the tombstones with the works in the Central Asian geography and Eurasian steppes were determined.

MOTIVATION FOR LEARNING AND ENGLISH CONVERSATION THROUGH FILM MEDIA WITH DUBBED AND SUBTITLED METHODS

The key to inspiring pupils to study and communicate in English is to provide engaging educational media and effective learning methods. One of the most intriguing is the use of cinema media as a teaching medium. The film tells an intriguing story in the style of graphic animation and includes auditory sound to captivate students who want to learn English. Furthermore, effective learning strategies can help students understand what they are being taught. One of the learning approaches that can be utilized to urge students to communicate in English is to use dubbing and subtitling. Dubbing is a technique for imitating the voices of actors in films who perform certain parts. Because they appear to be acting out film dialogue scenes depicted by actors, this helps increase pupils' interest in conversing in English. The method of showing film dialogue at the bottom of the screen is known as subtitles. In other words, as a tool for students to absorb the material supplied, teaching media and learning methods are linked and mutually beneficial. Students can be helped to engage in language learning while also being motivated to speak in English using effective and efficient media and approaches.

Turkic Ethnic Formations in the Eurasian Space

The article analyzes the way of life and living conditions of the ancestors who stood at the origins of the origin of the Kazakhs and other more than 200 indigenous ethnic groups of Eurasia. Based on the data of new anthropological, archaeological, ethnosociological, ethnolinguistic and DNA-genealogical studies integrated into scientific circulation, life support, management and cultural studies models formed in accordance with the natural and climatic conditions in the regions of residence of the ancestors of indigenous origin are compared and analyzed. There are enough artifacts indicating that the ancient Turkic peoples originate in Siberia. To confirm this, we can cite dozens of examples of monumental monuments, the material and spiritual world, found in Siberia, uncovered and proven by the Turkic peoples. During the study of corpses found in Altai graves, in particular, on the faces of corpses excavated in the Pazyryk culture, mixed signs of the Caucasoid and Mongoloid races were found, which are signs of a mixed life of European and Mongolian races. The shark marine culture was evaluated as a continuation of a new stage of the samples of the Pazyryk culture. In the mounds, along with human bones, many ornaments decorated with a pattern in the animal style were found. Among them, images of deer, eagles, argali, wolves and livestock are very attractively depicted. In this regard, it is determined that the population of the Gorno-Altai Territory was in a strong state structure with a strong culture, economy, and religious beliefs. The article clarifies that the Hunkurats, who settled in all regions of the Eurasian space, like others inhabited the Altai Mountains and founded cultural centers. This is evidenced by cultural monuments, sculptures, balbals, images of fine art, ornamental products, remnants of production products, funeral rites, ideological images excavated in settlements and burial grounds of these regions.

Outcomes of exposure to healthy weight and lifestyle advertising: An experimental study of adults from the United Kingdom

Mass media advertising promoting healthy weight and lifestyles represents an important approach to the prevention of non-communicable diseases. However, concerns have been raised that advertisements promoting a healthy weight may be stigmatizing and contribute to negative outcomes. This study explored the potential negative and positive cognitive, psychological, and behavioral intention outcomes of exposure to different public health campaign advertisements that promote positive behavior change and healthy weight. A total of 1,098 adult residents of the United Kingdom (50% female, Mage = 35.21 years) viewed one of four video advertisements: one control advertisement and three healthy weight and lifestyle advertisements that differed in message content (negative health impacts, support/encouragement, and social norms) and execution style (graphic, animation, and depicted scene). Participants then responded to items assessing a variety of cognitive, psychological, and behavioral intention outcomes. Compared to those in the control condition, those exposed to a healthy weight and lifestyle advertisement reported significantly higher scores for (i) perceptions of weight stigma, (ii) negative emotions, and (iii) intentions to engage in adaptive lifestyle behaviors. There were no differences observed between conditions for maladaptive behavioral intentions, internalized weight bias, anti-fat attitudes, and body dissatisfaction. The advertisement featuring a supportive/encouraging message and animation style performed most favorably. Results suggest that healthy weight and lifestyle advertisements have the potential to promote positive behavior change but may be associated with some negative outcomes. Of the assessed communication approaches, a supportive/encouraging message with animation style appears least likely to induce negative emotions and is preferred for minimizing weight stigma.

Fantastic Fauna in a Global Perspective: understanding composites in early Eurasian Antiquity

AbstractAncient tombs and hoards across the Eurasian steppe call for a thorough revision of art-historical categories associated with pastoral societies from Mongolia to Crimea. This study focuses on one such category. “Animal style” is an umbrella term traditionally used to categorise portable precious metalwork ornamented with dynamic scenes of vigorous animal fights and entwined zoomorphic designs. With its emphasis on irregular animal anatomies and deeply rooted in a “pars-pro-toto” mode of expression, steppe imagery of fantastic fauna presents a useful case study in broader investigations of composites in the ancient world and their diffusion across cultural spheres. This study views beasts through a binary lens, the structured monsters of Greco-Roman thinkers and the organic composites of nomadic steppe artisans. In the Western canon, “composites” existed within a politically-manufactured framework of governable “otherness”, in which fantastic fauna conveys a certain tension with the exotic, unknown and uncontrollable East. Meanwhile, in the visual rhetoric of steppe artisans, monsters represented a tension with the (cyclical) shifts occurring in one's biota rather than the tumultuous events in one's constructed environment. This paper explores how the contrasting steppe pastoralist and sedentary imperial world-views came to define the various functions and meanings of “composites” in Eurasian Antiquity.

Into the Spider-Verse and a New Age of Comic Realism

This article examines Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse through an analysis of realism in animated film. The plot of the film is concerned with the collision of multiple universes, and thus the narrative brings together different realities, each of which subscribe to a different animation style. Defining ‘reality’ in an animated film challenges the traditional divide between realism and formalism in film theory, which relies on photorealism as the benchmark of reproducing reality. Newer media theories introduce a transmedia approach to realism that are concerned with the fidelity of an adaptation to its source material. With these tools, we can see how Spider-Verse’s aesthetics heighten the narrative impact.

Art historical and archaeometric analyses of the ‘animal style’ gold and silver ornaments (fourth–third centuries bce) found in north‐west China

AbstractThe archaeological visibility of the production and consumption of gold and silver ornaments increased substantially during the Iron Age. A large number of precious metalworks rendered with distinctive ‘animal style’ motifs have been recovered from elite tombs in north‐west China, and have attracted great interest when investigating the dynamics of exchange, mobility and transcultural encounters in Eurasian antiquity. However, little scientific research has been undertaken to examine the manufacturing techniques and metal composition of such ‘animal style’ artefacts found in north‐west China and its neighbouring areas in a broader Eurasian context. Using multiple non‐invasive analytical methods, we conducted a detailed scientific analysis of two groups of precious metals excavated from Dongheigou Tomb 12 (fourth–second centuries bce) and Xigou Tomb 1 (third–second centuries bce) in present‐day Balikun county, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The results suggest that mould‐pressing technology was employed for the production of the ‘animal style’ appliqués found in these two tombs. The current analysis provides a definitive explanation for the traces of superficial crafting through their specific microstructure and the tool marks of manufacturing, and will thus be of significant interest for further research concerning the metallurgic knowledge and technological practice of precious metalworking industry in north‐west China and Central Asia.

Estudos sobre a potencialidade do design de som em filmes de animação - O impacto e a influência do som na realização de uma curta de animação

This study will investigate the importance and the influence of sound design in the development of an animation production, and evaluate whether the stage in which the sound is implemented affects the film´s rhythm and atmosphere.Other animation contexts will be studied to identify working methods, such as: the analysis of animated film productions by evaluating the relationship between sound design and animation; conducting and analyzing two interviews with animation professionals; and also examine other relevant documentation.Regarding the practical project, it´s intended to develop and analyze animation experiences with the sound design as a starting point, as well as the inverse process by creating sound tracks based on already existing animations. These experiments aim to demonstrate the potential of sound design and animation in the development of a short film.Following this analysis, it is also intended to produce a storyboard and an animatic, which will be the basis for the development of the sound design. Finally, and based on this process, an animated short film will be produced.The development of the sound design will be experimental, and the sound tracks will be captured by using domestic objects instead of ordinary musical instruments, in order to expand the auditory experience of the film. These sounds will be recorded and integrated in the film, according to their connection to each scene of the animation. In terms of the animation technique, a mixture of 2D animation styles will be used to reflect the experimental atmosphere created by sound design.

Can Japanese Learners Pass the JLPT N3 by Reading A3! Visual Novel?

A visual novel is a reading media in the form of conversations between characters shown in a static anime style that attracts readers to continue reading it. Equipped with audio in Japanese and translation in English, it is estimated that visual novels can be used as an exciting learning media for students. This study aims to determine the possibility of visual novels, which are usually used as a game for entertainment purposes, as a medium for learning Japanese to pass the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). The method used in this stusdy is a quantitative method to find the matching vocabularies, with a listening and note-taking method for data collection. The data analyzed here is a conversation transcript of some chapters of A3! visual novel and JLPT 2018 questions ranging from N5 to N3 level. The A3! visual novel data are grouped according to the JLPT's four linguistic aspects: Moji goi, bunpou, dokkai, and choukai, at each level (N5 to N3). The analysis results show that the visual novel A3! can be used as a strengthening medium for students to pass the JLPT from N5 to N3.

Confronting Ecological Monstrosity

Confronting Ecological Monstrosity

Shading Rig: Dynamic Art-directable Stylised Shading for 3D Characters

Despite the popularity of three-dimensional (3D) animation techniques, the style of 2D cel animation is seeing increased use in games and interactive applications. However, conventional 3D toon shading frequently requires manual editing to clean up undesired shadows or add stylistic details based on art direction. This editing is impractical for the frame-by-frame editing in cartoon feature film post-production. For interactive stylised media and games, post-production is unavailable due to real-time constraints, so art-direction must be preserved automatically. For these reasons, artists often resort to mesh and texture edits to mitigate undesired shadows typical of toon shaders. Such edits allow real-time rendering but are limited in resolution, animation quality and lack detail control for stylised shadow design. In our framework, artists build a “shading rig,” a collection of these edits, that allows artists to animate toon shading. Artists pre-animate the shading rig under changing lighting, to dynamically preserve artistic intent in a live application, without manual intervention. We show our method preserves continuous motion and shape interpolation, with fewer keyframes than previous work. Our shading shape interpolation is computationally cheaper than state-of-the-art image interpolation techniques. We achieve these improvements while preserving vector quality rendering, without resorting either to high texture resolution or mesh density.

(Uşak) Karaca Ahmet Sultan Türbesi’ndeki Tavus Kuşu Motifi ve Türbede Gerçekleştirilen Halk İnanışları

Karaca Ahmet Sultan Tomb is in Usak Province, Ulubey District, Karaca Ahmet Village. The tomb is one of the mausoleums of Karaca Ahmet Sultan, also known as Gozcu Karaca Ahmet. The hexagonal planned tomb is covered with an octagonal drum dome. Two peacock figures placed symmetrically on both sides of a tree of life on the entrance door of the tomb are engraved. The bird is a symbolic figure in many cultures from ancient times to the present day. Sometimes he carried the deceased to the other world, sometimes accompanied him or his soul turned into a bird. The bird figure has become a popular motif in the ornamental repertoire of various arts, especially literature. In this study, peacock motif in Karaca Ahmet Sultan Tomb is handled and its place in Turkish culture and iconography is evaluated; the origin and iconographic meaning of the motif in question are emphasized. The arts with human or animal figures, based on shaman and astrological symbols in the Eurasian animal style, have survived for centuries and appear in different regions of Anatolia. While figural examples of this tradition are seen in large numbers in civil architecture, they are rarely but meaningful in religious architecture. The tomb is also a visiting centre where various rituals are performed in honour of Karaca Ahmet’s healer identity-medicine. It is seen that the practices of attachment to the grandfather in the tomb are based on pre-Islamic Central Asian Turkish beliefs due to the elements it carries. The visit to the tomb and the expected help in having children show that this practice and belief is a continuation of the ancestral cult. In addition, similar uses of objects such as hand stones, logs, cheesecloth taken from the sarcophagus, wish stone, which we encounter during the operations performed, are also observed in Turkish practices before Islam. The prayers performed with the sūras (chapter in the Qur’an) and prayers read during the practices performed in the tomb show that practices based on traditional Turkish religion and pre-Islamic Turkish beliefs have gained an Islamic character and in this way the practices have been maintained until today. These liturgical objects and the peacock motif in the mausoleum function both as the visual relics of Karaca Ahmet and as powerful tools with healing and protective properties. Keywords: Usak, Tomb, Karaca Ahmet Sultan, Peacock Motif, Embellishment.

Double Projection of Motion Graphic Using Glass Reflection: A Case Study of Massacre

With the continuous development of technology and artistic creation, the creation methods and styles of hand-drawn animation have become increasingly diversified. Simultaneously, many creators are focusing on the absorption and reference of different art forms and expression methods. As one of the forms of art design, the application of hand-drawn animation to holographic display technology introduces a completely different aesthetic feeling. Through holographic display technology, visual design and visual technology in hand-drawn animation art are integrated, the expressiveness and richness are significantly enhanced, and the artistic personality and charm are better demonstrated. The main research objective of this paper is the innovative application of holographic display technology in hand-drawn animation. With the help of holographic display technology, the pre-prepared hand-drawn animation is projected on the glass and overlapped with the hand-drawn animation on another screen through a glass to create the effect of overlapping images. In addition, this paper explores the application status and technical implementation of holographic display technology in the field of animation. Furthermore, it analyzes the integration between holographic display technology and animation art in terms of interactive display modes.

The animator’s sensorium: The impact of acting and animation experience on creating reference performances

This research provides an initial investigation into strategies for creating reference performances for animation. The term reference performance has various meanings in animation production; in this article, I use it to refer to a recording of a person performing physical and emotional cues, from which performance elements of an animated character may be derived. Beginning with Max Fleischer’s invention of the rotoscope process in 1915, animation studios began to record actors as a means to inject greater believability into the movements and expressions of animated characters. Throughout this article, I reference Pallant’s understanding of ‘believability’ as a ‘[reconciliation of] realism within the animated form’. While various methods exist today to capture reference performances, it remains axiomatic that the utility of the reference is only as good as a performer’s ability to produce the desired performance. While seasoned actors would seem ideally suited to the task, large-scale animation studios frequently require animators to film their own reference performances, even though the animators may have limited (or non-existent) acting experience. By comparison, smaller studios and independent productions may not have the time or ability for each animator to self-produce reference; instead, they may opt for an animation director/supervisor to record reference for every character, to work from clips available through online video sites (e.g. YouTube) or to forgo video reference altogether. This research examines the potential for acting experience to enhance reference performances and specifically explores three different preconditions of experience when producing animation reference: an actor with no animation experience, an animator with no acting experience and an academic with both acting and animation experience. As an additional site of inquiry, this research explores the use of head-mounted cameras in the production of animation reference as a means to more fully and reliably capture the research participants’ expressive range. This research engages with ethnographic and autoethnographic research models to compare the creative choices of each participant and their ability to produce meaningful expressions, gestures and body movements as reference performance for a short, auteur 3D animated film in a predominantly realistic style. From these analyses, the maximal performance utility of each participant is gauged. By extension, this limited data provides an initial suggestion that acting experience is an essential precondition when producing useful reference performances for the type and style of animation explored in this study. Furthermore, this article relates the acting strategies of its participants to the acting theory of Ivana and the theory of emotional effector patterns as described by . This research suggests that these practice-informed performance theories may prove useful to animator when producing their own reference, regardless of performance experience.

Мотив птичьей головы с волютовидным клювом в системе восточноевропейского варианта скифского звериного стиля и его вероятные истоки

The Eastern European Scythian animal style is characterized by some peculiarities both in the repertoire and in artistic technique that distinguish this local version of the Scythian-Siberian animal style from another ones. The article describes the motif of a separate head of a bird of prey with a twirled (in development — volute) beak as a good local marker of the Eastern European Scythian animal style. This is one of the most characteristic repertoire preferences, much less inherent in other local variants of the Scythian-Siberian animal style (excluding the Pazyryk art). The article characterizes morphological types of numerous images of this kind, these types were revealed by the author in the course of classification of images of the Scythian local variant of the animal style. The author reveals the stylistic dynamics of this motif in chronological context against the general background of implementation of the mega-image of bird in the Eastern European Scythian animal style. Also analogues from other local variants of the Scythian-Siberian world are presented. There are determined probable origins of the discrete head of bird of prey with twirled beak in the Eastern European Scythian animal style, where this motif is regular during the 7th—4th centuries BC, i. e. throughout the existence of this local variant. The study supports the version of the polycentric origin of the Scythian-Siberian animal style and the Scythian-Siberian cultural and historical community as a whole.