Finish Works

work In Progress 05

work In Progress 04

Work In Progress 03

Here is the second image, which is illustrated the scene that Pra Suthon journeys through the poison zone of Himmapan forest.

Work In Progress 02

Work In Progress 01

From all sketches, I chose the second one (the rattan forest) to do first however in my schedule I had planed to do all at the same time. Since I am working on one piece, I want to focus only what I have been doing and finish one at a time.

First Tentative Schedule

This is my first plan during summer period.

Chapter 4: Rough Sketches 02

These are series of scenes in Phra Suthon Manohra tale when Phra Suthon travels to Himmapan forest finding his beloved wife, Manohra.

The first scene is the scene that Phra Suthon journeys to Himmapan forest and confronts a dangerous poison forest. Fortunately, with a little help of a monkey, found on the way here, he finally passes it. In this picture, I chose to illustrate in different ways. The security tube path located through the forest represents help of the monkey, and the poison forest is caused by pollution.

The second illustration is the scene that Phra Suthon have to pass a rattan forest where is full of deadly thorns. Hence he have to cover himself by a magic cloth. A gigantic bird, called Husadeelueng sees him and thinks he is a deer captures and takes him to its tremendous nest up on the treetop.

The last one is the scene that Phra Suthon have to walk through a crashing mountains where two mountains are colliding with each other all the time, thanks to the magic equipment he able to stop them.

Chapter 3: Some Rough Sketches and New Idea

These are some rough sketches I have but they don't have any story behind and that make them incomplete.

So new Himmapan matte painting's sketches will based on Thai literatures that involved with Himmapan forest instead. One of the most classic story about Himmapan is Phra Suthon Manohra.

This ancient literature was written in Ayutthaya period by an anonymous author, believed that it came from Jataka tales. Originating in India, Jataka is regarded as a great source of traditional tales in Asian countries, including Thailand. Jataka is series of religious stories involved with Buddhism believes portray about Buddha's former lives. However, in my opinion, Phra Suthon Manohra story is more like fantasy fairy tales.

Phra Suthon Manohra is a romantic fantasy story about a prince (Phra Suthon) of Panjalanakorn, who falls in love with Himmapan's exquisite creature, Kinaree (female half-human, half-bird creature), name Manohra. Unfortunately, they are separated from each other. Since there are conflicts and chaos occurs in Panjalanakorn and Manohra is blamed as a cause of all problem, so that the high court decides to sacrifice her, luckily, she can escape. As a result, Phra Suthon travels to Himmapan forest to get his lover back.

Chapter 2: Location

Since I intend to do Steam Punk Himmapan theme, I need a beautiful forest background. Here are some interesting and possible locations, located in the central, Thailand, for this project.

Teelorsu waterfall, Tak

Kuen Vachiralongkorn National Park, Kanchanaburi

However, this isn't a final decision, I need the most possible and exotic places near Bangkok, where I able to go there within a day or two-day trip.

First Chapter: The Imagination Begins

First of all, what I intend to do in my Independent Study's (or IS) project is matte painting that we always see in the movies, especially in the films that have imaginary sets or fantasy scenes. Thus, matte painting helps us create things that never exist... exist.

So my idea is to create a new world, a new planet that contains different species, habitats, and cultures from our earth. I got the inspiration from blockbuster movie, Avatar and The Lord of the Ring.

Furthermore, the concept and theme of my new world was inspired by one of Thai mythologies, 'Himmapan' forest. It is a mystic forest, which is invisible for mortal livings such as humans, believed located in India or below Buddhist Heaven. This place also contains numerous types of strange creatures. For example, half human half bird (Kinnari), Maka Nareepon (a fruit that has a woman inside), half giant half deer (Mareet), and so on. In addition, Himmapan forest appears in many Thai's ancient story, such as Ramakien, Phra Suthon Manora, and Khakee. (you can get more information about Himmapan forest from http://www.himmapan.com/)

Kinnari

Maka Nareepon

However, my world will not look alike the original Himmapan painting. The theme of the project will be a mixture of Thai art and modern technology, some kinds of 'Steam Punk' located in the forest. Here, I try to create a whole new world with differ plants, animals and cultures illustrated by a couple matte paintings that show the world's civilization and make audiences feel that they are real. These examples of matte painting below are similar to what I want to do. (images from http://www.dusso.com/)