Embedded Files
Task 7 - Board Planning (A3 boards)
Task 7 - Board Planning (A3 boards)
Now you will need to demonstrate how your final product will be presented.
Annotation must be applied to your examples in order to explain your thought process.
Annotation and Font
(Example of custom font template by Katherine Goodwin)
For my annotation, I've been debating whether I should use a premade font, or if I should write it by hand entirely.
One idea I have been given in feedback is to mix both handwriting and premade fonts, using premade fonts to quickly produce lengthy, readable texts without devoting too much time, while also using my own handwriting to express and emphasise specific comments and make certain texts stand out.
Something else I could consider is creating my own premade font to use my own style whilst not having to write every single piece of annotation by hand. I have borrowed this idea from Katherine Goodwin's 'Cryptid Files' ArtStation project, which is very similar to my own project, in which they created their own font to annotate their files. I think this worked out really well in their project and has made their files look really authentic, and I definitely believe this is something I could achieve quite quickly so I am very heavily considering following this pathway to display my annotations and comments. This idea also removes the issue of many fonts not including punctuation or other symbols, forcing me to try and avoid using them, or to try and create my own makeshift punctuation, which can make writing look strange and inconsistent.
A benefit to using a premade font over handwritten comments would be that I would have the ability to resize, reshape and transform my text at ease, using Photoshop's ability to alter the size of fonts and text boxes. This is far superior to a handwritten comment where, if I were to change the size of it, I would have to manually readjust every sentence length so that it does not wrap to the next line too quickly and leave a lot of blank, empty space.
A benefit to using handwritten comments over a premade font is that it adds an element of randomness and human error to the text, with no two letters being perfectly identical, therefore making the page feel more realistic and authentic. If I were to use a premade font, every repeated letter would match which may be noticeable and make the page feel more 'fake'.
These are 2 examples of premade fonts, named "Chalk Stick" and "Beautiful Vampires" which I used in my prototype pages to present titles and annotation respectively.
I think these fonts worked quite well due to their scratchy, pencil-like textures making them feel as though they were actually written rather than produced by a machine. Furthermore, the boldness of the Chalk Stick font really helped it to remain prominent and stand out on the page to make titles and separate sections of the page very clear. It also helped it to contrast the much skinnier Beautiful Vampires font to keep annotation and titles visibly separate.
However, one issue I encountered with these fonts is that due to their messy and quite stylised appearance, these fonts are not very legible at small sizes, reducing the amount of annotation I would realistically be able to fit into my pages.
These are some fonts I made myself, using the website Calligraphr. I experimented with a few different styles, thicknesses and brush types to find what I did and didn't like and to see how well they fit into the context of my journal pages.
One idea I tried in a few of these examples was to use multiple brush strokes on single lines to make the letters look rough and messy, as if they had been sketched with a scratchy, chipped pencil. I think this looks really good and would be a great fit for the larger bodies of text in my annotation, as they both fit the theme of my project really well, making the writing seem more realistic, but they also remain very legible, even at small sizes which will allow me to not feel constrained in the amount of detail I will be able to include whilst also not having to worry about text being completely illegible and unreadable.
Another idea I tried when experimenting with different font styles was attempting to make a font that worked in cursive, with letters that connected to each other as though they were written together in a single pencil stroke. This would really help to make the writing on my page feel more authentic and realistic, as opposed to separated letters that feel more printed and computer-generated. However, this idea didn't turn out as well as I had hoped as I struggled to make letters recognisable and distinguishable from one another, whilst also consistently giving them tails that matched up to identical start and end points. Overall, the font had many issues with overlapping and poorly-connecting letters which made the text end up looking messy and unreadable, therefore I have mostly scrapped this idea.
These are the two fonts that I will be using for my final boards. I will be using the scratchy, light text at the top of the page for main bodies of annotation, such as descriptions, theories and stories, and I will be using the bolder text at the bottom for more prominent, shorter text that I want to stand out, such as titles and comments.
I'm really happy with these two fonts as I think they both fit the style I am going for really well, looking as though they were handwritten using rough pencils, crayon or charcoal.
I think my scratchy text works great as the descriptive text on my page as it is light enough to fit in a lot of information without appearing overwhelming or taking up too much space, yet still clear enough to be able to distinguish the letters at smaller sizes, ensuring everything is still readable.
I think my bold, crayon-like font will be excellent for creating my headers and titles as the letters are incredibly thick, with minimal negative space included, meaning they are incredibly prominent and will easily stand out, helping to divide up the different aspects and sections of my page in an easily visible manner.
Layout
This is the journal page replica background I created for my prototype pages, made using a variety of filters, noise and blending modes, as well as additional features such as page borders and stains.
One element of this that I think worked quite well is the subtle vignette around the page. I designed the lighting of the page so that there are much brighter colours near the top, that get darker near the lower corners. I find that this does a really good job of focusing people's eyes towards the centre of the page where they can see the majority of the page and look towards some of the most notable features.
Something else I considered when making this page was placing different stains and markings around the page, such as fingerprints. When placing the fingerprints, I placed blurrier, yet higher quantity collections near the bottom two corners, keeping in mind that the lower corners are the most common placement for a reader or writer's fingers where they would be turning and holding the page. Additionally, placing fingerprints around the edges of the page helps to create a more natural and authentic vignette that is much more subtle than just using gradients and helps the page to feel more grounded and real.
For my final pages, I want to create three different variants of the same page style, semi-randomly moving around markings and colours to make each page visibly unique and to avoid making them appear identical.
These are the three final backgrounds I have created to display my illustrations and annotation on. I took the background I made for my prototype pages and have slightly altered the colour and texture of each page to make them all unique, as well as shuffling stains and markings around.
Another change I made for my final backgrounds is a more developed border. The border I made for my prototype pages was produced quickly and therefore wasn't very detailed or interesting. For my final pieces, I have created a new border, inspired by designs I found in examples of notebook pages in my research. I think the guidelines I have added that lightly cover the page help to make the pages feel more 3D and curved as I have added a subtle arc to them that raises towards the center of the page. This adds some nice background detail to my page to help it feel less empty and improves the quality of the page overall in my opinion.
This was the first layout plan I created for my journal pages, which I used for my prototype goat page and adapted for the other two prototype pages I created.
This layout was influenced by many of the journal pages included in my moodboard I created for my developed research. I separated image and text into colour coded boxes, with blue squares being photos and illustrations and yellow squares being annotation.
This first test was quite helpful as it let gave me the ability to see how much space I had to work with and how I could format different features across the page to show off different aspects of the designs.
These are some initial layouts I created to try and plan out what I would be including in my final products, where everything would be placed and how much space different aspects of the page would take up. This allowed me to test different ideas and concepts for layouts without having to commit to drawing anything yet and would help me find empty or uninteresting areas on the page to fill in.
I used vibrant, colour-coded rectangles to label each item, using red for illustrations, blue for external assets stuck onto the page and yellow for annotation and text. This helped me to clearly see the spread of information across the page and ensure I wouldn't bunch up similar items too closely together to avoid making the page feel uniform and unnatural. I also ensured I included some slanted and irregularly shaped boxes, often in the form of photographs, to help break up the static feeling of perfectly aligned boxes and to make the arrangement of the page more varied.
These are the layouts I ended up choosing for my final products. I find that they all display a fairly even amount of information spread across the page, yet still vary enough in presentation to tell them apart. Additionally, these designs give large amounts of space near the top left of the page to display the main sketches of the creatures, being the prime location where people would think to begin reading and will therefore help in drawing people's eyes towards the main focuses of the pages.
This is an example of a fake photograph I have created to attach to my presentation boards. I designed the shape and layout of the photo to reference a standard, polaroid photograph with a rectangular white sheet of paper containing a photograph in a square resolution. These will provide more realistic views of my designs and will allow me to display their colour schemes, which I decided I would not be showing in my journal sketches to stick to the black-and-white pencil-sketched style I wanted to emulate.
For the photographs themselves, I added a variety of effects, including noise, chromatic aberration, blur, shadows, reflections, glare, vignettes and gradients with various blending modes. A lot of these effects are very subtle, but altogether I think they really help the image to look more realistic and help to obscure the less detailed aspects of the drawing. You can clearly see the difference they make when you compare the photograph to the example below, with most of the effects removed.
On my final boards, a few features of these photographs will be added and changed, including slightly torn and ripped edges on the sides of the photos to help them appear aged, a shadow cast behind them to make them appear as though they are a separate piece of paper that has been attached to the page, and strips of tape on the corners and sides of the photos to stick them down. Additionally, for my real presentation boards, as opposed to my digital ones, I will be printing out the photos separately and actually taping them onto the boards, helping my page to feel less flat and more real.
These are some newspaper designs I created to cut out extracts of and attach to my boards, similarly to the photographs mentioned above. I thought that these would be a fun way to incorporate more 'evidence' of these creatures existence, making them seem more realistic.
To try and make these newspapers feel old and more believable, I used weathered paper backgrounds similar to my journal pages, and added sepia filters onto my illustrations, making them seem older and less modern.
Because I didn't want to waste too much time on something that wouldn't be fully included in my designs, I did not fill in the entirety of these newspapers, only writing text and providing images of whatever I considered including in my final pieces, leaving lots of space blank.
The size of my final boards will be full A3 sheets. However, they will appear as two A4 sheets due to my boards being split up into two vertical pages. To achieve this, I will either print each of my boards out as two separate pieces to help the journal feel more real, or I will print both pages on one sheet to avoid making the presentation more difficult to look at and apply.
I think I will probably print both pages of each board as one A3 sheet, as this is easily the most convenient solution and printing two A4 sheets might cause issues, such as leaving a gap between the two pages, ruining the immersion of the journal book imitation.
Ideas Generation Presentation
These are some examples of presentation boards I have made to display my ideas generation and process I took in creating my final designs. These boards will not be printed and featured in my physical presentations, but will be displayed on my ArtStation project to show off my ideas generation skills in my portfolio.
When making these sheets, I took a lot of inspiration from examples I found in my presentation board research, looking at what people had done to make their art stand out and be visually appealing. One element of this featured in my boards is plain or very simple backgrounds. All of the backgrounds on my ideas generation boards are either plain white, or a very desaturated colour that appears grey. This helps to keep my backgrounds simple and clean, avoiding making the background too messy and taking attention away from the actual designs.
Another feature I included in these presentation boards was faint shadows or glows behind designs. I made almost all images in these boards emit a very subtle gradient behind them, appearing like a shadow against the background or luminant as if the design was glowing. I find that this has really helped the designs to stand out against the background, especially for images with similar colours to the backgrounds as it acts almost as an outline, helping to show the perimeter of all images and showing their designs clearly in full, without any details being lost.
Task 7 - Exhibition Planning.
Task 7 - Exhibition Planning.
Now you will need to demonstrate how your final products on a wall/presentation space will be presented - how do you want your individual boards to look?
Annotation must be applied to your examples in order to explain your thought process.
Because I want my boards to resemble pages from an old weathered journal or notebook, I had a few ideas on how I could help achieve that effect.
One idea I had was to collect some weathered scrap paper, making it appear aged by burying it or mixing it in dirty water or something similar. I could paste this behind my final prints and use it to boost the pages up slightly from the wall, making them appear like they are written in an actual book. This would make my presentation board pop out more, both visually and literally, it would help people identify the theme of my project at a glance, and would hopefully entice more people to have a look at my work.
Another idea I had was to exclude the taped on features, such as photographs and newspaper headlines, when printing, and print them separately to actually tape them on rather than printing them onto a flat page to make them look like they've been taped on. This will give my boards a scrapbook-like appearance and it would be more realistic and appealing to see an actual photograph that's been taped onto the page than a flat image with no real depth, as well as hopefully helping my board to be more unique and stand out amongst others. Another small idea I could include in a similar vein is to find items related to my creatures, such as feathers or fake teeth, and display these on my boards as well to add another level of realism and depth.
One idea I'm not too sure on but am still considering is folding and attaching my boards in such a way that they are all presented on the same board, essentially making a small, six-page book and letting people flip between the different pages to see each presentation. This would really make my pages feel authentic and part of an actual journal, however it may hinder my ability to display all of my work at once, as you would actually have to walk over and look through the pages and wouldn't be able to see all of my work from a distance. It would also be more difficult to achieve successfully than my other options.
One issue I may encounter is that if I try to realistically create features in the page that I have already attempted to replicate in Photoshop, such as page creases, torn edges, stains and smudges, they may appear strange with digital replicas and real features overlapping. Therefore, before I print my final pages I will decide what I want to have replicated in Photoshop, and what I will apply on the real page to avoid any duplicate features that could clutter the page or make it feel fake.
These are some quick layout ideas I created based on my own concepts and examples from my research. Each layout includes three larger, creased A3 pages that represent my main boards, the smaller wider rectangle represents my nameplate and the occasional A4 sheets would be ideas generation such as sketches and silhouettes. I designed these to help me plan out how I could arrange my presentation to display all my work evenly in a somewhat restricted space, and to find which arrangements I thought were more eye-catching.
One idea I included in a few boards was to create boards depicting my ideas generation, most likely featuring my practise sketches I created for each design. I will be displaying these anyway to show on my ArtStation project, however I also thought it could be an interesting idea to add more to my physical presentation. This would help people see the designs in a more clear and understandable style than the sketched, messy pencil style featured in the notebooks and could help them see how I planned and envisioned the designs.
However, I am not certain if I should include boards dedicated to my ideas generation, as this takes up a lot more space and clutters my layout a bit, which might confuse people on where to look. Additionally, they may detract from the main final boards I am focusing on presenting. I tried to reduce their impact on the layout slightly by making them A4 sheets rather than A3, but I still think they might be too large, so I am on the fence about including them in my final design. However, if I choose to present my three main boards on the same board as a book with flippable pages, as I mentioned earlier, they could do a good job at filling the empty space around it and hopefully wouldn't be too distracting from the main focus of the project.
Text and annotation brainstorming
The following is a collection of notes and ideas I created and noted down to plan out ideas for my annotation, including location, notable features, related creatures and cryptids, name ideas, diet, behaviour or signs of activity, and short stories describing the author's experience with the creature, displayed in both rough drafts and brief bullet points giving a quick rundown of events in the plot.
Goat Design
Name concept ideas:
Capra aegagrus hircus (Goat), Azrael (Angel of Death), Corvus, Corvid (Crow), Corax (Raven), Equus (Horse), Skeleton, Cranium, Skull, Zombie, Corpus, Haedus (Goat), Hraefen (Raven) Crawe, Krahe (Crow)
Related Cryptids & Creatures:
Goatman, Jersey Devil, Chupacabra, Valravn, Gashadokuro, Zombie, Headless Horseman, Jackalope, Sphinx, Angel of Death, Goat, Skeleton, Raven, Crow, Horse
Skull: Warped goat's skull, Off-white colour but much paler than standard skeleton, Longer horns with irregular shaping, hollow circular eye sockets, grin-like jaw structure, appears to be ripping its way out of the torso
Wing: Raven/crow-like wings, incredibly dark colour (jet-black, pitch black, lavender, midnight, blue), sharp, rough feathers, long pointed quills, incredibly sharp
Location:
Washington, Wyoming, Top-Left of America
Pine forests and snowy mountain bases, Has been seen in sky
Diet:
Unknown if it needs to eat, but areas it has been in show massively reduced rates in small mammal population (mouse, rabbit, birds) and local flora (dead grass, withered flowers, dry earth)
Photograph concepts:
Speck flying in air, mountainous, forest background
Forest scenery, visible behind trees
Bizarre environment, dead plants & animals (rabbit/bird/mouse skeletons, dry grass, wilting flowers, dying/leafless trees)
Silhouette in sky - prominent spread wings
Newspaper headlines:
"Angel of Death"
"Goat-Skeleton-Bird Hybrid"
"Monster"
"Strange noises"
"Farmers experience drought and dying crops"
"Unusual weather events"
Story points:
Go to Wyoming
Speak with townsfolk
Record audio overnight
Set off into forest early morning
Find traces of monster
Set up camp for the night
Awake in night to strange events
Encounter the monster
The monster leaves
Wake up next morning
Conclude
Rough Draft 1:
"The (Goat name) is an interesting anomaly in the cryptid world, with many reports of sightings and encounters, yet very few documents researching or studying it, leaving many to believe it as a hoax, a scary story to tell around campfires. However, this simply enticed me more, as what better way to find interesting creatures in my studies than to attempt to find the unfindable. I set off to Wyoming where I resided in a small forest-side village of townsfolk who all firmly believed in the (Goat name)'s existence with several telling me their own tales of strange noises in the night, unusual fauna and flora behaviour and sightings of a strange creature flying high above the trees in the distance.
Over the next few nights, I encountered many of the experiences the townsfolk had spoke to me about, hearing strange noises that resembled bleating, groaning, unusually forceful stomping, disrupted wildlife and powerful wings flapping. I was able to record this on my microphonic equipment, however when reviewing my camera footage, very little seemed out of the ordinary and I was not able to visually identify the causes of any unusual auditory disturbances.
On the 25th at 7AM, I took my equipment and left to explore the forest for the day, looking for anything peculiar or out of the ordinary. Nothing notable occurred for the first few hours, but as I ventured deeper into the forest I found many patches of dry and dead grass, occasionally accompanied by wilting flowers. This was very strange considering the heavy rainfall the previous night as well as standard weather for the past month or so, in which conditions these plants should be thriving. As I trekked further, I noticed a pattern of dying plants, almost forming a path that only got more intense the further I went. The deeper I went, the more oddities decorated the path, collections of small twigs, the notable lack of animals, occasional rabbit and bird skeletons etc. The strangest thing I noticed was that at the start of the path, the animal cadavers looked as though they had been withering for weeks, with very little structure or organic material remaining, however later onto the path, the bodies seemed incredibly fresh, almost as if they had been killed only moments ago.
Eventually, I came to what appeared to be an end to the path and decided to set up camp for the night as it was getting late and I felt this would be as good a spot as any to catch an encounter. The forest was eerily quiet most of the night, until about 2.30 in the morning when I began to hear the noises again, much louder, almost deafening. I quickly rushed out of my tent but couldn't make out anything in the shrouded forest darkness. As I swung my flashlight around rapidly, I was catching glimpses of something that barely evaded my view. I began taking photos, using my camera's flash to try and get a wider range of vision and catch whatever was circling me from behind trees. Until one camera flash where, for a split second, I saw an unmistakable goat skull, staring directly at me with cold, empty pupils sending chills down my spine. This continued for only a few more seconds until I noticed the forest becoming silent, and it seemed I was alone again.
I arose the next morning to find skulls at the base of trees all around my tent, almost decorating them, with every single skull angled to be staring directly towards me. I took my results, and left the forest to return to the village, where I heard people commenting on how remarkably quiet the previous night had been.
Rough Draft 2:
"I encountered this creature when camping in the forests of Wyoming. I had set up my recording equipment to notice any disturbances due to recent claims of odd occurrences. I noticed nothing too unusual until about 2AM, when I felt a chill run down my spine and I could swear I heard raspy breathing outside my tent. I looked outside and felt I was being watched from behind the trees. As I turned on my flashlight, I could see something watching me, but it was too quick to make out what. I attempted to take some photos, then blacked out. When I awoke, I was still outside my tent and surrounded by skulls of rabbits. I also noticed the previously healthy grass around my campsite had almost completely dried out and died.
Dinosaur Design
Name Concept Ideas:
Ormr (Serpent) Snaca (Serpent) Draco (Dragon) Algeca (Monster) Sauros (Dinosaur) Plesio Spino, (Polycephaly, Hydra, Hydria, Hydro (2 heads/Water)
Related Cryptids & Creatures:
Loch-Ness Monster, Knucker, Selma, Jormungandr, Spinosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Sailfish, Goblin Shark
Location:
North Atlantic, Arctic, Nord, Ocean, Greenland, Bothnia, Baltic
Sightings have been documented most frequently in the border between the North Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean, near the Norwegian Sea and Greenland Sea.
Diet:
Hasn't been seen consuming, found near corpses of adult-male sperm whales and great white sharks
Head(s):
Both equipped with large eyes almost the size of human head, 4 tusks each, 2 long 2 short, mouth lined with sharp teeth and two giant tusk-like teeth, long rostrum to aid in identifying surroundings, incredibly long necks akin to dinosaurs, necks adorned with two giant spikes stemming from vertebrae
Sail:
Tissue connected by neural spines emerging from vertebrae, aids in steering and underwater mobility, used to confuse and trap prey before consumption. Similar to sailfish (fastest fish), incredibly flexible, can be rotated nearly 70 degrees both directions to aid in rotating its massive body
Photograph concepts:
Sail rising above water
Underwater shot - blurry silhouette
Blurry silhouette with head(s) coming closer to camera, more in focus
Head(s) rising above water
Story points:
Go to Norway Europe to research mountains
Hear folk tales of monster
Do further research into monster
Arrange meeting with boat captain who will aid you in finding the monster
Sail into sea for several days
Few strange occurrences
One evening/night, very strange occurrences
Briefly see monster
Monster flees
Nothing else for rest of trip
Return
Conclude
Rough Draft 1:
"I first heard of this creature on a scientific research expedition to Norway to investigate the flower "Purple Saxifrage" and how it can survive high altitudes and temperatures. While taking a late-evening stroll through the town I was residing in, I overheard several gruff-voiced men exchanging stories and tales of monsters and legends. I assumed these were fabricated tales of drunken stupor, yet intrigue got the better of me and I began to listen in and eavesdrop to a tale of a two-headed serpent like dinosaur that had cheated death and lived through the ice age. Fascinated by his tale, I began to probe deeper and found several accounts of a creature of this exact description in centuries-old sea logs and diaries in the various Nordic libraries and archives, describing fearsome sightings and battles between sailors and this sea beast. I thought I would try my hand at finding it myself.
I looked through the information I had gathered on this cryptid and located a sailor who had supposedly encountered the creature before and was willing to aid in my hunt. I joined him on an expedition into the Norwegian Sea and endured harsh weather conditions and raging tides. Nothing notable occurred for the first two nights, save for occasional sightings of humpback whales and one rare sighting of a northern bottlenose whale. However, on the third night a few hours after the sun had set, I was sitting in my cabin when I noticed a concerningly frequent splashing noise. I rushed up onto the main deck where I met the sailor, who was also aware and informed me the noise was caused by many of the nearby fish jumping out of the water and fleeing, implying a predator was nearby. Suddenly, our boat began to shake and I saw a massive neural spine sail emerge from the water, accompanied by a low, deep growling sound, similar in volume to an aircraft taking off. The sail rose and turned above the water for about 12 seconds, before receding into the water, causing a giant crash and sending powerful waves that rocked our ship, knocking me backwards onto the floor and almost throwing anything that wasn't attached to the floor overboard. Eager to not miss this opportunity, I quickly ran downstairs into the room I had set up all of my equipment to watch the underwater camera feed and was able to capture some obscured, but undeniable evidence of this legendary creature before it disappeared into the murky darkness of the ocean.
The creature never appeared again for the remainder of the trip, however we were able to find traces of its presence, including adult-male sperm whales and great white sharks floating much closer to the surface than usual who were either slowly dying from violent and intense injuries or who were already deceased."
Rough Draft 2:
I first learned of this creature when eavesdropping a conversation of two fisherman in Norway, debating its existence and sharing tales. Intrigued, I planned an investigation of my own, meeting with a sailor who had supposedly encountered the creature in the past and would allow me to sail with him in an attempt to find the dinosaur. We had been sailing for days with few unusual occurrences, until late at night on the third day of the expedition, when we heard unusual calls from below and large waves began to rock the ship. We saw a huge sail emerge from the water and the underwater cameras began to record. After a few seconds, it sank into the murky abyss.
Salamander Design
Name concept ideas:
Caudata (Salamander), Talpidae (Mole), Diplopoda (Millipede), Chilopoda (Centipede), Palinuridae (Crawfish), Homarus Gammarus (Lobster), Salamandra, Mol, Locusta (Lobster), Crustacean, Urodela (Salamander), Isopoda, Isos (Isopods)
Related cryptids & Creatures:
Salamanders are born from fire myth, Kappa, Mole people, Chupacabra, Salamander, Mole, Crawfish, Lobsters, Isopods
"A salamander-like creature with incredible, almost human size. Has two giant mole-like claws used for burrowing in addition to many amphibious and insectile legs used for underwater mobility and climbing."
Location: Gulf of Mexico
Flooded and damp caves, Underground rivers and ravines
"The Salamander has been most commonly sighted and reported in flooded and underwater caves near the Gulf of Mexico."
Diet: Fungus, Mushrooms, Lichen, Microscopic organisms (Krill, Shrimp, Isopods)
"The Salamander is believed to consume various types of fungus and lichen that grow around its caves and rivers. One type of mushroom in particular, a close relative to the bioluminescent yellowleg bonnet, has been found in abundance in their caves with very clear signs of consumption.
It is also assumed that the Salamander feeds on microscopic creatures such as cave-dwelling krill and shrimp."
Signs of activity:
Large burrows & holes in walls, scratch marks on rocks
"Signs of its presence include
Photograph concepts:
Climbing on wall
Swimming in lake
Burrow/Scratch marks
Burrowing out of ground (floor/wall/ceiling)
Story points:
Researching salamander's regenerative properties
Read about the cryptid
Become intrigued and travel to Mexico with a research group
Take some time to research regular salamanders and axolotls.
Equip caving equipment (Compass, Headlight, Thermal clothing, Waterproof equipment, Oxygen Supply)
Go cave diving into an underwater cave and emerge in a large opening
Split up group and follow one of the experienced cavers of the team, traveling down different passages and crawling through crevices
Notice potential signs of activity
Come into another large opening, steep drop down to a lower ravine with a lake and river
Set up recording equipment and wait
After a while, notice abnormal ripples and splashes, rocks start to crumble and cryptid emerges through rocks/dirt
Cryptid climbs on wall for a while, then submerges into the lake and swims around before being obscured in the darkness
Return
Conclude
Rough Draft 1:
"In (date), I was studying the regenerative properties of salamanders and newts, studying the process in which they can grow new limbs and even organs. As I was examining various studies in my collection, I noticed the mention of a giant salamander-like creature that has been scarcely documented, with unique mole-like hands and a complete lack of eyes. Intrigued by this unnatural creature and my current study of these amphibians, I opted to plan a research expedition in which I also grouped up with several other cryptozoologists and explorers who were also eager to find evidence and information on this undocumented creature as well as any other creatures we may encounter.
After we arrived in Mexico, we spent a few days preparing, finding suitable cave entrances near the few documented sightings, planning how we would maximise our chances of success, and going about gaining authorisation to enter these caves. During this planning period, I spent some time to myself continuing my study of newts, and considering if their regenerative capabilities could potentially be applied to human medicinal practice.
On the day of the expedition, we collected our caving and diving equipment and sailed for about 5 minutes on (crew member's) boat, we all dived into the water and began following our leader's headlight towards the cave mouth. After about 2 minutes of swimming through the waterlogged tunnel, we emerged into an open clearing in the cave furnished with hundreds of stalactites and stalagmites. We split into three groups and each followed one of our experienced cavers down different winding tunnels. As we passed through the passageway, occasionally having to wade through pools of water, we began to notice signs of the creature's presence, including scratch marks on the wall and misplaced limestone. Eventually, the cave walls began to broaden and we found ourselves in another large opening, with us placed on a small, raised ledge above a large ravine containing a river that flowed into a small, rocky lake. Our team set up our cameras and microphones and began to wait for any signs of activity.
Nothing occurred for a few hours, until we began to notice loose pebbles rattling and dislodging from a wall and splashing into the body of water below. This intensified as we noticed abnormal ripples in the water becoming stronger and stronger until a large chunk of rock was dislodged from the wall adjacent to us, which fell and crumbled down into the river. Out of this carved hole crawled the salamander, who seemed unaware of our silent, still presence as it crawled along the walls, its antennae twitching. Soon after, it began to crawl down the wall towards the lake and remained by the mouth of the lake for a few minutes, possibly enjoying the splash of the water. Finally, it crawled further down and began to swim around the lake peacefully, in an almost circular motion. As we were trying to get a better angle, one of us accidentally leant on a loose rock, knocking it down into the water and scaring it, causing it to dash at a terrifying speed into the murky darkness of the water below, with the water fogging with sediment and dust soon after, implying it had dug an underwater hole to escape.
Soon after, we reconvened with our other groups back at the main opening who had found evidence of the creature's presence, but had not encountered it themselves. Before we risked losing excessive oxygen, we quickly returned to the boat and made our way back to shore.
Rough Draft 2:
I found this creature on a research expedition in an underwater dripstone cavern with several other researchers, looking for species that inhabited this strange environment, being mostly crawfish and worms, and studying the odd adaptations they had evolved to support them. Our team had split up into different sections of the cavern, and my group were on a stony ledge, high above a splashing underground river that flowed into a small pond. Suddenly, we noticed a rattling sound as loose stones and pebbles came dislodged from the adjacent wall and a giant salamander with great, clawed hands climbed through a newly made hole.
We stayed as quiet as we could, so as not to cause it to flee, whilst attempting to take photos of the creature as it walked in curved movements across the wall like a centipede. Suddenly, one of our researchers placed their foot on an unsteady rock, causing it to tumble into the cascading river below. This caused a splash that evidently agitated the creature, as its antennae jolted and it skittered down the wall to hide in the pond, eventually sinking out of view.
Rough Draft 3:
I found this creature on a research expedition in an underwater dripstone cavern with several other researchers, studying the unique adaptations of underground crawfish. We were all perched on a stony ledge, high above a splashing underground river that flowed into a small pond. Suddenly, we noticed a rattling sound as loose stones and pebbles came dislodged from the adjacent wall and a giant salamander with great, clawed hands climbed through a newly made hole.
We stayed as quiet as we could, so as not to cause it to flee, whilst attempting to photograph the creature as it walked in curved movements across the wall like a centipede. Suddenly, one of our researchers placed their foot on an unsteady rock, rolling it into the river and agitating the creature. Its antennae jolted, and it skittered down the wall to hide in the pond, eventually sinking out of view.
Rough Draft 4:
Me and my research team encountered this creature in a dripstone cavern in the Gulf of Mexico. We were high above an underwater river when we heard stones being dislodged and plummeting below and a giant salamander emerged from a newly dug hole. We attempted to photograph the creature without scaring it off as it crawled over the walls like a centipede, until it eventually climbed down to the pond below and disappeared into the depths.
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