Playing with shadows-2

Playing with Shadows

Shadow Puppet designs

First Prototypes

Puppet making

Eland: Character Design

The Rain-Animal

The Eland or the 'Rain Animal' needs no introduction at this point. The chief of all animals and the most spiritually potent of the Bushman tradition comes to be the fourth and the most powerful inclusion into the team. The harmless and serene antelope metamorphoses into the most formidable force in the spirit world.

The Jackal: Character design (part 2)

Jackal: The Watchful Guardian 

The Jackal: Character Design (part 1)

Jackals in Bushman rock painting

The Jackal was another frequently represented in the Bushman rock art. The Jackal was another that the shamans were believed could transform into. What was the most fascinating fact about the significance of the jackal in bushman culture was the contrasting position the jackal held in Bushman culture. The jackal or the fox is notorious is cultures around the world as the sly and cunning mischief makers. They are seldom the heroes of a story, often playing the antagonist role. For instance the famous story of the Blue Fox/Jackal or the character Tabaqui from the Jungle Book, the mad-cowardly jackal who eats the remains of Sher Khan's food. The Jackal has often played the anatagonist or the negative sidekick in popular fables, but not in bushman folklore. According to a /Xam person, 'the jackal is a sorcerer' who follows people when they are on hunts to ensure their safety. It follows them to make sure they are safely on their way home.  

At night, while are encamped on the way home, he barks, and they know that 'he is asking us whether we are still as well as we were when we left him'. They shout out to him,'There is nothing the matter with me, for I am still feeling as I did when I left you.'                                                                      - Passage from Images of Power, D.L Williams/ T.Dowson

Such stories alleviate the Jackal to almost a guardian figure, always looking out and ensuring the safety of it's children. Possessing powers of a sorcerer, makes the Jackal a very significant mythological figure in bushman culture. This became the inspiration behind the third super-therianthrope in my story.

The Baboon: Character Design (part 2)

The Baboon: Ferociously funny

The Baboon: Character Design (part 1)

Baboons in a San Rock Painting

In my post the 5 most significant Khoi-San animals we saw the strong prominence the baboon plays in the bushman rock art.There is visibly marked difference in the perception of the Baboon as opposed to other animals in Bushman tradition. The reason for their prominence in Bushman culture can be their close resemblance to humans. Anthropologist Dorothea Bleek even found that the Naron do not even hunt a baboon as they are so much like 'people'. The bizarre shamanic powers and the supernatural potency of the baboon makes him the next mythic superhero character in my story.

Next Post: The final character design 'Baboon: The ferociously funny.'

Source: Images of Power, D.L Williams/ T. Dowson.