Bilibin XR: Description of work on the image of the fabulous Firebird.
Hello. My name is Pavel Sovushkin. I am an experience designer for XR projects.
Together with the WOWlab team, we have been creating art projects for the largest world museums for 5 recent years.
Bilibin XR is our new internal project.
In the Bilibin XR project, we combine all the accumulated experience on artistic XR projects.
We want to reach the limits of artistic and technical performance for augmented reality glasses and push those limits.
In the this article, I will tell you about the creation of a fairy-tale character: the Firebird.
We create all our art projects, pulling cultural threads into a new reality. In order to convey the meanings, we conduct deep research together with the British School of Design and Art.
You can read more about our research for the Bilibin XR project in the publication about the culture of projects in XR.
Bilibin XR is an interactive folk tale for augmented reality glasses.
About the myth.
Myth is the shaping fabric of our worldview. In Greek “myth” means “word”.
Mythology is a narrative about the world order.
The cultures of the peoples reflect a single myth in their stories.
According to the research of Joseph Campbell, all cultures are based on a single myth. Kembell in his work “The Power of Myth” uses the term Monomyth.
Monomyth is the basis of stories in all cultures.
The myth is about the path of a hero who strives for the good and returns to his tribe renewed.
We see the basics of the monomyth reflected through a fairy tale.
Symbols and meanings embedded in fairy-tale images form the World Order.
In different parts of our world, there are legends about amazing animals and birds that no one has ever seen, but the descriptions of which are strikingly similar.
The image of the Firebird has come down to us from various fairy tales.
In different cultures, the image has acquired its own details and shades. The Slavs have the Firebird, the Czechs and Slovaks have a red-winged Flint, the Egyptians and the Greeks have a Phoenix, the Arabs have a Simurg, the Chinese have a Feng-Huang, the Jews have a Milham.
Herodotus wrote:
“There is a sacred bird. Her appearance and posture are very similar to an eagle, and her feathers are partly golden, partly red”
The Greeks believed that the life of a Bird is cyclically connected with the history of the world.
The Stoics confirmed this by saying that the world, like a Bird, perishes and is born in fire, and there is no end to this transformation.
The Egyptians believed that the Phoenix was the link between the divine plan and the implementation of the plan in life. The bird reminds of the divine creation and rebirth of life.
In the “ Book of the Dead “ it is written:
“Like a Phoenix, I will pass through the regions of the other world.”
In Sufism, the Simurgh symbolizes a Perfect Person who has knowledge of the Divine Essence. This Entity, like the legendary bird, is impossible to see.
The sacred bird was found in the beliefs of the Slavs. The Birds also transported the chariot of the Dazhbog-Sun across the Ocean-sea on his way to the Lower World and back. The ancestors believed that the glorious Sun God would certainly rush to their aid-both at night and during the day.
In the early Christian apocrypha of Baruch, it was written about a Bird:
“This is the guardian of the world… If she did not cover the fiery glare of the sun, neither the human race nor the whole creature on earth would be alive from the heat of the sun”
The Chinese fire Feng-Huang was one of the four sacred creatures, and symbolized immortality, perfection and generosity.
The Jews, who call the miracle bird Milham, said that only she refused to taste the forbidden fruit, and for this God granted her immortality.
The appearance of such a bird, even in a dream, meant a turning point in a person’s life, the need to commit a significant act.
About the Firebird in the myth
The symbol of the sun is encrypted in the image of the Firebird.
The power that illuminates the universe. Making objects visible and shaping objects with its radiance. Just as the branches of a tree are spread up to the sun due to the existence of light, so we see a tree due to the sun.
The Firebird is the embodiment of the sun on earth.
When the Firebird descends from the sky, night comes.
About the Firebird and Bilibin
Bilibin is a great artist of the Silver Age. A descendant of an old merchant family, a lawyer-jurist and in love with fine art.
The artist participated in archaeological expeditions to the Russian North, made sketches of wooden huts and temples, costumes, embroidery, utensils, collected icons, splints and gingerbread boards.
The authoritative art critic of the Silver Age, Alexander Benois, noting Bilibin’s natural talent, wrote:
“His persistent study of folk motives gives him healthy food: at the same time, his colorfulness develops in him as well as his technique is brought up.”
Art critics analyzed the clarity and rigidity of the contour drawing, the accuracy of compositions, the emotional intensity of color spots, the conciseness of forms, the elegance of stylizations and the craving for ornamentation.
“All the works of Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin — be it the smallest ending — are always made with love, intelligence, culture and with great artistic enthusiasm and skill,” Ostroumova — Lebedeva said of her artistic friend.
Russian fairy tales and epics decorated in the “Bilibin” style have gained a special appeal. It captivates the viewer by the spectacular presentation of images and colorful power.
Bilibin is still considered by many to be the ideal book artist and the best illustrator of Russian folk tales.
The first fairy tale with illustrations by Bilibin was the fairy tale about “Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf”.
In the middle of the XIX century, A. N. Afanasyev included a popular version of the “Fairy Tale about Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf” in his famous multi-volume collection, finally restoring the original plot of this fairy tale, which roots back to the Russian folklore tradition and seen as “canonical”.
In the XIX century, the fairy tale about the Firebird was published in Russia in thousands of copies.
The popularity of the fairy tale about the Firebird is due to its plot fascination, and the deep meaning hidden in the content. This fairy tale is special in this sense. It is a meta-tale in modern scientific language since it speaks about the meaning-generating role of a dream in a person's life.
We have written the plot of a 7 chapter interactive fairy tale for AR glasses.
Each chapter has its own unique interactive mechanics and is a completely independent part of the general story.
Wearing augmented reality glasses, the player becomes a participant in the fairy-tale world. From the first person — the player takes on the role of the hero-Prince.
In the first chapter, the Player meets the Firebird. She flies like a living sun in augmented reality inside the player’s real room.
In a folk tale, the Firebird descends from the sky to eat magic apples.
Stages of work on the Firebird concept
To create a 3D model of the Firebird first you need to prepare a 2D concept design.
The first stage is work on the silhouette
Open the image with the options to see them better.
The silhouette gives the first impression of the image. Silhouette perception is the basic level of image perception.
A person is able to get a signal to action even from an uncertain spot. This is how our brain and visual apparatus are arranged. Rapid perception through the silhouette is an evolutionarily important skill.
If one quickly determines that there was a silhouette of a tiger in the bushes he manages to react.
Silhouettes carry a reaction potential.
Which Firebird silhouette do you like more?
Select
We selected the first one.
The firebird is a creature of the heavenly world. It is closer to the sun than to the tiger.
We chose the options in which the Firebird is wearing something. Through additional elements on the character, we tell about the culture and denote the meaningfulness of the being in front of us.
The firebird is like a Genie -personifying the heavenly power in the physical world. Additional elements reveal that this is not just an unusual animal, but a spiritually filled being.
What would you add to the overall silhouette of the Firebird?
We removed the cloak so that the silhouette of the bird could be read more clearly. The Firebird has a large, beautiful tail and the cloak should not pull attention away from the tail.
The Firebird’s feathers are an important and independent symbol within history. Meeting with the Firebird is the personification of good luck in the life of the hero.
Please note how depending on the shape of the neck on the concepts a different idea of the character develops. Looking at the neck of a heron and an eagle, a person perceives the image differently.
The lines showing the complexion affect the perception of the image.
We added a stronger neck to the Firebird silhouette.
Getting to work with the color.
We choose colors that conduct associations of fire. To build an accent through color we make the bird’s chest darker and add light shades at the tips of the feathers.
Color at this stage is set by spots. A person reacts to color spots by giving them interpretation. Judging by the color spot a person understands whether he sees the blue sea or the heat of the flame.
Color is a perch in itself, a sensitive content is embedded in our reaction.
The next step is to add the details. We look closely.
Depending on how the facial features of a kisser look, we catch his emotions. The perception of such details is important evolutionarily for recognizing whether a person in front of us is smiling or it is a grimace of rage.
We continue to work on the details. The details should consolidate the previous decisions, enhancing the image.
If you look closely, you will notice that the color has changed and some of the accents were lost when adding details.
We restore the accents by adding the dark chest of the firebird and bright accents at the ends of the plumage.
Gold
Gold as an image of the heavenly radiance.
Gold as a heavenly radiance is used in the same meaning in icon painting.
The golden halo over the saints on the icons personify the manifestation of the divine radiance in the depicted person.
In order to convey the concept of gold for the Firebird, we began research on gold products of the 4th-6th century BC.
Together with my beloved, I went to the museum of Colchian gold.
We have collected a large collection of amazingly beautiful gold objects of the 4th century BC.
Gold jewelry is an object of culture.
Through the perception of gold on the firebird, we connect the perception of the character in front of us to the culture behind the culture. Something ancient.
Like a monomyth shining through the images of a fairy tale.
Silhouettes of images in gold jewelry.
When creating gold for a character it is important to consider what kind of story the symbols encrypted in the bends of the metal tell.
If you create smooth curved lines, then these are images that refer to the plant world. You can find similar shapes in the images of elf jewelry, because an elf is a child of the forest and jewelry emphasizes its nature.
The firebird is the child of the Sun. A powerful ancient force that gives everything a manifestation, imbues it with power and can burn the whole world to ashes and revive it again.
Everything that we now call “jewelry” in ancient times had a religious, magical meaning.
In order to find these images of power breathing the truth, we went to museums to study the Colchian gold of the 4th century BC.
The publication contains my personal photos taken in museums.
The gold in the photo is thin golden petals. These golden petals covered the eyes of the dead three thousand years ago.
An interesting reference to try making gold for the Firebird using such petals. The petals marking the border of the transition between the worlds can become part of the image.
The petals can be made light and flying around the Firebird. We will make a few concepts to imagine how gold can be inscribed in the silhouette of a character.
To this we added as an option for the head Temporal rings known since the Bronze Age.
The “solar” symbolism is well traced in the round charms, which were also included in the female headgear.
People have always strived for purity of thoughts and spiritual perfection. They used jewelry made of metals and precious stones to strengthen the soft flesh.
The ancient Egyptians saw the particles of the sacred body of the Sun in gold. They were echoed by Indian poets:
“Gold is immortal, and the Sun is also immortal…”
Similar beliefs existed in ancient times among the Scandinavians: their mythology mentions a shining gold that illuminated the halls of the Gods.
Slavic pagan myths associate gold with sunlight and lightning of Perun.
The power of the sun is reflected in the Colchian gold of the 4th century BC.
The power of the sun is transmitted through the rays. At their ends, the rays are intentionally artistically rounded. A powerful force, but not evil. Bright.
We try on these on the Firebird by wrapping them around her neck on a flying chain.
Let’s apply it to the illustration:
Let’s apply it to the illustration:
Eventually we came to a variant in which we amplify the glow of the Firebird through gold. Through the images of rays, we add radiance above the head and highlight the chest with the heart.
By using the gold as a way to enhance the heavenly radiance of the Firebird we also refer to the illustrations of Bilibin, in which the bird also had a tuft and chest highlighted in color.
What kind of gold did you like?
In our interactive fairy tales for AR glasses, we will show many variants of ancient gold in 3D. The project has collections that the player acquires depending on different passages of the plot.
In our fairy tale, you will meet your Firebird.
At this stage, we are focusing on partnering with studios that produce augmented reality glasses.
We want to realize the maximum artistic and technical potential possible for augmented reality glasses.
We will adapt the interactive fairy tale for the glasses of our partners and show the technical and artistic maximum possible on the device
If you can help us with contacts or you are interested in participating in the development of the project:
Write to me, Pavel Sovushkin via personal mail: Sovushkin@WOWlabXR.com
On Twitter, I show the stages of work on a project:
https://twitter.com/PSovushkin
Subscribe to follow the development of the project. We will be glad to have any contacts that will help in the development of the project Bilibin XR for AR glasses.
Thank You.
