Holiday Research / Sketchbook Pages

March 15th – April 16th

The First Week

In the first week, I did a systematic study of ancient Babylon. At the very beginning, I started with some research on the buildings that used to be in ancient Babylon. As they mostly exist in paintings and documents, I drew them in my own form. This also set the scene for the colour and three-dimensional forms that followed.

Firstly, I drew a rough idea of what ancient Babylon would have looked like, using the content of the sources as inspiration. Secondly I used the Tower of Babel, a famous building in ancient Babylon, as an inspiration to develop the unique shape of the tower as one of the main elements of the structure of the costume. The last days of the first week I made an extraction of the hanging garden, depicting the colours of the building and the plants used to decorate it. In a further development, I used the cedar as a main detail, showing its fruits and branches.

The Second Week

In the second week, after a series of investigations, I discovered a film with the name Babylon, featuring the American film and television industry to set up the rise and fall of ancient Babylon. And the colours used in it I think also fit the contemporary depiction of ancient Babylon – bloody, greedy. So I used ink splashes to create a chaotic atmosphere.I used this inspiration as one of the main elements of my colour story.

Meanwhile, I continued the inspiration from the previous week. I carried out a series of research on another famous ancient Babylonian building, the Istar Gate. The colours of the gate, the details of the perimeter and the carvings were also painted. For example, the gold and silver animal reliefs and the blue and green walls. And in my further exploration I discovered a sacred animal called Mushhushshu, which combines the features of many animals into one.

Inspired by this divine beast, I discovered several other legendary creatures from a number of murals and statues – a hawk-man, a griffin and a sphinx. This inspired me to create more structures such as intricate wings, skin with snake scales, eagle claws and stone carvings with feathers.

I also did an additional research on their traditional garments to understand their habits and how they dress and accessorise for different occasions. For example, small breastplates to protect the chest, silk skirts to keep them fresh, headgear to avoid the sun, etc.

The Third Week

In the middle of the third week I discovered, through some social media, that there were some exhibitions in China, England and Germany about the Mesopotamian plain (on which the ruins of ancient Babylon are located). I then went to some of the organisers’ official websites and searched for some useful information as well as images, which gave me the potential to develop more in my work afterwards.

Firstly, there were some excavated artefacts, with their strange shapes, which I tried to copy and sketch in order to further understand the intentions of their production. This gave me some ideas to add to my search for Muse. There were also some decorative objects and household items which gave me some inspiration for the larger silhouettes of the garments.

Secondly, there was the research into words and language. The cuneiform script was mostly carved into wet clay and baked to make it easier to preserve. At the same time, the shapes of the texts were mostly made up of triangles and straight lines, as they were easier to record. There are also a number of historical records consisting of cuneiform writing in excavated artefacts, such as the famous Code of Hammurabi.

The Fourth Week

The last week I concentrated on describing the ruins of ancient Babylon. I started by drawing before and after comparisons of some of the ruins, which I think is the best way to get to know the ruins. Some of the pillars, for example, have fallen into disrepair through weathering and the ravages of war, as well as the great baths that were once pits of ruined stone. The contrast is a good way of distinguishing the present from the past.

The last research moodboard was also the most time-consuming one for me, as I wanted to convey the feeling of sand and wind better. I worked with a collage of dots and gradations of yellow, brown and grey to convey the sense of ruin.