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Old Description
Eoni is a partially transparent creature with distinct blue eyes and beak. The tone of the body is brown with gold spotting. Some skeletal-like formations are visible through its skin, including the core that is the sphere, positioned inside the head. The white fur, which is carrying is a feature that almost every being possesses. It does not have fingers, instead it uses tentacle-like formations as it’s limbs and decorations on its head. Like most surface dwellers, its character is calm and affectionate. It is not by any means, different from the others of its kind.

Originally, the main character's appearance was quite detailed. The skin was brown and 80% transparent. It was possible to see the so-called core through it, which is the black sphere. As interesting as it may have seemed it came with a huge flaw - the character was merging with the background which was just as detailed. I decided to play with its color and see if something will change while still trying to keep as much as details as possible. It took me awhile to realize that not the color was the problem but the amount of ,well... detail. I only started to see that after watching ''Song Of The Sea'', where the background was gorgeously whimsical but the characters surprisingly simplistic, without much detail. I've always added a lot of that when developing my characters, thinking that if they don't have enough detail they will look like they don't belong to this world. I was proven wrong. And so, the newest form of the protagonist consists of nothing but solid colors; solid yellow, white and blue without transparency, without details.

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About The Origin Of The Idea
The initial idea of EONI started roughly 3 years ago and developed around the very first image I created; that was the floating alien giant carrying an entire world on its back. The desire was sparked from the multiple picture variations of the World Turtle I came across on the internet. I loved the idea of the fragility of the world, the dependence of one colossal creature to carry a tiny universe on its back and I wanted to physically recreate my own visualization of it. My original attentions, however, were never to expand a singular picture into an entire movie. Rather, simply exploring the idea of how visually a giant hybrid between mushroom and jellyfish would look like. The final result of that led me onto a path of creating more beings with various but similar at the same time - features with the same mushroom-jellyfish origins. After which my curiosity about a hypothetical world where such beings existed, evolved into the more physical aspect. I would start having questions like: would they behave more like cattle or not, would they move in herds or traverse alone, will there be any predators, what would they consume, what sounds/noises will they make and the list went on. And as I was working through these little, perhaps insignificant details, I came to the decision that I want to see all of this coming to life and no amount of illustrations would be able to present the intricate and vibrant world, that was constantly developing. This is when I made the conscious decision to convert this project into an animation.
About The Protagonist
Developing one main character and placing it in this world was much harder than anticipated. The physicality of the protagonist was not as problematic as the mentality. It took me approximately an hour to come up with it an ideal appearance, but as a character – it was hollow. Was it behaving like a human, like a beast? Did it have any weaknesses, fears? Was it going to have any gender, family, friends? Important questions that I did not bother to ask myself for the sake of the development of its identity. I simply created it for the only purpose of having it, because I had to have a main character so I can tell a story, I thought. I had no connection with the being I created and because of that the narrative became shallow. It had no depth because the protagonist was a stranger who not even his creator knew or loved. As obvious, as this seemed, I remained oblivious of this major flawed for a considerable amount of time and because of that, I struggled to construct a good story.
About The narrative
Thinking that, perhaps, the world I started was lacking profoundness because there was not nearly enough biomes and inhabitants, I began expending it. New creatures, new areas, new building all of which were highly questionable if they will play any role in the project or remain in the pile of unnecessary works that did nothing but consume valuable time and create bigger chaos. My desire to include all of which I created in a world that kept on growing was my downfall: the narrative was fragmented, without having connection to the pieces, the main character had no legitimate presence to the story. There was no beginning, no middle or end, only separate floating ideas detached from one-another.

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Cultural depictions of turtles, Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_turtles

Acceptance of Death, Alan Watts, A Speech About Being Content With Life and Death, By Harsh (Jan 23)

https://medium.com/@bansalharsh/acceptance-of-death-by-alan-watts-294384c99287

Song Of The Sea: how an animated treat was made, By Ryan Lambie | July 6, 2015

https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/song-of-the-sea-how-an-animated-treat-was-made/

A god among animators, Xan Brooks (14 Sep 2005 )

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/sep/14/japan.awardsandprizes

Phoenix (mythology), Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(mythology)

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Here I've displayed several links which will take the reader into more detailed visual depictions of my work.
Characters:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/93474541/Creatures
Environments:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/93474731/Environments
Buildings:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/91389571/Alien-buildings
Light test:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/93546037/Room
Insignificant details:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/91389443/Alien-plants

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1. Why the theme of death has been massively avoided/feared by people?

2. Does gender play any role in the popularity of animations?

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5 Key Texts and their importance to the animation project EONI

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5 Key Texts and their importance to the animation project EONI

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1. Song Of The Sea

“I realized that these were stories that we were losing – that connection to the landscape, that folklore, was dying out,”
- Tomm Moore

Tomm Moore’s Oscar-nominated animation “Song Of The Sea” was initially inspired by the gruesome practices of local fisherman from Dingle who were killing grey seals and disposing their bodies on Ventry beach. Their reasoning behind which was the depletion of fish stock due to the numbers of seals hunting and consuming it. He was mortified by the sight and upon discussing it with others, he finds out that such practices would have been deemed as abhorrent because of the myths connected with the animals and the land.
He began to delve deeper into the old stories and local myths and this is how Song of the Sea was born with a purpose to bring back those old tales to life so they won’t be forgotten.
My love for the mythical is what originally drove me to start project eoni. The myth about the World Turtle is what inspired my first drawing. I was fascinated by the creativity behind the legends of the giants bearing worlds on their backs. Then, I added the theme of life and death - quite similar to the legend of the Phoenix.
Song Of The Sea is an emotional and gorgeous piece of work in my opinion. I have closely observed its art for a while. The words '' folklore, was dying out'' had a powerful effect on me. I want to bring part of it back and give it a new ''fresh'' look.

2.  Hayao Miyazaki

'' I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live—if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love. ''

Because culturally, female was always visualized as weak and male as strong, I too had the mentality to create only male characters for years. When I started working on the project I realized that I was struggling to decide what gender will the protagonist be, yet again. And then I came to the conclusion that gender will be something that is absent in my animation. All beings will be both male and female. But while this will not be the main focus of the film, as it won't be portrayed in any means there will be shown mutual love and care. Hayao Miyazaki's words  about gender had a profound effect on me and I started playing with the idea by making strong female characters and weak males or merging them together, so even I can adopt the concept.

3. Phoenix (mythology)

'' Associated with fire and the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor''

I used the myth of the Phoenix, or more precisely, it's idea of rebirth in the project. The theme of life and death will be closely followed throughout the whole animation and the Phoenix immediately came to mind.  All characters upon dying will turn into ashes and disappear leaving behind an egg, a symbol of new beginning. At the end of the animation everything will die from the flames of the sun, and then, will be reborn again. Much like the legend of the bird.

4. Acceptance of Death (Alan Watts)
'' We live in a culture where it has been rubbed into us in every conceivable way that to die is a terrible thing. And that is a tremendous disease from which our culture, in particular, suffers''

Death in many cultures is presented as something horrific, as something we should constantly fear and avoid at any cost. It could be seen as taboo, like if we don't talk about it therefore it doesn't exist. On religious retrospect, death could also mean forever condemning once soul to be suffering in the depths of hell. If there's no death, however, the meaning of life evaporates. If there was no end, then there won't be any beginning. Everything would have been everlasting and never-changing. The texts/lectures of the British philosopher Allan Watts connected with the acceptance of death helped me to think about my theme of dying in the animation and how to present it more accurately. I want to show people through my animation that there is nothing exceptionally frighting about dying and all things have to end in order for new to begin.

5. World Turtle (mythology)
'' Turtles were considered to have celestial powers, playing a role in the creation of the world ''

-North American mythology

The concept of this project emerged from the myth of the Cosmic Turtle. There are a couple of different variations  of it throughout different cultures but the one that most appealed to me was the American version. And while the creature I have created is not a turtle, the notion remains the same - a cosmic giant carrying a fragile world on its back.

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Synopsis

In a distant galaxy, there is a small world resting on a floating giant's back. Fantastical beings of various shapes and sizes have made every piece of this alien island, their little domain.

Eoni, the main protagonist, is walking side by side with its partner passing through colorful fields until they reach the edge of the world and they stop to admire it together for one last time. Eoni's partner is dying. It starts to dissolve in the air until the only thing that it's left of it is its core. Eoni takes it and as it’s going back all of the sudden the entire world starts to tremble. Loosing balance, the protagonist drops the core into a hole in the ground and in panic, it jumps after it. Starting its new adventure of getting the core back and finding a way out of the dangerous underground.

In the same time the surface world and all its inhabitants are beginning to understand that their world is in a verge of a mass extinction, as their island is slowly heading towards the sun.
The core (also called the gg) is a symbol of resurrection, similar to the myth of the phoenix the beings inhabiting this world don’t die permanently. When their time comes, their bodies dissolve into ashes leaving the egg behind. Until it is time to hatch and their life-cycle begins again.