The Making of Species, Clement Van Burden Chronicles

The making of

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

SPECIES

Clement Van Burden Chronicles Ricardo Nu単ez

01

The making of Species,

02

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

03

The making of Species,

04

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

The making of

SPECIES

Clement Van Burden Chronicles Ricardo Nu単ez

05

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

INDEX 04

Introduction.

08

Creating the character.

14

Finding a style.

34

Learning to write and designing the book.

50

The Show, Time to shine.

60

An immense thank you.

The making of

{ SPECIES } Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Ricardo Nu単ez

07

The making of Species,

Introduction.

Do what you want. It is your time, is your masters and it might be the last time you do as you wish. Create and elevate your strenghts, take your desires and show them to the world and make them their desires.

08

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

The making of Species, Clement Van Burden Chronicles The creation of Species has been a really exiting journey made of hard work and full of amazing discoveries. Although, not all the founds were made by Van Burden.

I also discovered my voice, I explore what I am made of and found the way to exploited my strengths. I found the best of me and I now know now with time, it can be nothing but better.

I would like to explain in detail the process of the making of Species. I will take you to all the stages I passed working on the idea of the book and the developing of it, to become what is today and also what will be in the future.

Welcome to my world (or should I say the world of Clement?).

The world that was created in this Master, the world I hope will

break all boundaries to flood the real one and painted with fantasy and imagination and make it look more welcome.

It has been an amazing year. I have grown in all aspects. All of them in a positive way. I am grateful with MICA and the teachers I had the honor to assist.

All of them have shared to me their wisdom and experience just looking to teach me and help me grow. I am a mixture of the best of all of them and the best of me.

There are not words to explain my gratitude towards them. A big thank you for the time you expend on me and I cannot wait to put on practice and show to the word my voice and way to express my ideas.

Ricardo Nunez

09

The making of Species,

The idea.

The three pillars.

The idea of the book was something I was incubating for a while. I knew there are some elements I wanted to blend to make something special and at the same time allows me to exploit the best of me. Animals, is one of them.

I always have felt fascination for animals. For me, animals are visually strong. They have infinite structures, estrange behavior and whimsical shapes, that allow them to survive in an environment that is usually unwelcome.

Moreover, animals are the ones that encourage me to draw when I was a kid and I thing they are the strongest pillar of my work.

Trough them, I fell able to built my desires and express my creativity at its highest level.

I also like to infringe the laws of reality. I enjoy when I manage to create work that blurs fantasy with reality and viewer finds confusing about what is real and what is not.

That is the second pillar of my work

010

The last pillar is exploration.

As an artist I find myself in an eternal searching. Seeking in the world that surrounds me and incorporating my discoveries to make my voice stronger or different.

Those three elements, (Animals, Fantasy and exploration) were the basis of my idea. So I moved to discoveries of animals in the 1800´s.

its wonders. Also, I noticed that the discoveries of animals, were register with skillful illustrations due the camera, was still a new invention to improve.

This factors permited me to settle my story and begin my research.

I set the story in the mid 1800´s.

At that time, the technology achieved, let explorers to be more accurate in their findings, leading into a some sort of fever of exploration of the new world, a world that began to uncover

Descrition of an strange mammal that inhabits the jungles of Congo in Africa.

The first work I did in the Masters in which I combined the three pillars of my thesis: Animals, Exploration and Real Fiction

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

011

The making of Species,

Creating the character.

A character must be somebody viewers love and hate at the same time. Thye must feel identified at some level with it. Has the charm and be arrogant. He must be the closest to a real human been.

012

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Researching the explorer I wanted to invent an explorer.

Somebody thirsty for exploration and hungry for reveal what the natural world is hiding.

world they live in, their childhood.

Were they rich? Famous? everything that could help me to set my character was useful.

Somebody like Charles Darwin, who went to Galapagos and wrote about evolution. I investigated about his life along with life in Europe in general, specially England.

And then I began to think of my explorer, his appearance, his life, his past, his childhood, his family, his history, etc. I wanted to create somebody who was believable.

Somebody who could have lived in England in the mid 1800´s.

Somebody hungry for discoveries and with a little more of vision so he was going to be able to discover what nobody did before.

I also found Alexander Von Humboldt, a Prussian geographer, explorer and naturalist who traveled extensively trough Latin America.

Jose Celestino Mutis a Spanish Botanist and Mathematician.

Charles Darwin Photography 19th century

the sketch part how to set him and make him believable.

Alfred Russel Wallace, etc.

I wanted to understand how was life two centuries ago.

I read randomly about all of them and many more. I wanted to have an idea of explorers in general and their impulses. What was the ¨thing¨all of them have in common, How was their lives, Their relationships, how was the

Alexander von Humboldt oil on canvas Kleiber pinx 19th century

013

The making of Species,

Sketching the new explorer.

Finding Clement Van Burden´s look

Once I had an idea of the people who lived in the mid 1800´s, it was time to create my own.

I moved in many directions. I sketch many old looking person that might function as an explorer from that time. I draw Darwin (to warm up), some of his family and ramdom pictures from the internet but I wanted to have a link between the explorer I was creating and myself.

My uncle modeled for me but the result was not the one I wanted.

Different sketches I did in the search of Clement Van Burden´s face.

Really random but I wanted to try to understand how people look like at that period.

Faces, hair styles, postures, framing, etc. At that time I was attracted by crazy people.

014

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

015

The making of Species,

Sketching the new explorer.

Finding Clement Van Burden´s look

Finally, I decided to look into my roots. Somebody that is attached to me and I be delighted to make him part of the story I was creating. I saw pictures of my grand father and I felt he matched perfectly. Besides, it was a way to honor his life and what he did for our family. Some changes here and there and Clement Van Burden was face born.

The name of Clement was a mixture of names from the period.

Match perfectly with my Grand Father´s face and is believable.

I used as a reference the lighting from the Baroque. I always felt attracted to the dramatic that period transmit and the serious sight I portrayed on my character functions perfectly. Moreover, it gives the feeling of old times.

The final sketch Clement Van Burden, FInal painting 50 x 35 cm Acrilics on illustration board.

016

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

017

The making of Species,

Finding a style.

Study, know yourself to know what you are made of. Exploit them and keep studying them. Work on your weakness while you strength your skills.

018

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Researching scientific illustrations and artists.

This stage of the process was the one I probably enjoy the most. I buried in the library, searching for old artist specialized in portraying animals during the evolution of the humankind. How the illustration of wildlife evolved with the time. From poor illustrations made of banal descriptions of explorers to the artist who actually went to discover and depict with keen eye to detail the animals they were staring at.

I love all this artist and more than their amazing work, I was curious as well of their lives.

I found extraordinary stories of the life of some of them.

From Albrecht Durer, in the Renaissance, and the famous illustration he did of a rhinoceros without actually had the opportunity to see it.

As well Audubon, probably the most known artist of this topic, who found success in Europe after a life of frustrations while I was trying to be famous in North America.

It is unmeasurable the contribution all these artist made on both, Science and art. While the camera was not invented, they were the ones that show to the world the existence of the wonders hidden in the most inhospitable places.

Rhinoceros Albrecht Durer 1515 Woodcut

What I found more impressive is that the photographic camera did not end with the work of these artist and yet today many contemporary artist based their work on this old drawings. Walton Ford, Harri Kallio, Kate MccGwire, James Prosek and me, to name a few.

Or the life of Maria Sybilla Merian, who at her 40´s and after a divorce, left Europe to live in the jungles of South America to portray insects with an exquisite technique that is still acclaimed.

019

The making of Species,

1.

2.

3.

Finding the style, Researching scientific illustrations and artists.

I began with a few names on a list but soon the list grew at the point that I had to stop (sadly) and began to plan my work from what I saw.

Amazing references gave me an idea of what I wanted to do and how should developed.

Relevant Bibliography 1. Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahamas Mark Catesby 2. American Ornithology Alexander Wilson 3. Viviparous and Quadrupeds of North America John James Audubon 4. Birds of America John James Audubon 5. Natural History of Uncommon Birds George Edwards 6. Travels Trough South and North Carolina Georgia and Florida William Bartram 7. Art of Nature Jugith Magee

020

5.

6.

4.

7.

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

1.

2.

3.

1. George Edwards 2. William Bartram

4.

5.

6.

3. John Abbot 4. Maria Sybilla Merian 5. Alexander Wilson

7.

8.

6. Mark Catesby 7. Jonh James Audubon 8. Walton Ford

021

The making of Species,

Interpreting others artist to convert them into mine.

Creating the animals

The journey started already and I feel steps ahead in knowledge and ready to adhere the aspects I like the most from each of the artist I studied. I have a vague idea of how I want my illustrations to look like and I know it was time to start to sketch.

I began creating the animals. I had two in mine that I wanted to start with: The Saola and the Rhinoceros.

The first one is an animal that is mysterious due was discovered a few decades ago despite its considerable big size. Besides, its name is attractive and adjust perfectly to my book: The Asian Unicorn. I also chose the Saola because it will help me to make my story more truthful. Since the

Saola Sketches of the Saola from the earliest stage to the final sketch. Can you tell which are the chosen ones?

022

beginning I was planning to put real animals that are not so know, thus the invented ones will merge better.

On the other hand I still wanted to embellish the existing ones a little, so I decided to change some features from it.

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

023

The making of Species,

Interpreting others artist to convert them into mine.

Creating the animals

The Rhinoceros! It is just beautiful to me. I chose the Rhinoceros because has been my favorite animal since I have memory. Its shape, volume and power have always attracted me. In my previous work I took many of its features to create my characters. Somehow I wanted to pay a tribute to this animal.

I Must say it was not easy to propose a style that fulfilled my expectations and took me a while to decide. I studied conscientiously every little aspect on every animal in order to be a fantasy that can be believable. I surprise myself with the result.

Giant Rhinoceros Sketches of the Rhinoceros from the usual feature to its final changes.

024

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

025

The making of Species,

The process of rendering. Looking for the best way to render.

The Render The sketch was ready, now I had to define how I was going to render it. I wanted to make it look like an old drawing and at the same time I wanted to have its own voice.

I decided to used rapidographs and watercolors. The watercolors will give me a tone which I later I will contrast with the rapidographs. Learn to use the pens was another process because I had to put the pen in an angle that will not produce a pure black line Since I wanted to create values on shadows with it.

I got obsess with the thin lines and I took Intaglio classes to develop some of the other pieces that I did for the book .

026

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

The proper media to use to get the proper feeling

A soft color to begin with

Stains texture

Textured paper at 30%

Paper with textures

Hue adjustment and, Voila!

The Paper The first step was to create a background that look like and old drawing that has been affected by the pass of the time. This was so important to fit my story with the illustrations. Again, many trays and fails until I reach the perfect balance.

I used many different papers with subtle textures and colors that once satisfy, I merged them in Photoshop. Once satisfied I proceded with the render of the animals.

027

The making of Species,

Completing the plates with information about the animal

I had the animal but in the old wildlife illustrations, they were composed by features that identified the uniqueness of the animal portrayed. Then I decided to add more details about the animal. The Rhinoceros, for example, has a living jungle living on top of it, due on its back, plants and moss find the perfect environment to flourish.

This attract small reptiles, amphibians and insects that can adapt perfectly to this ecosystem.

Here are the sketches and the renders of each of them.

028

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Some of the animals I invented but some other are actually real. As I was keep working in this project I was surprise by the wonder nature has hidden and encourage me to advance in my work.

Clement Van Burden explored the world. I discovered the world he explored.

Some of the names I had to invented based on Latin words used to name real animals.

1.

2.

3.

4.

1. Apis Viridis Dorsafa 2.Vespa Velutina Rosea 3. Nasikabatrachus Sayadrensis 4.Uroplatus Ebenaut Phantasticus

029

The making of Species,

Merging the files, features and of course, the details

Choosing the right font and the quantity of information I wanted to appear on every illustration was a work carefully done. I took my time to compare features from old drawings and to find a way to integrate them in my work.

Details Life is about details. For me, details make the difference between a good work and an outstanding one. I reproduce details that were on the old plates of the old illustrations Such as number plates, font and of course, Latin. With this touch I felt the illustration was complete.

PLATE CCCXXI

Uroplatus Ebenaut Phantasticus

Apis Viridis Dorsafa

II.Vespa Velutina Rosea

Nasikabatrachus Sayadrensis

The font was crucial and was not easy to made the decision of which one is the suitable one. I chose Dark Age for the names of the animals and the number of the plates.

D i c e r o r h i n u s g i g an t e m Adult Female

030

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

PLATE CCCXXI

Uroplatus Ebenaut Phantasticus

II.Vespa Velutina Rosea

Apis Viridis Dorsafa

Nasikabatrachus Sayadrensis

Dic e ror hin u s g ig a n tem Ad ul t Femal e

031

The making of Species,

Intalgio

As I mentioned before, I was obsess with lines. I wanted them thin and clean and I felt that with the rapidograph I was not able to achieve what I wanted. I studied Intaglio for one semester and some of the pieces were developed with this technique.

It is a very long and hard process, that requires a lot of patience time.

I loved the result but I desisted to continue working on this technique due I did not see a big difference compared with my work done with rapidograph.

Here, some of the process of the Intaglio technique and in the following pages, some details of the illustrations done.

032

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

033

The making of Species,

034

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

035

The making of Species,

036

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

037

The making of Species,

Learning to write and designing the book.

A referential illustration works better when the text is there to support it and text an illustration must accompany each other harmoniously.

038

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Introducing the story, Introduction to writing.

This was probably the most difficult part I face during the process. I know how to draw, I know about color and composition. However, writing was something that despite attracted me, I was not so comfortable with. Besides, writing in a language that is not mine, made everything more challenging and at the same time, more exiting.

To begin with, I create a scientific text for the animals I have created.

The scientific text that accompany every illustration for the animal I did it following the canons of the real wild life books. I classified the invented animals accordingly to its closer real ones (the ones I used as a reference) in order to have a solid background and make the animal more real.

Fortunately this was not enough so I was force to introduce more text that complete the set of the story.

I took me more than a month to write the introduction of the story. I feel I am getting better and this last semester I took a writing fiction class to improve my writing. I am very satisfied with the result and once again I surprised myself.

I know there still things to fix but the idea is pretty clear.

Then I invented its habitats, costumes and behavior with the intention to close the gap between real and fantasy as much as possible.

039

The making of Species,

Classifying the inventions

I called the Rhinoceros a Gentle Giant because an ecosystem is growing in its back. Its movements are slow and live herds that feed each other from the plants and moss that grows on each other´s back. It is gentle as well because houses different animals that depend on him to survive To classifiy it, I used the evolutive branch of the real Rhinos. I also draw a map where the animal was found and I did an infographic of its size comparing with humans.

It tells as well, when it was found and who was the person who discovered it.

Species / Asia, an inaccessible treasure

GREAT ASIAN RHINOCEROS A GENTLE GIANT Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Perissodactyla Family: Rhinocerontidae Genus: Dicerorhinus Species: Dicerorhinus Rhinocerontidae

1. Uroplatus Ebenaui Phantasticus Is a small lizard from the Gecko´s family.

Know as the Satanic Gecko, is found principally in Madagascar, which is strange to be found by Van Burden in Vietnam.

Van Burden: 1822

250 cm

To every animal I created a warm name that sign its most visible characteristic.

2. Vespa Velutina Rosea This wasp present a characteristic fuchsia and white stripes in his body. Is easy to find this animal flying around the Giant Rhinoceros, due the quantity of flowers rich in pollen that grows on the body of this gigantic creature.

“The jungle is moving. Suddenly, in the middle of the night I felt the ground moving beneath us.

Plants and ground were moving in the direction of the moon.

It took us a while to comprehend that we were sleeping on the back of one of this giants. Their movements are so slow and is covered with a dense layer of foliage that is hard to notice in the jungle despite its impressive size."

-Clement Van Burden The Giant Asian Rhinoceros is a rare member from the family of Rhinocerotidae. The second largest extant species of rhinoceros, it can reach 3.5 meters long, 2.2 meters high and can weight more than a ton. The Giant Asian Rhino was first found in 1841 in the range of Anammite in Vietnam, but because this range covers also part of Laos and Cambodia it is believed to be found there as well.

The Giant Asian Rhinoceros possesses two horns, a hook-lipped mouth specialized to pick leaves from bushes, and red fur. It is similar to its closest relative, the Sumatran Rhino but with more abundant fur and a smaller head. Unusual for rhinos, this species is a social one living with herds of approximately 4 to 6 individuals, most of the time with one male, several females and

their offspring. What makes this rhino different from others is that is incredibly slow. It is so slow that the rhino literally has an ecosystem living on him. Many types of plants and moss find the skin of this giant appropriate to grow upon and as they do, it attracts all sort of insects, amphibians and even reptiles.

What appears to be a perfect symbiosis in nature, actually can be deadly for this gentle giant. If the plants grow in large quantities, the rhino will be too heavy and not be able to walk; dying of starvation. On the other hand, some roots are invasive and they can grow inside the armor of this animal affecting his nervous system and motor skill abilities. It is a slow and painful way to die.

Spread widely around southeast of Asia, Is a bee easy to recognize due his pinkish and green stripes all over his body. Know by her aggressive defensive strategies when is attacked.

That is one of the main reasons this animal lives in herds; to eat the excess plants off each other to maintain a perfect equilibrium.

It is very rare that a rhino should die in this way, only happening with solitary male adults that were cast out from their herd by a younger, more dominant male.

The life expectancy for this rhinoceros is unknown, but by observing his incisors it is calculated to be between 60 to 70 years.

However, it is difficult to confirm this data due to Van Burden being the only human to have seen this species to date.

4 Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis The purple frog, discovered and registered in 2003, is another prove of the veracity of the discoveries by Van Burden.

This is the layout of the spread.

040

040

3. Apis viridisdorsata

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Design of the spread

PLATE CCCXXI Species / Asia, an inaccessible treasure

GREAT ASIAN RHINOCEROS A GENTLE GIANT

Uroplatus Ebenaut Phantasticus

Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Perissodactyla Family: Rhinocerontidae Genus: Dicerorhinus Species: Dicerorhinus Rhinocerontidae

1. Uroplatus Ebenaui Phantasticus Is a small lizard from the Gecko´s family.

Know as the Satanic Gecko, is found principally in Madagascar, which is strange to be found by Van Burden in Vietnam.

250 cm

Van Burden: 1822

2. Vespa Velutina Rosea This wasp present a characteristic fuchsia and white stripes in his body. Is easy to find this animal flying around the Giant Rhinoceros, due the quantity of flowers rich in pollen that grows on the body of this gigantic creature.

“The jungle is moving. Suddenly, in the middle of the night I felt the ground moving beneath us.

Plants and ground were moving in the direction of the moon.

It took us a while to comprehend that we were sleeping on the back of one of this giants. Their movements are so slow and is covered with a dense layer of foliage that is hard to notice in the jungle despite its impressive size."

-Clement Van Burden The Giant Asian Rhinoceros is a rare member from the family of Rhinocerotidae. The second largest extant species of rhinoceros, it can reach 3.5 meters long, 2.2 meters high and can weight more than a ton. The Giant Asian Rhino was first found in 1841 in the range of Anammite in Vietnam, but because this range covers also part of Laos and Cambodia it is believed to be found there as well.

The Giant Asian Rhinoceros possesses two horns, a hook-lipped mouth specialized to pick leaves from bushes, and red fur. It is similar to its closest relative, the Sumatran Rhino but with more abundant fur and a smaller head. Unusual for rhinos, this species is a social one living with herds of approximately 4 to 6 individuals, most of the time with one male, several females and

their offspring. What makes this rhino different from others is that is incredibly slow. It is so slow that the rhino literally has an ecosystem living on him. Many types of plants and moss find the skin of this giant appropriate to grow upon and as they do, it attracts all sort of insects, amphibians and even reptiles.

What appears to be a perfect symbiosis in nature, actually can be deadly for this gentle giant. If the plants grow in large quantities, the rhino will be too heavy and not be able to walk; dying of starvation. On the other hand, some roots are invasive and they can grow inside the armor of this animal affecting his nervous system and motor skill abilities. It is a slow and painful way to die.

II.Vespa Velutina Rosea

Apis Viridis Dorsafa

Nasikabatrachus Sayadrensis

3. Apis viridisdorsata Spread widely around southeast of Asia, Is a bee easy to recognize due his pinkish and green stripes all over his body. Know by her aggressive defensive strategies when is attacked.

That is one of the main reasons this animal lives in herds; to eat the excess plants off each other to maintain a perfect equilibrium.

It is very rare that a rhino should die in this way, only happening with solitary male adults that were cast out from their herd by a younger, more dominant male.

The life expectancy for this rhinoceros is unknown, but by observing his incisors it is calculated to be between 60 to 70 years.

However, it is difficult to confirm this data due to Van Burden being the only human to have seen this species to date.

4 Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis The purple frog, discovered and registered in 2003, is another prove of the veracity of the discoveries by Van Burden.

041

Dicerorhinus gigantem A du l t F em a l e

041

The making of Species,

Layout Introductory Text

To the design of the other spreads I decided to give it a lot of space, taking advance of the size of the book (11 by 17 inches). I wanted a big book to be able to show the amount of details that I put in every illustration.

I wanted to give it a feeling of a special book, a treasure. I though of kids between 10 to 12 years, although I also hear suggestions of adult that might want it to decorate their spaces and enjoy the drawings and the stories.

The text has been corrected and countless times and I have received the support of teachers that have evaluated and corrected my writing. Among them, the Department of Writing center of MICA, Michelle Glen and Courtney Sender, a fiction writer and a teacher at MICA.

042

Species / Introduction

Introduction In the middle of 2012, by mere accident, the laboratory of the biologist and naturalist Clement Van Burden (1793-1875), was discovered in an abandoned building outside the city of Edinburgh in Scotland.

What was found in his notebooks was a depiction of species from the animal kingdom, which, according to him were discovered in the expeditions he led to some of the most remote places on earth. What is astonishing is that most of the species discovered were never named or seen by any other explorer.

Scientists have noted that the striking language of Van Burden’s texts, typical to his era, describes his discoveries with judicious clarity. In addition to his texts, there are exquisite illustrations that portray his findings with scientific logic.

But what really awoke the interest of scientists was Van Burden’s description of the Asian Unicorn (Pseudoryx Nghetinhensis). It is a rare bovine that inhabits the mountains of Annamite, between Vietnam and Laos. The name of this animal is reminiscent of a fairy tale, but what is most curious is that this animal was first scientifically documented in 1992. This could indicate that all the species discovered by Van Burden may actually exist. It would be an extreme coincidence that someone in the 1800´s invented an animal with the same characteristics as the animal that was discovered just a few decades ago. The Asian Unicorn is one of many animals described by Van Burden that has only been discovered recently.

Even so, it is too early to decide if all the work of Van Burden is valid in scientific terms. The annotations describing his supposed discoveries are precise and biologically logical. It is true to say that many of the first books that classified animals usually contained creatures drawn from poorly written descriptions provided by observers. These books began to appear in the 16th century, about three hundred years before Van Burden began to write his archives. However, those old books were not scientific but were more a compilation of drawings depicting any kind of animal, real or fantastic.

In the following pages, we have organized the notes of Van Burden to make them clear and understandable to many. We will give a description of his travels and notes written by him. Also, we have provided the illustrations that describe the animals that were seen by Van Burden and illustrated by his colleague and closest friend, Rinus, a Spanish artist who accompanied Van Burden in all his adventures. We have included modern cartography to give an idea of the path of his travels and where he found the animals years ago.

Welcome to the world of unseen and the hidden creatures. Welcome to the mysterious world that Van Burden discovered and was hidden for centuries, until now. Judge for yourself if we are in front of a great adventurer who discover unseen wonders of nature or merely a dreamer wanting to depict the enchanted world he saw in a more romantic way.

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Layout inside pages

Species / Biography

Clement Van Burden Not much is known about the life of Van Burden since his discoveries were not taken seriously at that time. However, the latest investigations have revealed information about his early life.

Clement Van Burden ended living in the house of Lady Ann for the next years. It is not known what kind of relation they developed. The woman died in 1825 and left him all her fortune.

Clement Van Burden was born in Edinburgh on February 16th 1793. He was the third of four children from an extremely poor family. The names of his parents and siblings remain unknown.

Apparently, Van Burden escaped home at the early age of twelve,* ending in Aberdeen (North East of Scotland) where he managed to do his first studies.

After the death of Lady Ann Van Burden decided to leave Europe.

His passion for discovery and animals remained alive and with the heritage he owned, he decided it was time to follow his desires for discovery and adventures.

The city of Aberdeen became a great place for opportunities to young boys whose parents did not have sufficient income to educate them, since Robert Gordon1 founded a hospital under his name in 1746 to offer studies and health to those in need. Thanks to Robert Gordon´s philosophy, Van Burden was able to study.

He was not a brilliant student. His professors complained about his lack of attention and it was thought that he might have had some learning disabilities. Soon they realized Van Burden did not have learning problems; he simply was not interested in any of the subjects. Instead, they started to note his fascination for wildlife.

Usually, he was absent in the classroom to be found in the library looking at books of wildlife from other continents.

He was loved by the citizens of Aberdeen. Due to his past, he awoke the compassion of the city. People usually offered him food or a place to stay in interchange for simple jobs. However, he was not good at any of them.

At the age of seventeen he received the fateful news that all five members of his family died abandoned on the streets of Edinburgh victims of cholera. The child was devastated. He lost all interest, his absence at school became common, stopped eating and finally he fell sick.

He left the United Kingdom at the age of twenty eight with his only friend "Rinus"4, an artist whom he met during his studies in the University of Aberdeen. They both shared the same taste for wildlife and exploration. His expeditions covered Southeast Asia, Central Africa and South America. They will be explained in detail in the following pages of this book.

Clement Van Burden explored places where no other human had been before and maybe still today, those places remain impenetrable. He brought registration of a wide range of animals that were unseen. His discoveries were incredible for the eyes of science of his time and possibly his work never received the credit he deserved.

Nonetheless, the rejection of his work did not discourage Van Burden from traveling and discovering. Unfortunately, in his final travel to North Africa, he vanished in an unclear circumstances.

There are no records of his last adventure.

His respect for life was the most valuable lesson he left. He never took anything from nature that could affect its perfect and fragile balance. Perhaps this is a good philosophy to follow in a world that nowadays rushes to grow, regardless of the consequences this sort of growth can bring to the beings that inhabit what we called home.

Fortunately for him, Lady Ann Preston2 took him under her wing.

Eventually the boy was able to overcome his loss and continue with his life. Thanks to her, Van Burden was able to enroll to the University of Aberdeen3. It was there, where he could feed his curiosity in Natural Science.

(*) There is a theory about Van Burden leaving home at an early age. The situation in Van Burden´s home was critical and his father had no other choice to sell one of his children to feed the rest. Clement Van Burden knew about his father´s intentions and decided to leave home.

It is not known if he escaped because he was terrified of the idea of being sold, or because he though it will be easier for his parents not having another mouth to feed. He never reunited with his family again.

Portrait of Clement Van Burden.

1856, Oil on board

1. Robert Gordon (1668–1731) Merchant and philanthropist, born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He started the construction of Robert Gordon´s hospital. Completed in 1743, it first was used as barracks by the Hanoverian troops. In 1750, the building started to function as a hospital and school to provide education and health to those in need. Today, under the name of Robert Gordon University is one of the best public Universities in Scotland.

2. Lady Ann PrestonScotland (circa 1755-1846).

Half sister of Anne Preston Menzies Campbell Preston Baird, wife of Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet, a British military leader.

3. University of Aberdeen.

Founded in 1495 by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, the University of Aberdeen is Scotland's third oldest and the United Kingdom's fifth oldest university. www.abdn.ac.uk 4. RINUS. There are no registers of any person under this name in the Scotland of the XIX´s century. It might suggest the pseudonym of an artist, however there is not further information about this person. One theory affirms that it was Van Burden´s artist name. If is true, Van Burden would be the only person who saw the animals recorded in this book.

08

043

The making of Species,

Accompanying the text with more illustrations

At some point I decided to write the diaries of Clement Van Burden, where he describes his encounters with his discoveries.

I decided to put some of his description of his encounters to enchant the book and let fly my narrative and imagination.

At some point I felt the text was too heavy so I decided to work illustration that describes his text.

This allows me to work on illustrations that were less descriptive and more story telling.

044

Annamite Range

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

045

The making of Species,

046

Satanic Hog and Van Burden encounter

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

047

End Paper

The making of Species,

048

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

049

Cover

The making of Species,

050

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

051

The making of Species,

Internal Spread

Species / Asia, an inaccessible treasure

Species / Asia, an inaccessible treasure

The Encounter with the Giant Pongo There is a strange smell in the air this morning. It has been there some days but today is especially strong. As we started to walk we could heard the echoes of the animals running away from us.

It was a rare sensation since we were especially careful trying not to make loud noises.

During the whole day we felt a presence coming close to us. We stayed alert the whole journey, moving slowly and in silence, observing in all directions trying to find what was approaching us.

We saw nothing but foliage and the traces of the animals that we could hear howling and screaming further away from us. I started to doubt that the animals were scared of our presence. Maybe something else was pursuing them or perhaps was pursuing us.

We stopped to sleep at dusk. The night was especially odd. It was darker than usual; there was no moon and the silence was almost palpable. The strange smell was still surrounding us, stronger than ever. I started to feel it inside my body. My eyes were struggling to be open. My arms and legs felt numb and before I noticed I was not able to move. A strong sound rumbled the jungle. I wanted to see what it was but I was paralyzed. A few minutes later, something big fell gracefully just beside me. I did a blurry glance at what was coming toward me. The last thing I remember was a giant human hand covering my face.

"Is this real or is a dream? I cannot tell. Do not go, stay with me, protect me from the spirits of the jungle. I just want to observe, I won´t come back, let me go but give me back what you took" My nightmare woke me up. My body was filled with fear. I was shaking and sweating cold. I tried to breathe slowly and I began to feel the jungle and to calm myself down. I saw the group waking up as well but soon I noticed one of the guides was missing. We also saw a subtle trace made of broken branches that depicted a trail.

While we were packing we tried to recall what happened during last night but we were clueless.

We followed the trail in the search of our guide. The trail was big enough for just one person at the time. We walked silently as usual, one behind another, eyes wide open looking for our friend and trying hard to contain our nerves. The feeling of being observed was still with us but we could not find from who or where.

While we were walking I started to think about what could have brought us into this situation. Definitely all of these events are connected somehow but I had no idea what was the link between them. I immediately discarded that we might are being pursued by humans since there is not any trace of human kind in this area and we have not seen any hint of civilization in months.

However, something smart enough managed to put us to sleep using that potent smell. While we slept, one of our friends was kidnapped and a clue was left for us to follow, knowing that we would go looking for him.

Curiously, they all had traces that suggested the fate of our friend.

We looked at each other in silence knowing what we had to do. I picked the path in the middle.

We began the walk. We could not see each other but we could hear the steps we were making. We did not agreed verbally, but we started to walk always at the same speed, creating a rhythm, letting us know we were fine.

Watchful, hearing the steps of my two friends with mine composing the rhythm that keep us together. At the same time, we were observing the environment looking for our missing friend. However, I did not feel good. My mind repeated over and over the nightmare I had. That child was alone and broken.

I could have saved him, I could have done something more for him but I did not.8 I cannot recall when the steps of my friends ceased. When I looked back trying to see any sight of them I found nothing. It was as if the jungle swallowed them in silence. Suddenly, something enormous alighted gracefully behind me. A cold chill started to come up from my toes, invading my body and blocking my movements. That smell again, starched and thick, inundating the whole space. This time, I did not faint.

I look back slowly just to find his face staring closely at mine.

Wrinkles all over his face and sparkles coming out from his dark deep eyes, penetrating mine. He raised his body all covered in tangled strips of long red hair. His size easily could double mine. I gasped in horror and stepped back just to find myself lying on the ground in front of this gigantic animal.

He stayed immobile in front of me, staring at me, studying me. His expression denoted distrust. From that moment I knew I was not welcome. The whole jungle was in silence, the one that precedes the tragedy. He broke the silence with a terrifying roar. I lifted my arms to protect my face and closed my eyes tightly waiting for the worst but he did not hurt me. He lifted me brusquely and put me on my feet.

He gave me a deep glance right into my eyes. A few seconds later, he turned back and slowly began to walk away from me. He looked at me again and roared furiously for the last time before he jumped and vanished in the jungle.

It took me a while to recover from what just happened but I had no time to think about that. The fate of my friends was uncertain and I was impatient to find them. The missing guide was unconscious on the ground a few feet ahead of me. I realized that the three paths ended up right where I was. From there, I was able to see my other friends, unconscious on the ground. It took me a while to drag them, one by one and put them in the same place. Eventually, they started to wake up having no idea about what happened to them and no sign of being hurt. That same day, we left that jungle as the ape ordered us. We never came back.

The Giant Pongo Impression of the Giant Pongo. According to Van Burden, the smartest animal on earth.

8. Van Burden Nightmare.

Lying on the ground. Arms on the side of my body and my legs still, I

The jungle disappeared. Everything turned black and the only light

was motionless. My body started to spin in circles two inches above the

came from his luminescence body. I winked again and his face was

earth. The sky was filled with dots drawing circles with their flashes. I

not precisely my face anymore. He started to elevate away from

stopped abruptly and my body started to elevate slowly.

me while his face was turning younger. I wanted to reach him, hug

I blinked once... I winked twice. My sight started to composed the

younger and younger.

him and keep him with me. Moving towards the sky he became sky, black and open. Stars moving in all directions stinging my body

My thoughts were interrupted when I saw that trail breaking into three different paths. All three separated by a dense undergrowth.

052

Clement Van Burden´s personal journal.

causing me pain. I winked the third time and when I opened my

The last time I saw myself I was a baby crying to be carried. I

eyes I saw myself above me, nose to nose. Both bodies were static.

wanted to be those arms but I could never reached him. As he

We were exactly the same person.

disappeared I feel soulless.

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Internal Spread

Species / Asia, an inaccessible treasure

Species / Asia, an inaccessible treasure

Kissing Death Inhale... Exhale...

I am breathing. Inhale: The air in my lungs flood my body with life.

Exhale: The air finds its way out and new air comes in when I inhale again. I am alive.

All is black and the only thing I hear is a distant voice repeating a word that I am unable to understand. The voice become clear and after a while I could hear my name being repeated over and over again. The voice sound alarmed and is following by pushes in my left arm.

I try to open my eyes. I wink once and everything is dots. I rush to wink again and the dots start to become unidentifiable shapes. At the third wink I am able to identify my friends. The three of them staring at me from above and in shock. -"He is alive"-, express in relief, the voice that was repeating my name.

After a while conscious, I try to remember what happened. However, the sound of heavy steps running away after the sound of a gunshot, was the only thing I could remember.

I curl in pain. I feel my right hand pulsing in extreme pain. Then, the memory of two of my fingers being severed flashed in my mind.

Horror overcomes me. Shaking, I slowly lift my arm. It is covered with a bandage stained with dry blood. It is not necessary to unfold the bands to corroborate the terrible truth.

I recall then, the unexpected noise of a screech broke the foliage right in front of me. The group dispersed and soon enough to do something, a deformed bulge was running furiously towards me. Its moved awkwardly, due its inverted knee, but this did not inhibit its massive body from trampling over me. It tried to bite my face but I covered it with my right arm. It bit my arm furiously and shook it with anger. It was so painful but I did not faint. I felt my muscles tearing off at its bite. More in horror than in pain, I saw my own flesh threaded between its teeth. Dense saliva coming out of its mouth. Sticky and green infected substance mixing slowly with the flesh of my arm. My muscles being torn brusquely at every effort the animal was doing to close its mandible. Moving its head convulsively, it was trying to tear my arm apart. Thinking fast I decided not use any force against its power. I started to swing with the movement of its head, motionless but conscious. Then, my arm slipped from its mouth, ripping deeply the muscles of my arm and blasting me off a few meters away from it.

I remembered then when I hit the ground and instantly I begin to ache. My arm is wasted. A stinging pain force me to scream between my teeth. My friend Rinus came closer and placed his hand over my forehead. He was worried and sad about my situation. It does not calm my pain but I feel relief he is here. I am trying to sleep, to forget the pain but my body ache and my mind is being tormented with flashes of what just happened.

I heard my shoulder crack when I hit the ground. I felt no pain at that moment. I was in shock and I knew I had to do something fast. I tried to stand but my body did not respond. Desperately, I began to drag into the closest bushes. The animal, a few meters away, was swaying its head wildly looking for me. Limping and jumping clumsily in circles, it spotted me on the ground and began its race directly toward me.

Its face hidden in my subconscious and emerging repeatedly is an

over its head, revealing the shape of the top of its skull and falling down by its own weight, gives the impression tat its face is melting. Scars and wrinkles all over its skin deforming its head even more. Deep wounds, still flesh open, pouring blood and pus, falling slowly and drying on its way out, grotesque evidence of previous violent encounters. It nose, like an amorphous short trunk that is not completely developed from which a dense layer of mucus substance like is falling constantly. Small eyes with cataracts on its pupils, denoted very poor sight. All its head is an abomination but its mouth is what horrified me the most.

that I will have to face from now on. Its skin hanging all

Head moving up and down with brute force, It hit the ground with its forelegs three times. Then, beat the dust and posed ready to charge on me. It look at me directly and screech loudly in my direction. Its mouth opened wide with lines of teeth growing independently in the most capricious ways. Some of them were inserted in its palate and some others tore through its skin to appear abruptly up in its snout.

All sharply, all dangerous, all weapons coming fiercely in the direction I was at my prostrate form.

I was exhausted. My muscles were not reacting at any speed and my thoughts misted gray. I had lost a lot of blood and I felt extremely weak. I tried to drag my body to the bushes but my arm lost all strength and slipped off letting my face hit the floor. With my head against the floor, I could heard the waves of the animal running closer towards me. With difficulty, I raised my head to the ground just to see the beast less than a meter in front of me. I covered my head with my arms. I closed my eyes tightly and left myself go to my fatal destination. Just seconds before being crushed by this beast, a force that came from my side grabbed me from my clothes and in an instant pulled me into the bushes. The animal passed so near that its skin scraped the side of my face.

Nothing will be the same after today. My entire body is now in pain.

I lost two fingers and I am not sure my arm will function in the way it used to. But I feel grateful. I survived. Death was prowling close but I was able to kiss her mouth and survive to tell the story. Life is an invaluable treasure and I feel grateful I still have it so I can keep following my dream and continue exploring the intrinsic nature of the world we habit.

My friend and I, hidden in the bushes. He was behind me, hugging me hard and pressing his hand on my mouth making sure I would not make any noise. A thin layer of branches separate us from the beast. Its head so close to mine. Its small pupils could not see me despite the closeness. Suddenly, it screech so loud that the sound made me jump involuntarily exposing myself. The animal scream in anger and started to snap randomly on the bushes. He bit my hand tried to teared apart what it caught. Then, my friend unsheathed a gun and shot into the air. The sound of the gunshot scared the animal away but not without two fingers of my right hand.

Satanic Hog and Van Burden encounter the unexpected noise of a screech broke the foliage right in front of me. The group dispersed and soon enough to do something, a deformed bulge was running furiously towards me. It vmoved awkwardly, due its inverted knee, but this did not inhibit its massive body from trampling over me.

I was safe. I fell on the ground and faint completely wasted. The last thing I remember was hearing a shotgun and sounds of heavy steps fading away.

Clement Van Burden´s personal journal.

agony

053

The making of Species,

The Show, Time to shine.

All the work done is reflected in the show and the acceptance of the public, encouraged me to work harder and pull out the best of me.

054

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Introducing Species to the world.

And then, after almost a year lock like a gargoyle in the studio working on my project, the time to show it to the world arrived. I did not feel it was ready to be shown but on the other hand I thought it will be nice to see public reaction to what I have been doing.

Thinking on how to display my images I knew they need it to be big. I wanted people to pay attention on the amount of details I put on every illustration and I want those details to be the focus point.

Besides the prints, I also ad the classification of the animal along with the infographics to connect the illustration with the exploration part and also to give the feeling that the animals were real.

take the time to read the book but, how? Exhibitions are not places for reading.

Below the prints I quoted some notes from the book, the most striking, to catch the attention of the viewer and suggest that there are stories behind the prints, that they are not just detail illustrations, the are alive somewhere and somebody found it to show it to you, the public.

I like the outcome. I like the reaction of the people and I can see a future on my book. I am glad I did what I wanted regardless if the market is big or not. It was my time to do what I wanted and I did and enjoy from beginning to end.

The show MICA Illustration Practice show 2016

I also wanted people to read the book. I spent countless hour writing the stories of the book that I really expect for some viewers to

055

The making of Species,

Layout Thesis Show

As always, I took my time to plan a way to show my work. I wanted to make a drawing on the wall and a text to explain what was my thesis about. I wanted clean. I wanted the illustrations to be the most important.

My wall was 6 mts long. Work in big is tricky for me. I am not so used to work that big. To solve this problem I did a map in the computer with the sizes of the wall and on it I work on my layout and at the time to put all together in the wall, I just had to follow the instructions I did on the computer.

056

Title

Drawing

Saola

Introductory Text

Pedestal for the book

Classification

PONGO toy

Notes from the diary

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Orangutan

Rhinoceros

Classification

Notes from the diary

Bull

Classification

Notes from the diary

Boar

Classification

Notes from the diary

Classification

Notes from the diary

057

The making of Species,

Layout Thesis Show

Here some pictures of the show. I enjoy this process. I was exhausted but to see it displayed was the thing that was keeping me awake and made working hard. It was an amazing experience.

I cannot tell how many hours I spend on the show room, fixing problems and assembling my exhibition At the end looked clean and simple but it was the way I wanted.

058

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

059

The making of Species,

060

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

061

The making of Species,

062

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

063

The making of Species,

An immense thank you.

The best projects are always better when more than one people is involved.

064

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

Introducing Species to the world.

I have no words to express how thankful I am for all the people who, in a way or another helped me to achieve this book.

My family, thank you for made the person I am, the values, hard work and discipline is achieve thanks to your education. You shaped me and thanks to that I grew up being the human been I am.

My future wife, Cinyee. Your advises in illustration and support is invaluable. I feel blessed I meet you on the road in the Illustration Practice Program and since that I feel my work has improve immensely. I admire you and your work and together we are going to rock the world.

I also want to thank all my classmates. The level of commitment in the master was way too high that encourage us to put the best of us. You all guys are so talented and it was a pleasure to be part of this group. What I learn from each of you cannot be learn anywhere.

The Future?

I learn not to think much on the future. Everyday brings so many things to deal with and the future is so uncertain that plan becomes many times not so useful.

Although I have a word for my future.

Success.

Whitney, Thank you so much.

Your help, advises and chats were the touch this book need it to succeed. I think you met the most stubborn person in the program but at the end I listen to your words and the outcome could not be better.

065

The making of Species,

066

Clement Van Burden Chronicles

067

The making of Species,

The making of

{ SPECIES } Clement Van Burden Chronicles Ricardo Nu単ez rnunez.com rhinunez@gmail.com

068