Cryptid illustrated journal.
After having some trouble on deciding what to do for my final major project, my final year at university, I settled on creating an illustrated field journal exploring a fictitious characters adventures discovering different cryptids from around the world.
This is heavily inspired from the types of books I would read as a kid about the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. I think it could be really interesting to make this book up, handwritten, hand drawn, as if it was taken around the world with the person writing it.
This is heavily inspired from the types of books I would read as a kid about the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot. I think it could be really interesting to make this book up, handwritten, hand drawn, as if it was taken around the world with the person writing it.
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A Cryptid is, by definition, is an animal that has been sighted at multiple different locations And over a various amount of accounts, but there's no physical proof of the animal existing. Cryptozoology is the study of animals that have no solid proof to have existed.
An example of a Cryptid that turned out to be real is hogzilla, who was discovered and is now considered a rare breed of wild hog. 
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You can find a lot about cryptids on cryptid wiki I found! Its a very fun website where people who are incredibly passionate about such monsters collect accounts, stories and 'evidence' of such. This is a very good starting point on finding which cryptids I would like to illustrate most !
Spiderwick chronicles.
One of the books I found inspiration from was another fictitious field journal! This is Arthur Spiderwicks field guide from the Spider wick chronicles. It documents all fairy tail creatures and ghouls as if they were real. I really like the watercolour and pencil feel to this work.
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How to train your dragon manual.
This book was trickier to find examples of but again is a similar thing to what i'm aiming to achieve with my journal. This book is what the character hiccup writes in the how to train your dragon films, documenting the dragons and places he discovers in ink and pen.
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Real life examples of field journaling.
This is a more modern and simplistic example of journaling different species of animals. I really like how the writing is displayed around the drawings but i'm not too keep on the drawings being placed on the page somewhat like stickers. I think I would much prefer to involve backgrounds in my illustrations.
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Cryptids I aim to draw.
I already had a fair bit of knowledge on different cryptids and ghosts and ghouls that I liked, but cryptid wiki online was a really good place to start looking for more.
Batsquatch.
This cryptid seems like an interesting one to illustrate as it isnt the very well known sasquatch but similar in stature. I felt illustrating bigfoot may be a little too cliché but a bigfoot with bat wings is much more entertaining both for me and hopefully my audience.
'The Batsquatch is a flying cryptid that was allegedly seen near Mount St. Helens in the 1980s.'
'This creature was said to have yellow eyes, a dog-like muzzle, blue fur, sharp teeth, bird-like feet and leathery bat-like wings that span up to fifty feet. In addition, Batsquatch is said to be 9 feet tall and has the ability to affect car engines.'
https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Batsquatch
This cryptid seems like an interesting one to illustrate as it isnt the very well known sasquatch but similar in stature. I felt illustrating bigfoot may be a little too cliché but a bigfoot with bat wings is much more entertaining both for me and hopefully my audience.
'The Batsquatch is a flying cryptid that was allegedly seen near Mount St. Helens in the 1980s.'
'This creature was said to have yellow eyes, a dog-like muzzle, blue fur, sharp teeth, bird-like feet and leathery bat-like wings that span up to fifty feet. In addition, Batsquatch is said to be 9 feet tall and has the ability to affect car engines.'
https://cryptidz.fandom.com/wiki/Batsquatch
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Mothman.
During my research I've discovered Mothman is by far the one of the most popular cryptids. Especially when searching on sites such as redbubble, after searching 'crpytids' and changing the filter to best sellers, majority was all of mothman.
'Mothman is described as a bipedal, winged humanoid. Despite his name which was given to him by newspapers, he is in no way moth-like, and has an appearance more like that of a large humanoid owl. His coloration varies from black, gray, to even brown, although it is usually the darker shades. He is often reported to be about 7 feet tall, with a wingspan of about 10 to 15 feet or more, plus the ability to fly at over 100 mph. Sometimes he's described as not having a head with the two huge red eyes set in the chest. These eyes are reported to be glowing, or at least reflective. The details of his face and his feet have never been adequately described. One witness who saw the face clearly, could only say that the details were horrible and monstrous. She had terrible nightmares and nearly suffered a nervous breakdown.' - Cryptid wiki.
One of the most popular and believed explanations for the Mothman is that it was a very large 'devils owl'. As shown in the pictures on the left, these owls eyes reflect red and show a very similar description to how the Mothman was described.
I think this would be a great starting point for reference for drawing the Mothman.
During my research I've discovered Mothman is by far the one of the most popular cryptids. Especially when searching on sites such as redbubble, after searching 'crpytids' and changing the filter to best sellers, majority was all of mothman.
'Mothman is described as a bipedal, winged humanoid. Despite his name which was given to him by newspapers, he is in no way moth-like, and has an appearance more like that of a large humanoid owl. His coloration varies from black, gray, to even brown, although it is usually the darker shades. He is often reported to be about 7 feet tall, with a wingspan of about 10 to 15 feet or more, plus the ability to fly at over 100 mph. Sometimes he's described as not having a head with the two huge red eyes set in the chest. These eyes are reported to be glowing, or at least reflective. The details of his face and his feet have never been adequately described. One witness who saw the face clearly, could only say that the details were horrible and monstrous. She had terrible nightmares and nearly suffered a nervous breakdown.' - Cryptid wiki.
One of the most popular and believed explanations for the Mothman is that it was a very large 'devils owl'. As shown in the pictures on the left, these owls eyes reflect red and show a very similar description to how the Mothman was described.
I think this would be a great starting point for reference for drawing the Mothman.
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The dobhar-chu.
The dobhar-chu is probably one of my favourite cryptids i've come across so far while researching for my journal.
'Modern day, Dobhar-chú are very rare or maybe even extinct, but it is said that Dobhar-chú can still be found on Achill Island, west of County Mayo. On this island there is a lake, Sraheens Lough. Dobhar-chú are said to live there for now, the first modern sighting noted in 'A Description of West Connaught' (1684), by Roderick O'Flaherty. Another report in 2003 was made by Irish artist Sean Corcoran and his wife of a Dobhar-chú in Omey Island, Connemara. They reportedly saw a giant creature with dark coloring and membranes on the feet to swim. There is, interestingly, an archaeological remnant called the Kinlough Stone, that is the gravestone of a woman who was killed by a Dobhar-chú in the 17th century. Her name was Gráinne. Another grave site is the Glenade Stone, found in Conwall graveyard, where there is a Dobhar-chú figure carved on the gravestone.' -cryptid wiki
This tombstone is the only 'solid' evidence there is of this creature ever existing, I find this so interesting that I would love to add it to the page!
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The loch ness monster
Everyone knows the loch ness monster, Its such a widly known cryptid that I don't think theres anyway I could leave it out of my book. I will probably want to point out this fact too on the page. perhaps its hard to investigate because its so popular?
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The black shuck
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Shadow people.
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The banshee
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Alien cats
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Jackalope
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Tizzy Wizzy
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Thumbnailing.
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I made a quick mock up with A3 paper to visualise how this would work as a book, I really like how it works together flicking through, even as a mockup.
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Paper type?
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Handmaking the journal test.
I wanted to see how it would look to bind my own book together, the idea being the most genuine way I could make the book look legitimate And real. The initial plan was to make and bind the book by hand, then draw the pages in the journal, also by hand. So then I could scan the pages and make a book from the scans. After making the book, however, I decided that it would probably be better suited To draw the pages at a larger scale and then scale them down for the final book. That way the drawings would look more detailed overall.
Pages development.
Overall, I obviously want to plan most of my pages. I don't want to fixate on development in this sense too much though. I'd rather develop the pages as I'm doing them digitally. It works a lot better for me that way, and that way I can jump between pages because the way I like to work is by not overworking one thing at a time.
Mothman
Batsquatch.
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Loch ness monster.
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At this point I thought the monster looked too graphic and digital so I decided to retry with painting it traditionally then adding it to the page that way.
The Dobhar chu.
This illustration was initially made to be a poster before I settled on the idea of creating a journal, so unfortunately the digital print doesn't necessarily work with the analogue look I am going for, but I do believe that I can incorporate some way into the book because I really like my interpretation of the monster.
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This is my interpretation of how the monster would look after an attack. I tried to make the reflections and shadows in the water exaggerated and 3D and I really like how it turned out.
Shadow people/ Banshees.
My initial idea for the Shadow People page is to pair it with the Banshees page, as I feel like they're both ghosts they go together very well, hand in hand. I really want a page with some sort of perspective aspect to it because that's something I personally struggle with in my artwork. I think the shadow people is a very good opportunity to display understanding of perspective, as I can put a shadow person anywhere and it's not necessarily a detailed drawing, so the surroundings could make it more detailed.
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I started out by drawing this in pencil, analogue, and then scanned it into add to the page digitally.
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There isn't too much more to the story of Banshees other than a woman screaming, so I really just wanted to do one big Illustration highlighting that, but I'm not too sure if this has too much to it yet. I might have to revisit this page. I also think that I could push myself a lot more in the shadow people page and possibly do a double page spread focusing on perspective of A room.
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The black shuck.
Again, before settling on the idea of a journal, I drew this illustration of the black shuck.
This, of course, is far too digital to fit into a book. I want to look like a journal, so I decided to trace over the wolf digitally and draw it with a pencil brush in Procreate. I wasn't too happy with how calm the wolf looked when researching it, it was explained as a furious devil dog. This is why I decided to make it snarl instead.
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I wasn't too happy with the fact that the lightning wasn't emphasised enough, so I decided to make the torso of the wolf bigger and scarier and really emphasise the bright lightning with the dark background behind it.
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First rough pages.
As shown below, this is only 6 spreads out of the planned 10. This is because I reached this point of progress and decided I wanted to switch up my methods again. Although happy with how the pages are beginning to come together I am worried that they are looking a little too uniform compared to the original vision I had planned on. I want this journal to look as hand made as possible and although I like having the option to edit and redraw with digital pencils, I don't think I am leaving myself enough room for 'happy accidents' and therefore the pages are starting to look a little too uniform.
I am happy with the font for the titles as I feel like this helps tie the pages together but I do not like the idea of them all being wrote in the top left corner of the page, this doesn't feel natural enough. Like shown on the 'Loch ness monster' page, I played around with the composition a little more and even though (for now) the illustration is simplistic, it helps the page stand out more compared to the others.
I am happy with the font for the titles as I feel like this helps tie the pages together but I do not like the idea of them all being wrote in the top left corner of the page, this doesn't feel natural enough. Like shown on the 'Loch ness monster' page, I played around with the composition a little more and even though (for now) the illustration is simplistic, it helps the page stand out more compared to the others.
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Another thing I think I would like to rethink a little is my use of materials. The idea behind using just pencils and ink is that the character who is 'writing' the journal would always have them on hand. I am worried this isn't showing off my abilities to the fullest though as I traditionally like to use a lot of colour in my work. I don't want to entirely switch up the look but I do think that a few more pops of colour would help the pages stand out amongst the others.
A way I could help add a pop of colour here and there, more natural looking illustration AND some more of how I personally prefer to work is by using posca paints. I think I will play around with drawing some, not all, components of my pages with posca pens in my own sketchbook. Ill scan these and either edit them to look as though they were drawn on the page or I will create an effect as though they have been collaged on also.
The last cryptids I plan on adding to my book include the thunderbird, jackalope and alien cats. I am starting to think that I perhaps could be slightly more ambitious and add a couple more though. I would Love to add gargoyles and sirens into the book too and maybe some filler pages? I think pages where she would sketch plants and local wildlife in-between the monster pages will not only made it feel more lively but also pace the book a little better. I would also Love to give myself that extra space to show off my illustration skills.
A way I could help add a pop of colour here and there, more natural looking illustration AND some more of how I personally prefer to work is by using posca paints. I think I will play around with drawing some, not all, components of my pages with posca pens in my own sketchbook. Ill scan these and either edit them to look as though they were drawn on the page or I will create an effect as though they have been collaged on also.
The last cryptids I plan on adding to my book include the thunderbird, jackalope and alien cats. I am starting to think that I perhaps could be slightly more ambitious and add a couple more though. I would Love to add gargoyles and sirens into the book too and maybe some filler pages? I think pages where she would sketch plants and local wildlife in-between the monster pages will not only made it feel more lively but also pace the book a little better. I would also Love to give myself that extra space to show off my illustration skills.
Original planned layout, 22 pages.
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New Planned layout, 30 pages.
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Although making the workload greater, I think aspiring to add the extra 8 pages to my cryptid journal will help bring it all together.
Adding more mixed media.
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One of the ways I thought I could add more depth to my book is by collaging, this could be done as show in the rough 'mothman' page, with adding paper textures and such digitally or by adding things such as flowers. I went on a walk and decided to just pick a few to see how they would end up looking in one of my pages. As shown above I decided to scan the flowers and then digitally add them to the pages.
One of the pages this would work nicely for is one of the filler pages full of flower studies.
One of the pages this would work nicely for is one of the filler pages full of flower studies.
Here is a rough look at what it could look like with real flowers scanned and added. I really like it !
Should I include american cryptids or just focus on the UK and ireland?
One of my favourite page concepts so far has to be the Batsquatch page but after some careful consideration I do believe that this book may benefit from focusing on more local legends and monsters. Not only would it be more appealing to local people its also incredibly more accessible to find real life reference, The flower page brought this to my attention.
If I am creating this book based in the UK, I already have a solid definition of how the landscape looks and works whereas exploring places like 'point pleasant' (the home of mothman) for example would be much more challenging and therefore might not feel as authentic.
In an early critique the idea of having a purely UK based book was brought to my attention but I think I had to explore further myself to understand why this would be more beneficial to not only my making the book but the final thing too.
If I am creating this book based in the UK, I already have a solid definition of how the landscape looks and works whereas exploring places like 'point pleasant' (the home of mothman) for example would be much more challenging and therefore might not feel as authentic.
In an early critique the idea of having a purely UK based book was brought to my attention but I think I had to explore further myself to understand why this would be more beneficial to not only my making the book but the final thing too.
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Unfortunately that means scrapping these pages for the meantime, After some more research I may be able to find a more local monster that could still fit in with these pages but for now I will remove them and turn my focus on finding replacements for the Mothman, Batsquatch, Thunderbird and jackalope pages.
Local monster research;
Here are some pages that my mum sent me from a book about Cumbrian monsters that I bought her a few years ago, I thought it could be quite helpful with my research. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a hold of the book myself but I think ill take inspiration from the page about faeries as they seem to be well known in the lake district.
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After doing some research, I have fallen in love with some all local cryptids such as the Mermaid of the Mermaid pool in the Peak District. I'd really like to do a page on her. Also, always such is the Dullahan and possibly even fairies, as I know that this is a big thing in the Lake District.
The dulluhan
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A mythological creature from irish folklore.
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Fairies
The Grey man, 'Am fear liath mor'
Peak District mermaids
Further development:
Alien Cats:
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Shadow people:
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The dobhar chu
Page samples
Here are all the pages I have currently that are close to being finished, this is the point where I recieved formative feedback on this project.
After feedback.
My feedback highlinghted the lack of convincing composition within the journal. I was reminded that just beause the ficticious character making the journal isnt an illustrator, I am and therefore should rethink some of the layouts.
The grey man
I firstly struggled with how to portray the Grey man because some people say it's a Sasquatch and others say that it's a phantom, but everybody says that they see it as a grey shadow. So I decided a grey shadow in the mist would be the best way to represent it.
They also really liked the idea of drawing a sketch of a footprint that somebody had a cast off. I could possibly question whether I think that it's real or false, but still interesting nonetheless.
They also really liked the idea of drawing a sketch of a footprint that somebody had a cast off. I could possibly question whether I think that it's real or false, but still interesting nonetheless.
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I really like the overall feel the page ended up having with the grey man following the hiker down the page I was going to fill the diagonal with grey, but I thought that this took up way too much of the page so it was a little bit nicer to have it more broken up so I could add more notes.
The owl man
After I discovered The Owl Man, I thought it was basically a British version of Mothman. This was perfect to use my initial ideas from the mothman page. I basically copied it over into my new folder on Procreate and played around with the composition.
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The Dobhar chu.
This is still by far one of my favourite cryptids so I want to do the page justice, I feel that this digital illustration is perhaps too obviously digital, I did think about trying to display it as a photo but this didn't seem to fit right considering how the other photos look.
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One way I tried to fix this was by making it look more painterly around the edges, as if she had time to paint an oil painting perhaps? I still wasn't incredibly happy with this outcome though however so I decided to scrap the idea entirely and repainted it in a watercolour texture.
The overall feel of this page was now how I wanted it to be, I feel as though it fits with the rest of the book fairly naturally now too.
I am also incredibly happy with changing the otter drawing in the top left corner, although the previous otter was don't traditionally and scanned in it didn't feel good enough of an illustration to fit the page.
I am also incredibly happy with changing the otter drawing in the top left corner, although the previous otter was don't traditionally and scanned in it didn't feel good enough of an illustration to fit the page.
Fixing layout
A great example of how I changed my layout is for the loch-ness monster page and big cat page:
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Fairies
I started the fairy page by playing around with how I feel the fairies should look, I think this was probably the wrong way to go about things looking back as its more plausible that the author of the book couldn't see them up close enough.
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I wasn't incredibly happy with how this page was turning out, and I thought it might have been more plausible that she wasn’t actually able to see the fairies up close. I thought it might be better to showcase one of the fairy houses that's in the Cumbria cryptid book rather than an actual fairy itself, because I was struggling to achieve the look I wanted to go for.
Mermaids.
I wanted to add a page this far in where I had more of a scrapbook feel, to keep the journal idea tied in nicely. I decided it was probably a good ide to have the author hike and camp at the mermaids pool and write her experiences in doing so, then on another separate page having a double page spread with an illustration of the mermaid.
I was worried this didn't tie in nicely enough with the rest of the book considering it was just a single illustration so I decided to add a date in the bottom corner. I looked up when Easter Sunday was in 2006 and used that as the date as Easter Sunday is when the mermaid is said to show herself and I feel like 2006 is a great year to base the book in. This grounds it to a time where mobile phones aren't as great as they are now but technology was advanced enough to allow for someone to research this kind of thing with ease. It would explain why she isn't snapping photos of all the monsters herself too.
Cover and back.
I was unsure whether or not I wanted the cover to be illustrated or to look like the journal cover itself. I think it fits the theme of my book much better to make it look like the journal itself? I would still like to make it look different and quirky though however so I think will make the leather blue.
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Printing
After looking at the many options for printing in the Uk, Mixam seemed the best option. The prices seemed most reasonable and I noticed they had a chat support too. There were plenty of options to go with as well for how the book would be bound and what materials it would be make from but I really wanted to go for a comic book feel, more like how the journal would have been, probably a stapled sketchbook.
One issue I came across while printing my book was that I didn't leave a big enough bleed on the pages. I got in touch with Mixam support and they told me to add an extra bleed on, so that's what I did.
I am incredibly happy with the outcome of my book.
