Aztec Clothing

Aztecs clothing varied from simple to elaborate depending on the following factors:

- Class
- Wealth
- Status

Draped Items

Men commonly wore loincloths known as Maxtatl. This clothing came in two styles wrapped around the hips and through the legs. All men of all classes wore loincloths. They would reflect wealth and status through design motifs. For ceremonial purposes some loincloths would have loose cloth in front and back of the wearer. Musicians, Warriors and Cargadors would wear square pieces of cloth tied to the right hip. Capes were also the most important status symbol.

The fabric worn was an identification of the identity and class of the wearer. Commoners wore materials called maguey, yucca or palm fiber garments. The higher classes wore cotton clothing with decoration.

Cloak would also differ in appearance depending on the wearer's rank. Soldiers could only wear simple cloaks with no embroidery. The length would only be able to reach as far as below the knee. If it reached below the ankle in length it was punishable by death.

Women wore skirts known as Cuietl. That could either be very basic in style or decorated with rich embroidery. The embroidered skirts would be made of thin cotton with stripped edges. The coloured edges were created by combining finespun, dyed rabbit hair and feathers.

Slip on Garments

These garments were stitched together at the top of the garment and then draped over the shoulders covering front and back of the wearer. Women wore these garments known as Qechquemitl during ceremonial events.

Open Sewn Garments

Aztec warriors wore a short padded, quilted jacket-like cotton armour known as Ichahuipilli. The shirt was made with fluffed up cotton covered in cloth and stitched in a leather border with leather thongs.

A male sleeve-less jacket known as Xicolli was used in rituals.

Closed Sewn Garments

This style came in two different forms. They were known as Ichahuipilli as well. The first style was undecorated and sleeveless that reached to the top of the wearers thighs. The second style was a pull-on sleeveless garment that reached mid-thigh and was decorated.

Another garment that rested below the hip and was also sleeveless was the Huipilli. This was the basic garment worn by all classes of women. Again with the more decorated designs belonging to the higher ranks. These garments were usually worn with skirts.


Limb Encasing Garments

These garments were known as Tlahuiztli and were worn by men. They were used as military attire. They encased the mans body and in some cases even the head. They also consisted of a feather-covered fabric.

Toonboom Harmony Tutorials 1

 Some little animations I created using the tutorials provided by Allan Mendez. Part of my project requires me to learn a new animation software used by many animation studios worldwide.

 Tutorials

Character Developments

Using the research gathered I started coming up with character concepts. I decided to focus on four characters for the animation, Issac, Elueia, the Chieftain and the Priest.

Initial concepts for Issac. He is alot younger than the final concept and as you can see he is portrayed wearing a celtic outfit below which no longer suits the theme of this animation.

 

Final Concepts 

 

-Elueia "Wish" -

-Issac-

-Priest Eztli "blood"-

-Chieftain Ilhicamina "he shoots arrows at the sky"-

All of the Aztec characters are named from actual Nahuatl names; the language spoken by the Aztecs. Each name has it's own meaning which I've mentioned in captions. All names were found in this site Aztec Names

Designers Roulette 1 - Discover

Discover Presentation

The first of the designers roulette took place this week. This involves all of the third year students gathering in one room and when a name is pulled, the student must then get up to present their present progress with their project. It's a great opportunity for lecturers and students to not only see everyones' work but to also offer helpful advice.This weeks presentations lasted around 2hours. I wasn't selected this time to present and therefore don't have any feedback that was solely directed towards my project however I took notes on the feedback others received that i felt could I could benefit from.

- It's important to keep anyone used in your projects anonymous especially if project could bring back sensitive memories.

- Try to make referencing easy for lecturers to read- use journals

- Paper back books are on the way out. E-books are the future. (though I don't agree with this)

Defining areas

A mood board to help me create an animation true to the aztec way of life. After researching the histories and traditions of the Aztecs I've decided to focus on a few areas that I didn't know was common practice with the Aztec people.

• Aztec Gods:  Huitzilopochtli - Sun god - to which they sacrificed countless to
• The Kings Bath - A bath that overlooked the Aztec city
• Aztec Knights - Eagle and Jaguar
• Chinampa - small floating man made islands that could produce 7 crops per year
• Building Architecture 
• Artwork - sculpture and clothing

The following are areas that I find truly fascinating and would like to incorporate them into my final animation.

Project Planning

My project planning for my final major can be seen below. I did this mind map using xmind, a very useful software that can be found here

http://www.xmind.net/

A little more in depth - Aztec Warriors

Aztec culture was driven on a foundation of Warfare. The Aztec system was divided into "castes" or classes which had a designed role to support Aztec Warriors. War was the driving force of the Aztec economy and religion. Te Aztec empire was structured with a central government with an emperor who had complete control. The secondary chain of command was given to priests and warriors. These roles were filled with nobles who enjoyed more splendor among the commoners in the city.

The aztec army was composed mainly of levies, commoners who were conscripted into the army. All aztec men received basic military training from an early age. The Aztec commoners were able to obtain a higher status through military achievements, usually by the taking of prisoners. This was the only way for commoners to progress in society.

Aztec Regular Units

Common warriors were divided into companies known as Calpulli. Each Calpulli was then divided into fourths and each one was lead by nobles from the region each group was recruited from. In the aztec city, Tenochhtitlan, there was usually 20 Calpultin stationed which was led by the emperors own family. Before each battle the leader of each group would appoint a new successor in case he died in battle.

Armies were also accompanied by priests who carried effigies of their gods. Young boys would also take up the role of porters and carry weapons and supplies for the army.

Elite Aztec Warriors

The noble military class formed special military elite units much like the commoners. These units were formed from warrior societies such as the Eagle and the Jaguar or the "Shorn Ones". Each society had different styles of dress, tactics, equipment and even body painting styles and ornaments. Higher ranked officials wore finer and more spectacular attire. Sons of nobles were expected to progress through these ranks and commoners who excelled or gained achievements in war could join one of these groups. It was an honour to belong to this group.

 

Eagle and Jaguar Warrior Societies

These were the largest of the warrior societies.The eagle warriors were the scouts of the army. they were the eyes and ears of the military and would often have to sneek up to opposing enemy lines and gather info to take back to their own military. This vital information would help the Aztec army form and stratigize plans for the upcoming battles. They were excellent fighters and carried brightly coloured shields. Their uniforms consisted of an eagles head with the warriors face peeking from the eagles beak. The warrior would then adourn their Armour and weapons with feathers.

Jaguar warriors were known as the brute force of the army. They were best known for their fighting. These warriors wore Jaguar pelts over their heads and the warriors face peering under the jaguars mouth. They were associated with the gods of night.

The headquarters for the Eagle and aguar warriors was known as Quauccalli- "The Eagle House" in Tenochtitlan. To be eligible to join this order a person had to capture four prisoners in battle. The benefits of joining the Eagle and Jaguar warriors was plentiful. It allowed the newcomer to have a higher rank in society and wear finer clothing such as military clothing in public. They could also feast in the Aztec royal palace and feast on human flesh if they so chose. They could also take concubines and drink in public.

Otomies

The Otomies were fierce warriors who were allies of the Aztecs. The Otomie people were one of the first inhabitants of central America before the arrival of Nahuati speakers around 1000 AD.

The Shorn Ones

The "Shorn Ones" was the most prestigious warrior society. A general would always be a member of this group. They shaved their heads except for a long braid above their left ear.  They painted the other side of their heads with bright colours to show their ferocity. They were renown for not taking a backwards step in battle and had to take an oath to promise not to or they would suffer death from their fellow warriors. They fought with unusually long wooden poles called Pamitl with feathers and banners flying from them. The banner was attached to their backs to prevent them from being hindered.

The Aztecs

Upon researching this civilization, I realised that there was so much I didn't know about these fascinating people. I only knew of their artwork, temples and brutal blood thirsty ritual. But they were so much more than that.

Here's what I learnt about the Aztecs:

The Aztecs were an intelligent and violent tribe that lived in the 14th century in south America. They were banished to a marshy swamp land on lake Texcoco, after they sacrificed a princess of a ruling tribe by cutting out her heart while she was still alive. The princess believed she was to marry the aztec prince and as she walked up the temple to her supposedly awating husband to be she was instead lead to a large stone slab and became an offering to the aztec gods. The aztecs believed that without these offering the sun would no longer rise.

When the Aztecs started to build there new home they wanted to replicate the "city of the gods" temple that they had previously. However the lands were extremely marshy and this made building difficult as the stone would sink. The Aztecs were great engineers and valued their engineers greatly. They solved this problem by anchoring building with stakes that were drove into the ground giving them extra support and preventing them from sinking. They were surrounded by volcanic rock which they built the foundations of their buildings. In order to build this glorified temple it took 50,000 men to move just 1 stone into place.

Now another problem the Aztecs encountered was that they needed spring water which was located on the main tribes land. The Aztecs thought they could demand water from the main tribe which was simply foolish on their part considering they just murdered the main tribes princess. So the main tribe murdered the Aztec emperor by assassination. This lead to war and a 100 day siege. Finally the Aztecs broke into the city and managed to kill the main tribes kind. The Aztecs were now the dominant tribe in the area.

However they still had a problem. They still couldn't bring the spring water with them to their own land. So they built aquaducts. These aquaducts ran for an impressive 3 miles into their territory. The Aztecs were extremely clean people and the emperor of the tribe would bathe twice a day. Compare this to the people in Europe were plague was killing millions due to unsanitary conditions.

The Aztecs now started to extend their borders under the new rule of the emperor Moctezuma.

Another problem the tribe encountered was frequent flooding. The springs would flood easily especially during heavy rain and this lead to great amounts of damage. Engineers fitted a dyke which stopped flooding and protected their fresh water. They also created artificial islands in the lake to create more arable land. These were known as Chinampas. Each chinampa could produce 7 crops a year in comparison to main land which could produce 1 crop a year. This was the key to their success as a dominant and fruitful state. An average Aztec would live to around 37 years.

Next they created roads in which messengers could transport riches to main city from the tribes they dominated. There would be several messengers placed throughout the road path and this meant they could transport the treasures more quickly as the messengers wouldn't tire.

At this time the great temple to honour the gods of Rain and war was completed. It stood 15 stones high with 115 steps leading to the top. It was built with volcanic stone which was light and therefore wouldn't sink. It took the Aztec workers decades to complete the temple. Here is were the Aztecs would decapitate their victims and push their carcasses down the steps. The Aztecs believed the most precious thing thy owned was blood. If the gods didn't receive it in massive quantities the world would end. This resulted in countless people being sacrifice. The Aztecs used sacrifice as a political statement in order to intimidate their enemies.

The new emperor was known for his statesmanship and warrior skills, he was now ruler of over 25 million people. The emperor became depressed when he witnessed a comet speed across the sky over his city. He seen it as a bad omen and spent the entire night in tears. As the weeks went by he became paranoid.

Perhaps he was right. For explorers now started to venture throughout their lands. The first to explore the Aztec lands were explorers from Cuba. The tribes were astonished with these metal men and animals they have never seen before.  The tribes offered concubines to the new men. One was a chieftains daughter who the leader of the Cuban party chose for himself. She started to learn the new groups language and became a translator for him and even an adviser.

As the Spaniards made there way through the Aztecs lands, they grew closer and closer to the main city. The emperor growing more and more paranoid mobilized his troops. The Aztec warriors wore animal costumes on the battlefield in order to intimidate their opponents. The Knights wore Jaguar and eagle costumes.

Finally the Aztecs and the Spaniards met. It was peaceful. The meeting of two worlds. The Spaniards stayed for a week in a palace in the main city. However tables turned and they abducted the emperor during one of his meetings in his quarters. They made him rule with Spanish intentions. A puppet. During one of the sacrificial rituals the Spaniards attacked killing the executioners. The Aztec emperor tried to calm his people but they threw rocks at him. His lifeless body fell outside of the city walls.

The Spaniards tried to flee at night but the Aztec warriors flanked them on the causeway. 400 Spaniards died that night it became known as "The Sad Night".

The surviving Spaniards took their revenge and destroyed the Aztec city. They targeted the aquaducts first. Destroying them. This left the Aztec people with no fresh drinking water. The Fighting continued for months. Eventually however the Aztec people started to become ill with diesease brought by the Spaniards. 20 million died.

The Aztec empire had vanished.

Research - Historical Events

The periods of history I'm considering to base this final project on are - The Russian Tsar, The samurai, French Revolution, The Romans, Vikings and the Aztecs. 

I wanted to focus on a part of history that is not usually covered extensively. A part of history that is not usually taught in the British isles. Originally I thought I would chose the Russian Tsars as my period of choice as I find it extremely interesting yet it is not covered in our history classes. However upon further research in the Romanov 300 years reign I discovered that it would take an awful lot of work to make the story entertaining to watch and appropriate for the target audience I have chosen. The Romanov were a royal family that ruled in Russia for 300 years. Although not all of the tsars had a violent end there was always a lot of turmoil or difficulties experienced by each tsar. For instance, Peter the great would've been an interesting choice as he brought European culture to Russia and modernised it. Catherine the great was another candidate however most of the research I found on her was thick with a chain of lovers she had during her reign. So finally I thought of Nicholas II, the last Romanov Tsar, whose life and familys' lives came to a brutal end in a cellar by the hands of the Russians. 

 

 

 

Now, after researching the Vikings I was surprised to find that they were quite hygienic. Vikings would bathe at least once a week which was alot more than medieval people in Europe. Vikings also allowed Women to fight in battles, known as shield maden. They were just as fierce as the men. 

Upon further research into the other categories I felt there was enough knowledge about these areas in today's movies and cartoons. The french revolution, the Romans and the Samurai are usually popular for most children's stories. 

 

Then I started to research the Aztecs

Survey Results

I collected this information prior to my project proposal presentation, but I had not explained it thoroughly. He is the results and trends that I found from the 39 responses I gathered.

Here is a link to the survey I created:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GGF2RYN

Now for the results,

 

 

 

"Too dry with a lot of the interesting stuff left out, e.g. Horrible Histories, or historical articles on Cracked.com"

"History is diverse and so are interests. Being forced to learn particular history creates animosity for the subject."

"no interist in it"

"Bored with the way it's presented"

"Learning facts and dates can put some people off"

"In my opinion history wasn't enjoyable as it was heavy fact based learning remembering dates & figures and not necessary putting what you learn in context. Plus in my secondary school Irish history was only taught i.e. the plantation of Ulster.. where i would have preferred learning about WW2 which led to the modern day Europe - East/West Germany and the break up of the USSR and the cold war, American civil rights - Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy etc"

"some think it's irrelevant to their lives"

"It can be a lot of tedious information to memorise; dates, names of events etc."

"I believe that many people, especially children at secondary school age, do not understand the importance of history and have little time for it due to this."

"They find it boring, or irrelevant to their interests."

"People find it hard to follow especially history of other countries"

"It's always quite one-sided/biased towards the country in which you are in school."

"People nowadays are more concerned with the here and now,celebrities and Facebook."

"It's to subjective and not exploratory enough. People tell their side instead of studying all sides."

"Some people may not care about the past or find it difficult to remember the dates of historical events, this could put them off learning history"

"My teacher was scary"

"concentration on events and dates but not making it clear as to why these things are important now"

"Because it is seen as a subject where you have to write lots and the teacher always goes on and on"

"It depends on the teacher and how they teach the subject"

"The way it is being taught. It should be more interactive and fun so that as students we can engage ourselves. Also, modern history should be taught more so that it can be more relevant to our lives"

"Haven't a clue. If we don't know where we've been, how can we figure out where we're going?"

"Of course the main priority is that the teacher uses the right method to keep your interest, but I feel the work wether it's text books or homework needs to become more visual."

"To be honest I really enjoyed history but in the north we only really learned about English history and I'd have much rather learned about my own countries history ..."

"I only really enjoyed history in school when it was Irish history, or films were shown. I found I learnt better when it was visual because you weren't bombared with information written in a book. You were being shown the information like a normal film and it was better for the shock factor of some of the terrible things that have happened through the years. Irish history was more interesting because it was personal and about where I lived. In saying that it was good to learn about international history because we need to be aware of the rest of the world. Even if it wasn't too enjoyable at times its still needed for us to be culturally aware of places other than just where we live."

"Sometimes it's too much about reading books for exams"

"It's taught in a boring unapproachable way that becomes a list of dates and names."

"It's a very broad subject. Alot of people find it difficult to take in all the information."

"Boring as fuck teachers. Teaching Boring as fuck aspects of historical figures. I don't give a shit about remembering the exact years Rembrandt painted his shit, the asshole was so far up his own ass he could paint himself inside and out. THE LAST PART WAS THE INTERESTING PART. But like I didn't like History in school BUT HISTORY IS FUCKING FASCINATING I just got taught boring ass shit by boring ass people who didn't give a shit about teaching."

"I think some people may not like history as they find the times/people hard to relate to. This causes a disconnect."

"Everybody has their own preference, I personally don't like History in school but others might."

"Too many dates and such to remember"

"The way it is presented to them does not hold their attention."

"I think it's alot to do with the individual. Some people love reading, some writing, some researching, some art, some sport, some music,some love maths(.....like...maths... Really? But that's my opinion!). Some people may like all the above. It is just the way we are and what makes a person tick. In saying that, although I enjoyed history, I can see why some may not like it. There is alot of information from a study/examination perspective. Lots of dates and names. And I mean there is alot of history in the world. Sometimes people think the past is in the past, leave it there. It can be a difficult subject. Hard to remember all the details. That's why some people may not like it."

"Its extremely date based in grammar schools in particular. Very statistical and hard to learn."

"In school it's all about learning dates, not about hearing the interesting stories there are to tell!"

"It can be boring"

"Too many dates to remember"

"I believe the method of some teachings are rather dull. Too many dates and figures."

 

 

From the data I collected It became apparent that alot of people felt they didn't enjoy history in school however interestingly they still thought it was important to continue to study it in both primary and secondary level. So even though they didn't enjoy it they still seen the importance of it.

From the comments above from question 2, alot of the responses I recieved expressed a need for a visual form of learning. The current form of textbook learning makes it too dull.

Project Poposal

I intend to create an animated trailer showing the potential a 2D Historically themed cartoon would have with 9-12 year olds. The trailer would show that each episode would take place in a different historical event with the main protagonist remaining the same. The main character would actually live in the period of time depicted in the episode and each episode would have a story suited to the historical event. This would encourage learning without the children actually realizing that they are watching an academic cartoon. A visual form of learning.

 

 

Final Major Project Proposal