“Surviving Joe Exotic” is a documentary on Animal Planet featuring ex-employees, rescue leaders, exotic animal experts and others with firsthand knowledge detail the untold stories of illegal breeding and animal trafficking that fueled the empire of Joe Exotic.
Concept Sketches
Prior getting assets to design, I was tasked with creating concept sketches. Below are some of the examples of concept art, driven by my passion and heartache I felt for abused and exploited animals. I enjoy free hand drawing and always up for a challenge to create something using paper and pencil as opposed to digital sketching. It allows me to feel more connected to the topic and explore details and nuances I want to add to convey a message.
Concept 1
Mother and her cub in captivity.
I wanted to create tension between outside “free” world and inside zoo/enclosure. Barb wire to show that tigers are the assets and shall they try to escape they will seriously injure themselves. While the tigress sits with our back to the camera, as if surrendered to her fate, the cub looks back at the viewer, as if asking for help.
concept 2
Tigress and her cub. Both are sitting on a wooden crate used to transport wild animals. The background is divided, while it’s under same blue sky, left side is a lush tropical forest, or what we often associate with tiger’s habitat, a place where tigers belong. On the right is landscape typical of Oklahoma (location of Joe’s Exotic zoo), with a freeway running through an endless prairie.
concept 3
This concept focuses on a cub being held to be pet for profit. While doing research for exploration, I’ve seen a lot of footage from the Joe’s Exotic park as well as from other places, where tiger cubs were cruelly treated and exploited for photo-ops. We don’t see man’s face, but we can see that the cub is handled more like a prop, while other hand is clutching money. This art is also about tiger cub trade, where cubs sold to people who desire to have wild animal for status or any other reasons.
concept 4
This concept features a tiger cub being exploited for its cuteness. We can see how the leash being pulled by someone outside of a frame, forcing a cub to walk. Faceless crowd on the background signifies people who came to enjoy the show. We only see legs, as if we see the scene from cub’s point of view. Also it exaggerates proportions, making a cub look vulnerable and small vs adult human.
Although, my final design departed from its original concepts, it still shines a light on a majestic animal. It focuses on a tiger, as if saying it’s what truly deserves our attention.