The Curious Case of Humans As Observed by Those Who Know Better

What if animals observed humans and tried to make sense of our peculiar modern habits?

I found the visual inspiration in Walter Crane's illustrations for The Baby's Own Aesop (1887), preserved in the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives digital collection.

Using archival illustrations from that book, I developed a custom Recraft Style and created eight original contemporary fables, each told through an animal's bewildered perspective.

The illustrations borrow the historical book's engraved linework, decorative borders and restrained colour palette while introducing modern habits, objects and environments.

I brought the finished plates to life with subtle AI-assisted animation and presented them as a page-turning illustrated book.

Created for the Recraft × Contra Archive Style Challenge

Public Recraft project https://www.recraft.ai/project/3c63880f-3dad-4194-8b5c-b499b9902391

Custom Recraft Style: Crane 1887 — The Curious Case of Humans https://www.recraft.ai/styles/c49bfd7e-b22d-4dc4-876f-9bbe74dec8c8

Published archival comparison post https://www.instagram.com/p/DfKtmvZgTCr/

Supporting animated book Reel https://www.instagram.com/reel/DfKt6uGBYBE/

Archival source: Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, CC0 edition https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/babyquotsownaes00cran

Historical visual inspiration: Walter Crane, The Baby’s Own Aesop (1887) Historical colour engraving/printing: Edmund Evans

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AI-assisted artwork and animation · Independent competition entry

Victorian fable animals, recast for today. Crane's flat storybook line was made for this.