Manchester Museum Visit and Drawings
To get some more first hand material to draw from and do some quick sketches and drawings I took myself to Manchester Museum. I tried to be selective but capture a variety of specimens and live animals in the vivarium. Many creatures there are not what they seem; fossils and skeletons don't resemble the living animals they came from, and sea life often mimics its surroundings. Even coral resembles a brain, or labyrinth. One bird, the golden pheasant seems to be a strange construction of several different animals all in one, and has interesting colours and markings. The museum is a really good resource and I'll definitely go back there.
Brain-like Coral and Patchwork-like Golden Pheasant |
The butterfly collection is amazing, brightly coloured and there are so many different species. Many of them look like other animals or plants. The most striking is one that resembles an owl. In the vivarium were similar ones, and one in particular stayed still for a long time, so I sketched it.
In the vivarium a lot of the animals are bright, but manage to remain hidden in the undergrowth because of their small size; a poison arrow frog seems to form the centre of a large plant, easily passed over and I looked for it along the soil and in the water before thinking to look there.
From Left to Right: Owl-like Butterfly, Butterfly Detail drawn with Pen and Water, Butterfly Quick Sketch and Photograph |
My favourite animal to observe was the chameleon. Its movement was unusual and jerky and its colour changing properties are great to watch in action. This chameleon was relatively inactive compared to one I had seen previously; this was useful for sketching but I still had to be fast! Some patterns formed by its scales were surprising; red spots for example. Its tail mimicked the branches and shoots from the foliage. I don't usually sketch quickly, so was apprehensive at first but the animals' movement forced my hand, and I realised the limits of what I could achieve in the short time I had before they moved. This helped me discard visual information, and focus on the essentials, so these quick drawings have a different feel to my usual slower ones. I really enjoyed it as well, which was surprising, so I'll do more like this in future, perhaps trying out this technique with something still so I need to rely on myself to set the quick pace. This should be a good challenge and will push my work on.
I started to use my photographs as a basis for line drawings on tracing paper; this way I could overlay them with backgrounds later. I focussed in on the detail and the bright colours found, and tried to draw in such a way that the original animal was not obvious, for example a sea fan became tree-like and a sea sponge resembled a sea urchin when drawn in a simplistic, linear way.
Digetex Meeting
Debbie came in to see how we were getting on, and had a quick look at our work. Her main suggestions were to think big in terms of scale, and to bear in mind that print designers are starting to consider outside space more, such as parasols and garden furnishings etc. Also our designs could be put on the side of a building! As someone who usually works to a small scale this was daunting but I want to try and push myself and see how I work when the scale is larger. I thought a garden shed might be a good context for designs, as it plays in to the general vintage trend that has been ubiquitous for the past decade; instead of shed, read british beach hut, and instead of garden chair read deck chair. Print has started to be used on many different surfaces, so bringing fun into the home is the current focus; bringing fun in to the garden is likely to follow. This really gave me a push in terms of thinking about my final outcomes, and I realised tat whatever I design has to stand out and compete with the assortment of colours found in a garden.
Tigerprint Competition
To keep my photoshop skills fresh I entered the monthly Tigerprint competition. This month's theme was Black and White. Out of the 5 designs I entered, the first below was shortlisted. They chose 85 out of 1400 entries this month for their shortlist, so I was really happy to have one of mine among them. I used a mixture of motifs from my previous Tron and WWII projects, and stuck with a stripy theme. They were quick to make as the brushes had been made already, and having a set theme helped with composition.
When drawing I tried to keep the intricacy of the sea life, but in a modern graphic way |
Debbie came in to see how we were getting on, and had a quick look at our work. Her main suggestions were to think big in terms of scale, and to bear in mind that print designers are starting to consider outside space more, such as parasols and garden furnishings etc. Also our designs could be put on the side of a building! As someone who usually works to a small scale this was daunting but I want to try and push myself and see how I work when the scale is larger. I thought a garden shed might be a good context for designs, as it plays in to the general vintage trend that has been ubiquitous for the past decade; instead of shed, read british beach hut, and instead of garden chair read deck chair. Print has started to be used on many different surfaces, so bringing fun into the home is the current focus; bringing fun in to the garden is likely to follow. This really gave me a push in terms of thinking about my final outcomes, and I realised tat whatever I design has to stand out and compete with the assortment of colours found in a garden.
Tigerprint Competition
To keep my photoshop skills fresh I entered the monthly Tigerprint competition. This month's theme was Black and White. Out of the 5 designs I entered, the first below was shortlisted. They chose 85 out of 1400 entries this month for their shortlist, so I was really happy to have one of mine among them. I used a mixture of motifs from my previous Tron and WWII projects, and stuck with a stripy theme. They were quick to make as the brushes had been made already, and having a set theme helped with composition.
Shortlisted Design |
Other Submissions |