Recently Extinct Animals

As part of my research, I have been looking up animals that have recently become extinct over the past 100 years or so and have produced some drawings of a few of them in order to test out my new medium of coloured pencil and biro pen. 

I actually really enjoy the tones that you can create in the lines with biro. Combining this with some light colour makes for a very nice illustration.

Passenger Pigeon - extinct 1914

Zanzibar Leopard - extinct 1996

Thylacine - extinct 1936

Caspian Tiger - extinct 1970

Side Project: My Illustrated Year

As a small project to run alongside work during my Illustration degree at AUB, I have decided to keep an 'Illustrated Diary' in which I will produce a calendar of drawings over the whole year. I only recently bought the diary so have had to catch up (mostly due to not having time over January with my last project!) but am on track to start producing illustrations on my calendar based on events as they happen.

January's Illustrations (still need to be coloured)

UPDATE

January's Illustrations now in colour!

Maria Midttun Wordless Narrative Workshop

Today I had my workshop with ex-student and story Illustrator Maria Midttun. For this workshop, we had to create a wordless story using the object that we bought in.

I decided to make up the story as I went along, firstly drawing out my deer figurine on paper to establish his character, and then starting from there. I did speak to Maria a few times, she enjoyed my children's illustration style, and suggested that in the future, I make plans and roughs of my frames before drawing them. She also suggested editing the paintings on photoshop before making the book. I found this feedback very helpful, and I can take this on board when I make my final story for the Locating Practice brief.

Here is a snapshot of my work in progress as I was illustrating the story! I had my drawing of the character 'Oscar' and the little figure next to it to refer to.

Here is a photo of the completed paintings, all rough on cartridge paper ready to be scanned and edited into a book. I will post the scans and completed story once I get around to doing it.

This is not my first time creating a wordless narrative, as I created one for my foundation year called 'The Butterfly Dragon and the Pear Tree'. What I did really enjoy about this session was the fact that my story came from a randomly acquired object that I saw and was inspired to tell the story of.

Two pages from my wordless narrative 'The Butterfly Dragon and the Pear Tree' 

Prep for Wednesday's Workshop

As preparation for our 'Wordless Narrative' workshop on Wednesday with Maria Midttun, we have been told to bring something that is one of the following;

- an image (photocopy, photograph etc) of a painting

- an object, postcard, letter etc., bought at a charity shop for under £2

- visit the Russell Cotes Museum in Bournemouth, and draw an artefact

As this is only tomorrow, I went to Winton today to have a look around the charity shops for something that I could bring. What caught my eye was a cabinet full of different porcelain animals, and from the selection I picked one.

The animal I chose to go with is (what looks to me like) a deer. I chose this one because of the expression on it's face. None of the other figurines had any kind of character except this one, which is why I chose it.

I also have a few postcards that I may bring along as well. I bought these a while ago for a different workshop but never used them.

Jack Reynolds Workshop

Today I had a workshop with former student Jack Reynolds, in which he showed us what  he had gotten up to since leaving uni. He told us that his unique style is what attracts commissions, as people want their idea portrayed in his unique method. 

In the workshop we were told to pick an article from a pile of newspapers, and then produce an illustration for the article. I picked out an article on the Amalfi Coast, as this is somewhere I have visited on holiday. I aimed to create a crowded and colourful image of the houses on the cliffs, to give a sense of how clustered it all is. Taking advice from Jack about how to use brighter colours to make work more exciting, I did exaggerate the colours of the buildings to make the whole scene brighter.

 This is the article that I picked to do an illustration for!

Here is my completed illustration in full!

My cropped version of the Positano buildings!

I did enjoy today's workshop, it was a lot of fun and I really liked the piece that I produced. It is a shame that is was not relevant to the direction of my project.

Pecha Kucha Presentation sheet

My completed Pecha Kucha workshop sheet from my presentation workshop:

Theme – as stated in the brief, choose one of these to respond to,   

(highlight which one)

Invention                   Extinction                   Memory

Diversity                     Alternative Worlds             Classification

In turn, research and locate an interesting topic within your selected theme, which is?

The extinction of the Dinosaurs, otherwise known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event.

What is the role or function that your illustration/outcome will perform? i.e. narrative/storytelling role, educational content, decorative approach, or commentable role, in forming an opinion about something.

I aim to create a children's narrative. I will illustrate a Children's picture book that tells the story of a dinosaur character. I will focus mainly on visuals and include little text. To accompany my book, I will produce an extra promotional item, such as a series of educational zines or figures of the characters.

Who is the work for? Who is your audience?

Children, early readers, ages 2-4 

What is the context (the situation in which the work will be realised)?  i.e. zine, installation, animation, artist book etc.

A short picture book will become my main piece. I do however aim to create an 'extra' if I have time.

What media will you use? 

I would like to do the illustrations for my story in gouache paint, however this may change after experimenting.

                                   

Locating Practice: Starting out

For our final project we have to base our work around one out of 6 themes. The themes to choose from are; Memory, Classification, Invention, Extinction, Alternative worlds or Diversity. During the presentation, I immediately narrowed down my options to Alternative worlds or Extinction. As I aspire to illustrate for children and younger audiences, I was trying to think how I could translate one of those two themes into a children's narrative.

I have chosen to go with the theme of Extinction, and more specifically focus on a story related to extinct creatures that were wiped out with the dinosaurs. I would like to make a children's book which is heavy on visual imagery and has less text, along with an accompanying piece such as a children's card game involving the characters, or possibly soft toys, clothes or figurines.

It was a very difficult decision picking between the two options, however I feel the theme I picked is more relevant for my target audience.

I may have a go at creating a zine relating to 'alternative worlds' in the future, as this is a topic that really interests me.