Orangutan

I chose Orangutans for my research as they are my favourite animal, it gave me opportunity to explore them both academically and visually. I concentrated on their endangerment for my final piece in the form of a children's book encouraging conservation. 

The Humble Chicken

For this project I chose to look at the humble Chicken. In my opinion the Chicken has some amazing qualities, to name a few - it lays delicious eggs, it tastes great and has a surprising amount of personality. It also has a number or irritating habits but they don't need to be mentioned. I looked into cockfighting - a courageous sport, and a number of other areas too including farming and food. However, I ended up envisioning a world run by chickens, which I feel added an element of humour to my work. Below are some of the illustrations I came out with.

Polar Bear

I decided to study the Polar bear, this is because it is one of many endangered species caused by climate change. As researched and experimentation developed, I felt that illustrating climate change through the Polar Bear was extremely important and I feel it's a subject that needs to be addressed more than it currently is due to the seriousness of the matter.

The African Lion

From a very young age the Lion has been my all time favourite animal, I loved watching the Disney film 'The Lion King', so when this project came around it was the obvious choice. When it came to reasearching this animal, its Power and Strength were defining features of the animal, making it such a popular symbol for royalty and United Kingdom. I wanted explore this and more in my research which lead me to Lion anatomy. The Lion is built to hunt and kill its prey very effectively, from its eyes, to its jaws and  its deadly claws which all became the main focuses of my final outcome.

The Robin

I chose to study the Robin because it's one of my favourite birds and I always feel an inner happiness when I see one. I eventually ended up looking into its territorial behaviour and expressing this through geometric shapes. This progressed into an outfit covered with triangles to reflect both territory and the personality of a Robin.

Sheep

I decided to study sheep as I live on the doorstep of a Country Park and Farm and the sheep graze in the fields at the top of my road. I don't eat sheep but value our quintessential British countryside which wouldn't be so pleasing without sheep. My research revealed that sheep are extensively entwined with our history, culture, wealth and even the shape and look of our landscape.

Research sketchbooks

A few examples of sketchbook pages from the recently completed work of our current first year students.