Helen Sepehr - Red Fox

For my Research Methodology project I decided to look at the Red fox. I've always had a soft spot for foxes and I really wanted to explore the controversy between how people see foxes. I found that many people see foxes as pests and vermin and are portrayed in a bad light. Although others see the much gentler, cute side to foxes which is what I see. I also found that foxes can be trained just like dogs and there are people who actually own foxes as pets. Towards my final piece I decided to research more into what 'fox' as a word actually meant which then lead me to the words 'trickster' and 'joker'. I wanted to try to then show the 2 sides that people portray a fox to be, the Trickster/vermin and the Cute/gentle side. I illustrated this onto wood to create a sort of 'joker card'.

 Here is a link to the stop-motion animation Tegan Meredith and I made called 'The Fox and the Hedgehog'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdPIe0i9G-U&feature=youtu.be 

Wire and plasticine fox model I made for 'The Fox and the Hedgehog' animation.

Charcoal on paper drawing of creepy fox

                                                        Lino print ideas for 'Joker card' 

My final piece, acrylic inks onto wood joker card. 

Danielle Hackett-The Moth

For my Research Methodology project, I looked into moths, a misunderstood type of creature with many fascinating qualities. My main focus was the comparison between light and dark, as whilst researching the moth I noticed that this was a common theme that kept appearing, such as the way they mainly dwell in the night, but have a deadly infatuation for light. I also discovered two moths that had an interesting contrast with one another. One was the Luna Moth, a beautiful green insect with an almost luminescent quality and delicate wings, the other, a Death’s Head Hawk Moth, the subject of much hatred and a sign of a bad omen, with drab colours, a heavy body, and of course, the infamous markings of a skull on it’s thorax. I then started to investigate in to how I could portray this comparison, and experimented with bleach and ink, black and white, and eventually came to the art of shadow puppetry and theatre. This art form along with inspiration of the surrealist film movement, led me to my final stop animation.

My Final Animation

Dehanka Waddell -Peacock

 

From the beginning of the Research Methodology, I knew I wanted research the peacock. People usually associate the Peacock with beauty and pride and I thought I would explore this direction before taking the project further. By researching the Peacock in depth I was able to understand the animal, both metaphorically and physically. It is a very inspirational animal which is presented throughout the media and by looking at people's opinions. I developed my concept of beauty and ugliness.

The Peacock is a very beautiful animal from the from, but once you look at it from the back it is very hideous and scary and I wanted develop this idea and combine it into one image that portrays both the beauty and ugliness of the peacock. Additionally, by looking into the fashion industry and their idea of beauty, I decided that I would make a magazine and exaggeratedly air brush my image to illustrate the media's perception of perfected beauty. Is beauty something to be perfected or is it something that comes naturally? 

My illustration for the magazine cover, and the digital air brushed version

Final Outcome

Tegan Meredith - Research Methodology - The Hedgehog

For my Research Methodology project I wanted to research hedgehogs. I found them quite gentle creatures that feature often in children's stories as well as being one of the most recognisable woodland creatures in our British wildlife.

                                         

('The Fox and the Hedgehog' stop motion animation I created with Helena Sepehr)

Through thorough research I discovered that the hedgehog is declining quickly in population due to many environmental factors, including fatal attacks from predators.

                                                 

(Created using Charcoal and Adobe Photoshop)

Hedgehogs are vulnerable animals that are only armored by their spines. I wanted to look into how hedgehogs are protected as well as how they are seen in children's story books . This lead me to look into fairy tales and how the Enchanted forest is a place where the vulnerable, innocent character gets lost and found again. 

(Pastel drawing of my interpretation of the Brother's Grimm fairy tale, Hans My Hedgehog)

(Etching of a hedgehog and his Uncanny shadow)

I was inspired by the work of Tim Burton and Dave Mckean to create illustrations that narrate the Uncanny and fear that the hedgehog faces in a world where they are weak, and may perhaps be seen as an unusual creature alone in a frightening habitat.

(Final Piece created from acrylic paint print, clay sculpture, photography and Adobe Photoshop)

Vicente O'Neill - the Spem Whale

The Sperm Whale

Minus its funny name, the Sperm Whale is one of the most mysterious marine mammals known to mankind. I chose this majestic creature because it intrigued, fascinated and even frightened me. This is a species of whale that is known to be solitary, lonely and intelligent.
This is a true leviathan. It can grow bigger than 15 metres long and can dive underwater for 90 minutes at a time and can reach depths of 10, 500 feet. The Sperm Whale has been made Famous by sightings of Mocha Dick (real life Albino Sperm whale that has had 100's of skirmishes with whalers back in the 19th century) and the fictional Moby Dick (imagined by real life whaler Herman Melville who was inspired by Mocha Dick).

I had a dream where I saw this Sperm Whale, deep in the briny abyss, open its mouth, a dark hole in the oceanic blue, and suck me in.

I would describe the sperm whale with one word: Ominous.

Nathan Lambert - Giant Panda

I based my Research Methodology project on the Giant Panda, I recently took a big interest in them due to their cute and cuddly yet lonely nature. After finding out from extensive research that the Panda symbolizes peace in China I wanted to explore that more, in which i found connections to Buddhism. Buddhism became the prominent theme to my project as well as Chinese culture, from there on the project flowed. These are a few images of the illustrations i made of a Giant Panda 

in my project, including the My Dog Sighs workshop and final piece.

Dehanka Waddell- My Dog Sigh- Level 4 work Shop

Local Portsmouth artist, My Dog Sighs, showed us what he does for a living. He takes used and discarded items and recycles them to make his artwork. In the workshop he gave us the opportunity to do the same, we had the task of walking around Portsmouth, looking for waste items which could be potential  pieces of artwork. Whilst walking around Portsmouth I found a discarded plate in front of a block of flats and the image above is my final outcome. The acrylic painting of a tetraodontidae (puffer-fish) was places back into the location found. Then I started playing about with the display of the artwork, I placed it in plant stems found near the block of flats.

 

Image of plate back in location found. 

Monique Burke - Giraffe

I decided to have a look at Giraffes for the Research Methodology project. My 5 words were hungry, curious, tall, adventurous and friendly. I experimented using exaggeration and a variety of media, such as fineliner, ink, watercolour and acrylics in order to achieve my final outcomes linked to my 5 words.

 my sketchbooks and experiments on loose sheets.              

Final outcomes - series of 3

They show my Giraffe in different environments, Portsmouth, Jamaica and New york. 

My idea was to show that the Giraffe is hungry, so it travelled to different places for food (adventurous). Giraffes use their neck in order to reach food, so I exaggerated that (tall). 

My Giraffes face is very friendly and also curious, I did this to represent their behaviour.

                                                            Portsmouth - Clarence Pier

                                                                          Jamaica

                                                                       New York

George Hinchliffe - Red Eyed Tree Frog

   

George Hinchliffe - Research Methodology

Red Eyed Tree Frog

I decided to look at the Red eyed tree frog for this project a little frog with a lot of personality. I chose to focus my investigations on a range of elements from the tree frogs way of living from their motion focusing on their jumps to the role they play in protecting the worlds rain-forests. Here is a selection of images from this project as well as a link to some animations that can be found here...   

  Animations from project

Tegan Meredith - My Dog Sighs Level 4 Workshop - Hedgehog

For this workshop we had visiting artist, My Dog Sighs, showing us how we can create a piece of artwork by up-cycling rubbish found around Pompey. We were shown examples of My Dog Sighs own work to give us inspiration to go out to find our own objects to transform into a personified piece of Free Art.  

I found a piece of wood with nails sticking out from it, which I thought would be perfect for creating a hedgehog to put towards my Research Methodology project.

After painting my hedgehog, I had to return it to the staircase I found it under in the city centre - this was difficult as I was quite attached to Mr Hedgey!

Mackerel - Gabriel Olalekan

Gabriel Olalekan - Mackerel

                                                    Screen print

                                                    Screen print

                                                 Pencil drawing

                                                    Painting
                                      

 

My chosen animal was mackerel (Atlantic mackerel).

Mackerels taste so good and are an important food fish that is consumed world wide. As an oily fish, it is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids. What I love about mackerel is the interesting dark wavy stripes they have on their back because they help me remember that stripy protein is good for me.

Another reason for choosing mackerel is because I can easily buy it and store it in the freezer, then get it out anytime, research and explore it closely. I wanted an animal that I can have easy access to.

Anna Tromop - Moose

Spending six weeks getting to know the moose seemed like a natural choice, as it is a massive, humorous and largely underestimated animal, that also reminded me of home. Through my research, I have learnt a great deal about its life and living conditions, and about how it differs from what we’d normally percept. Also, along with the constant growing of urban areas in both Scandinavia and Northern America, it’s living conditions are constantly shrinking, resulting in animals wandering off into new territory. 

The largest member of the deer family is constantly on the move, licking salt of highways, getting stuck in apple trees or parking their calves in peoples back gardens. They are very curious animals! Yet, it is the traffic accidents that you hear the most about. Moose collisions alone costs Norway about 25 million pounds every year, and the population is growing. 

You might be lucky enough to glimpse one, although most times, 

the traffic signs will have do make do.

Else van den Hooven- Ostrich

I wanted to research an animal that I knew little of beforehand. The ostrich is an animal, which many people don't really think of and most of all don't understand. It's rarely a favourite animal, but after this project it became one of mine. Ostriches are known for buring their heads in the sand, which means avoiding danger. "Human ostriches" always avoid problems. This is one thing I wanted to set right, because the Ostrich is that one animal that does not avoid any danger. Instead they are very extrovert, protective, and great fighters. On top of that they are not afraid to show what they are capable of. Additionally it never really had an important position through history; yes, the feathers were used in fashion, but the ostrich itself was far in the background. Also they have been walking on earth longer then most animals, which should give the animals more power, but sadly it did not.  Through my research work I wanted to give the ostrich the position it deserves. My five words were Nomadic, Survivor, Protective, Curious and Extrovert. I worked alot with symbolism & patterns within this project, and I explored the extrovertness with Op art and Pop art. For my final product I made a A1 poster.

Photoshop 

screenprint

                                                                   design in Photoshop & Illustrator