Amy Tuff

I chose to look at the Kakapo, a critically endangered parrot from New Zealand. I chose this bird because it has a very interesting but unfortunate history with a difficult struggle to save the species.
I wanted to tell the story of this bird through a book of layered paper cut outs as each pages flows and connects to the next.

Crow's Fall

Some experimental animation work exploring the app Artivive with one of my animations inspired by the poem Crow's Fall by Ted Hughes. The app 'augments' imagery viewed through a screen superimposing it with whatever media you post to it, a really exciting way to combine static imagery and animation and to bring (as Artivive say) art to life.

Parrots - Annabelle Scott

At the beginning of this project I wasn’t too sure how I was going to Illustrate my chosen animal as I have never really illustrated anything apart from people before. However I have, in the past, done projects based on colour and pattern for the human form. I decided that through my initial research of looking at the different species, I could incorporate this idea of colour and pattern into some small paintings of these birds. Parrots are themselves so colourful that creating some small colourful paintings was quite easy. However I felt these were too simple and not well thought out. I decided to do some secondary research at Bird World and get some first hand images of these birds.

After going to Bird World, I realised there was so much movement with these birds and trying to get precise and detailed drawings was never going to happen. I wanted a way to come up with quick, fun was of depicting the beautiful splashes of colour I saw when I saw them flying around in real life. I decided to use finger prints as this was a very quick and quirky way of showing off these birds who are quick and quirky themselves.

After coming up with my repeated patterns I decided to use them in a commercial way by creating some carton designs for tropical juice. I decided to go down this path as two of my key words to describe parrots were ‘Exotic’ and ‘Endangered’ and this way I could create some exotic juices and raise money for the organisations that are trying to help them. I am really glad I went down this path as I think it created some interesting final outcomes. I based all the information off other juice cartons that I bought from Tesco’s, I tried to include all the correct information and include fun facts so that it would look authentic.

These are my final cartons from this project. I think making the cartons was effective and each flavour together was unique and interesting to look at.

Owls

I focused on owls for my research methodology project.

I looked at their symbolism in various cultures and their association with witches. They are thought to be messengers of witches, and it's also believed that witches themselves can turn into owls. They symbolize wisdom and foresight and are thought to be keepers of secrets and knowledge. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and strategy, had an owl as her symbol. According to myth, an owl would sit on her blind side, so that she could see the whole truth.

Owls are often associated with death and bad omens; however, they are also associated with dreams and psychic awareness. I focused a lot on owl associations and representations, especially their symbolism in dreams and divination. I was interested in the mysticism of owls and their place in the old world.

Jack Bruce

Typographical piece to accompany images.

Final image selection.

Shakespearian text reference.

Sketchbook page.

My submission focused on the symbolism of the lark and nightingale in Romeo and Juliet. Each bird has a different song one for the day and one for the night. They represent the journey of forbidden love encountered by the protagonists, which I have attempted to portray in a graphical and contemporary style.

Georgie Robjant - Magpie

For our research methodology project I chose to do the animal, Magpie, I chose this animal as I feel that it holds a reputation with it, I love a story behind anything and the magpie definitely delivers that, I love how such a small animal can hold so much meaning and can be seen as such a superstitious creature

                                      Here is some sketch book work of some artist research
                                                   that influenced my Magpie creations.

                                  Here is one of my final A3 pieces I created on book pages

Here is the second part of my final piece on book pages.

Here is some experimental work I did with A watercolour magpie

and a dream catcher.

Blue Footed Booby

For my research methodology I picked the blue footed booby. I was interested by this creature firstly because of its name and vibrant blue foot and then after some research its funky mating dance it uses to attract partners.

Peacocks

For my Research Methodology project, I focused on peacocks as they are an interesting male bird of the peafowl species to look in to. I have noted that many meanings come with this colourful bird. Its form is also interesting to look at and its tail can be seen to look like eyes and is used for a number of things.

Barn Owl

I initially chose owls as my subject of research, later deciding to focus mainly on barn owls. Owls have always fascinated me, barn owls in particular, there is a certain silent beauty and mystery about them which I wanted to explore further. I researched a lot into the mythology and symbolism of owls,  I was surprised at the amount of cultures that believed and still believe that owls are connected with death. I decided to look further into this aspect, linking it with the mystery of the creatures. I created a few prints and wallpaper designs as well as some jewellery that I felt reflected the aspect of barn owls that I wanted to present. I mainly used photoshop, as well as fabric printing and polymer clay to create my pieces. I liked the idea of the repetition and mirrored images representing the mysterious aspect, I also chose to portray the owls mainly using skulls to represent death but with roses, a symbol of beauty, in the eye socket, combining the aspects of beauty and death that barn owls are seen to connote. The jewellery was a similar approach, depicting the beauty of barn owls.

Red-Cheeked Cordon-Bleu

I took a look at the charming Red-Cheeked Cordon-Bleu after spotting them amongst the banana trees during my visit to The Gambia. I instantly fell in love with this bird with its bright blue plumage contrasting with its pastel grey chest and of course it's red cheeks! And what a wonderful name! 

Whilst I was in The Gambia, Omar who worked for the charity WYCE where I was staying and who had a love for all birds, told me that if you venture into Senegal to the cannabis crops that's where you'd find most of these birds as they favour the seeds from the plant. This is why the plant also features in my work... 

Flying high.

The Peregrine Falcon

During my Research Methodology unit I chose to study the Peregrine Falcon, a powerful bird of prey that is recovering from the crippling effect of the pesticide DDT. I chose the Peregrine because I have always been fascinated with the way birds fly, so the fastest bird in the world seemed like a good base for my research. I wanted to focus this project on what set the peregrine apart from the other birds in the sky namely its speed, beak, eyesight and talons. Included below are a sketch of a falcon preforming a stoop, two development pieces and the Info-graphic that they became a part of. 

Owl - Research Methodology.

The animal I chose to illustrate for the Research Methodology project was the owl. The reason I wanted to draw this animal is because of their ability to hunt silently and their incredible eyesight.

This piece was made during a cut and paste workshop where we were given scraps of paper with mechanical components printed on them. By using these scraps the animals we created became industrial robots with cogs and flywheels. This made the owl's anatomy and abilities appear superhuman.

This was just a little experiment with more cut and paste, at this point I was still focussing on the owl's eyesight.

These two were part of my final piece for the project. I researched various facts about the owl's anatomy and created collages to illustrate them. I'm pleased with the effect of the white pen on the cardboard and on the black and white image. However there could be improvement on the composition of the typography.

Eagle Owl

I studied the Eagle Owl for this project, focusing mainly on their (and owls in general) role in ancient mythologies. I especially looked at the Roman Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, who had a companion owl perched on her shoulder who would reveal unseen truths to her. The Eagle Owl is normally the top predator and has been know to take down foxes and small deer. These are some of the drawings and prints I did for this project.

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.

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.