Marine Iguana - Ştefan Munteanu

My project revolves around the majestic existence of marine iguanas. I consider these creatures an endless source of inspiration as they are dark, rough and they always seem eager for a bloody confrontation, when in fact they are masters of psychological warfare. I have depicted in my work below a scene where a battle of this kind takes place. The iguanas seem ready to jump at each other's throats, but it never comes to that. The two only stare each other in the eye until one bows its head and lays on the ground, surrendering and recognising the dominance of its opponent. I have illustrated the mental frequencies of the two iguanas engaged in a fight, and painted two golden halos as helmets to underline their attempt to stay immune to the other's mental attack.

This image consists of three separately drawn layers which I brought together using Photoshop, achieving my desired result. The buildings in the water represent the iguana's natural habitat from which it is brutally plucked by the sick man who desperately wanted to take a closer look at the creature.

I chose to bring the marine iguana to life by putting together a wire frame and covering it with wire dish sponges to represent its nervous system, as the iron conducts the low frequencies it needs in order to gain the upper hand and finally achieve dominance against its opponent.

Thank you for watching!

Bearded Dragon - Leah Keatley-Phoenix

Pencil Sketch

3Doodler 

Pencil Sketches

Final Piece 

My chosen animal was a Bearded Dragon. What particularly interested me was their shape, skin texture and their ability to change colour. I was especially happy with the 3Doodler experiment. If I would've had more time I would have loved to experiment in more detail, even making an actual 3D model of a Bearded Dragon, however, this would have been too time consuming. The 3Doodler really described the Bearded Dragons size which worked well. I decided for my final piece to focus on 'What is a healthy Bearded Dragon?' to show owners what they need to look out for if their Bearded Dragon was to become unwell. I thought this would be a good idea as it offers humour but with useful, factual information.

Crocodiles

For this unit I looked into crocodiles and how their society operates. I found out that it functions in a strict hierarchical manner and wanted to look into illustrating this. I decided to look at how it might relate to human behaviours which also demonstrate social tiers, so I was thinking about social satire which gives commentary on these behaviours (such as Spiegelman's "Maus"). My final illustration is in ink - similar to the styles of a lot of satirical cartoonists. It involves a lot of crocodiles parodying human behaviours, and also includes a small reference to a myth about crocodiles that I briefly looked into.

Lizards

I chose to research lizards because of their incredible colours and patterns. Within the lizard species, there are many different types; Geckos, Iguanas and Chameleons, among others. I mainly focused on geckos and chameleons. I looked into their unique patternation and amongst other things, how lizards are used in fashion. I focussed on their elegance and beauty and created a number of pattern designs that could be used for homeware. I made wallpaper rolls and samples of these designs.

 

 Ella Tomkins

Green Sea Turtles

For my Research Methodology unit I decided to look at Turtles, specifically the Green Sea Turtle. One thing I was particularly interested in was how they navigate themselves around the Earth using an "internal compass". This led on to me studying geomagnetic fields and reading physics books, which no art student should ever have to do! Leading on from this I added my own personal interest of graphic novels and made a short story relating to pollution, with the turtles taking their revenge on the human race for destroying their habitat. I then took a different audience approach and made a suitable version for young children, ultimately ending up with a colouring book that could be reproduced by WWF.

Below are sample images of what I was working on throughout the project.

Lino cut prepped for printing

Lino Print

Polluted Turtle idea

Page from the short Graphic Novel story

Example pages from the Colouring Book

Crocodile

The animal I selected to research and illustrate for the research methodology unit was the Crocodile. This was an easy choice because of my love for reptiles, in particular the Nile Crocodile. 

The opportunity to hold a 'living dinosaur' during my research was an absolute thrill and provided me with an unexpected direction in which I took my project. 

I produced a series of illustrations giving facts and information, with a touch of humour, for children and adults alike. I hoped for these to be used at the Crocodiles Of The World Centre I visited. 

The images were made into six A1 display sheets and also formed a hand printed and bound book. 

The centre has been in contact to express an interest in using the work at their new site. I am in the process of following this up.

The Chameleon

I chose the chameleon primarily because I knew little about this animal and have always been intrigued by its ability to change colour.  My research led me to African and Madagascan proverbs.

The chameleon represents wisdom, caution and adaptation; I have used this to highlight environmental awareness.  Maybe we could learn from the chameleon's ability to adapt and change in order to live more harmoniously on the planet?

I decided to create some illustrated proverbs and print them on T-shirts.  I spent a few hours making a linocut for the text below.  The result was not so much disappointing as exciting.  It was my first attempt at a linocut for typo.  I am looking forward to doing many more.

 

Komodo Dragon

For this project I studied the Komodo Dragon. What interested me about Komodo Dragons were their size, I looked into why they were so big which lead me to the movie 'King Kong' which was inspired by the expedition of W. Douglas Burden to Komodo Island and his account of the trip to find out about the giant lizards.

Galapagos Tortoise

There was an abundance of information regarding tortoises including their prehistoric origins, conservation programmes and Charles Darwin’s research. The images highlight the exploration of narrative within children's books, aboriginal art and the search for definitions and how they may be interpreted visually. I attempted to keep the images visually similar in order to achieve a sense of consistency. I worked primarily in fine liner and ink, as seen within the included images.

Ollie Tubb

Origins of Frogs

I was inspired by peoples views and beliefs about frogs, and the origins of these beliefs, this is why my project mainly focused around maps and plotting the origins of the frog on them.

Frances Bell

Chameleon

The creature that I researched into was the Chameleon. I found this animal fascinating with all of its qualities including its tongue, the use of changing colour for camouflage and how it avoids its predators. I have made many drawings of the Chameleon using mixed media such as paints, pastels and photography.  

Dan Burchett

Galapagos Tortoise

A map of Galapagos Islands, home to the Galapagos tortoise.

Christina Ball-Chameleons

Work from my Research Methodolgy project. I based my focus on The Chameleon, particulary looking at their vibrancy.