Pine Marten

For my research methodology project I decided to look at the Pine Marten. Pine Martens are shy, nocturnal animals that have been extinct from England since the 18th century due to hunting and deforestation. They are still found in Scotland and Ireland and in recent years have been reintroduced to Wales. My research started off with looking at the conservation of these animals and the efforts that are being taken into reintroducing them to Wales and possibly England.

During my research I looked at if the Pine Marten had any myths or legends behind it and found very few, but I did find some Native American creation stories that involved the Pine Marten. Pine Martens are seen within Native American beliefs as a brave warrior and protector especially with the Ojibwe/ Ojibway who had a clan named after it, which had their warriors, builders and strategists in.

One of the stories really stood out to me, Pine Marten's quest for Moon's Daughter, in the story different animals are trying to become Moon's daughters suitors, but to do this they have to pass Moon's challenges. Pine Marten is the only one who completes the first challenge and goes on to the others. The part of the story that caught my attention was the ending were Moon is sent into the sky by Pine Marten were he becomes the Moon. As the original story is a direct translation of  a spoken tale there are quite a few sentences that don't make sense in English. After having a tutorial with Karen Anne we discussed about transfiguring and rewriting the story to fit Irish animals and making it into a children's story book.

My new version of the story went through lots of changes and versions. I made it so Pine Marten is the protagonist of the story whilst Moon is the antagonist, as in the original both of them seemed to be as bad as each other with no messages of good. I made it so the story showed how much Pine Marten loved moon's daughter (Kyna), and how he would do any number of challenges to be able to marry her. In the end during a challenge pine marten is exhausted and fed up and sends Moon into the sky.

For the double page spreads I made thumbnails of every scene and picked three to illustrate along with a map for the index papers. When designing the characters for the story I got a bit carried away and did roughs of all the characters involved, so I used them and made them into a page introducing the characters to go at the start of the book. I did all of my drawings in black fine liner and scanned them into Photoshop were I then coloured them and added in the text.

Llama - Emma West

Creating my own Peruvian style patterns

My chosen animal for Research Methodology was the llama! I chose it because of its characteristically quirky and humorous nature and appearance. I was also given the nickname 'llama' a few years ago by my friends (to this day I still don't know why!) - so I figured it would be fun to work with an animal that I had some association with. My initial thoughts on how to approach this project would be gaining more information about them and the environment that they live in, which led me on to researching about Peru and its culture. This also prompted some historical research in the 'Incas' - in which I learnt about the multicolour llama deity 'Urcuchillay' and the importance of textiles in their culture and traditions. From here I experimented with creating my own Peruvian style patterns, and incorporated a lot of vibrant colours into llama drawings - inspired by both Peruvian culture, Andy Warhol's pop art work and the Fauvist movement. 

Through my experiments and cultural research influence I decided to take a textile based route, thinking about how I could use sewing, knitting and other wool based crafts. The five words I chose allowed me to have some real fun with experimentation and idea development, from the beginning of the project I knew that I wanted to create something fun and colourful. The five words I chose were Quirky, Goofy, Proud, Rugged and Colourful, all of which relate to their appearance and characters, as well as cultural roots. 

Embroidery experiments

Using textiles was a really good choice, it allowed me to re-familiarise myself with machine sewing and I got to revisit experimenting with embroidery which I enjoy doing in my spare time. The final pieces turned out exactly how I wanted them to! Together they encompass the five words and summarise the colourful, quirky nature of llamas. The two embroideries feature colourful patterns inspired by Peruvian textiles, displayed within the llamas coats to reflect on their home country and the culture of it. The weave is a physical representation of the llamas rugged coats combined with Peruvian inspired colours, Tulunpi ear decorations and pom poms they are adorned with during festivals. The three googly eye prints are a response to Andy Warhol's 'Marilyn Monroe' print, duplicating and varying colour palettes to create individual characters whilst adding some extra fun and humour to the llamas. 

Final pieces on the wall together!

The Human - Sam Hely

I decided to be a little different with this project and look into the animal of a human, which is under the umbrella classed as a mammal.
The specific area I decided to look into was that of the brain and how different people can behave in different ways compared to others.  I began by looking in the general structure of the human skull.

This is a charcoal and chalk drawing I produced to represent the skull.

After this point I began to look into the idea of how a murderers brain could be potentially different to that of a person who has not committed a murder, so from here I started exploring the concept of forensic science, in particular, the use of a fingerprint detection.

So from this point I decided that to try and back up the idea of using finger prints, I needed to try this myself.  Using a few different mediums to get the best possible fingerprint print, this image was using the media of lino block ink.

From here i began to explore the idea that there are many films which would include the thoughts of murderers and films that contain murderers, this is where I entered the print room and created an etch.

The etch was from the film A Nightmare on Elm Street and I decided to try and recreate the hand of Freddy Kruger, the infamous dream killer.

My final image comes from the inspiration taken from a workshop with My Dog Sighs.  During the workshop i created a doll that had been savagely attacked, but was left hanging with a suicide note, which left it on a cliffhanger as to whether he committed suicide or was in fact murdered.

After drawing the image into a scratch board, I then uploaded the image into Photoshop and inverted the image and coloured the eyes to try and make the drawing a little more life like.

Fox - Charlotte Vine

My Research Methodology project was focused on the Japanese folklore surrounding the Fox (or Kitsune in Japanese). Kitsune in Japanese mythology are intelligent beings who posses magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Most importantly they are commonly known to be shapeshifters, who can transform into human beings using their power source 'Hoshi no Tama' (translated as 'Star Balls'). My primary goal was to create a narrative depicting the transformation of the Kitsune. Firstly, I had to research into how transformation could be displayed. Most of this research comprised of the concept art for the Harry Potter film franchise which included many humans turning into various creatures and vice versa. After this, I attempted to create my own transformation sequence of a human becoming a fox:


I found that the in between stages in my illustration, displayed on a page permanently rather than quickly sifted through like in film or animation, looked very awkward and strange. Thus I later decided after I had written the plot for my story that I would have the transformation happen in a particular way so that the awkward in between stages could not be seen by the viewer.

I decided to do this by using the pond the humans protagonist is sitting by in this scene, The Kitsune would jump in one end as a fox and appear as a human at the other, leaving the readers to fill in the blanks using their imaginations.To imply a transformation was happening, I wanted to show patterns forming on the surface of the water. To find out what textures and patterns I could use, I experimented with how water and ink act together. First by photographing the patterns formed once ink was dropped into water, then adding ink to existing droplets on a page and letting it dry overnight. Thinking about texture in terms of transformation, I had to think how texture could symbolise a smooth surface (skin) changing to a fluffy one (fur). After experimenting with different patterns in varying media, I found microscopic images of human skin and fox fur. I also gathered some images by photographing water, and observing the surface patterns. This research concluded with a gouache painting that symbolised the fox / human transformation, utilising a combination of the textures I had created and seen:



These patterns were then utilised in the final comic on the surface of the water to imply transformation (see below).

This project also included character design, how could I portray the qualities of the Kitsune in a single character?



After having created some rough sketches of what I thought the two protagonists could look like, I decided to look into name symbolism, as symbolism within a character’s design is very crucial to me and can be very insightful and interesting. I decided to give the Kitsune a unisex name (Yuu, which means gentleness, lithe, superior (very much fox features)) and an androgynous appearance to draw parallels with the fox in the sense it is very hard to tell males and females apart. His human form has many fox features: long face, high cheek bones, slight slant of the eye and slightly pointed ears. I have also drawn upon an earlier idea to have markings on the face that remain in both fox and human form. Yuu’s colour palette is symbolic, with his hair being white (an auspicious colour) and clothing being blue (meaning purity). Finally, here is an excerpt of the final comic scene I illustrated, depicting the transformation from fox to human:

Lost and Found Workshop

This is Freddie, created through a workshop with My Dog Sighs.  Made using string, ink and charcoal, was Freddie murdered or did he commit suicide?  I guess we will never know as he disappeared from where he was hung...

Karen Li - Dragon

For my Research Methodology Project I decided to do it on Dragon, As they are very fierce and scary features recorded from myths and legends. I looked into the history of cultures stories of dragons, from this I found that origin of the legends of dragon emerged in the course of Chinese history. The Chinese believed that dragon was a benevolent creatures with powers to bring rain and good luck to the people.

In this project I experiment from wire modelling, origami dragons, Lino prints and 3D clay modelling. From those I found that my Lino prints came out very successful, which I decide to use my continuous line drawing made from my clay modelling into Lino as a little illustrated book.

Two pages of fold up book (Final Piece) 

Drawing in the air

Researching into animals according to Shakespeare is yielding some fascinating results; you should never come between a dragon and its wrath, rats would desert the vessel described in The Tempest and the goat is coming across very cheekily. The next stage for the students is to vigorously research and develop ideas to convey some of these results, how can wrath, desertion and cheekiness be conveyed with a drawing, a sculpture, an animation or a photograph?

This workshop involved 'drawing' with wire of varying thicknesses (and it is easier said than done) to encourage the students to explore spacial and gestural properties they could employ in their explorations with conveying their animal and the specific focus they are working towards

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Samantha-Jo Carter - Dragonflies

Chalk and Charcoal.

For my Research Methodology Project, i chose to research into Dragonflies because of the many miscommunicated ideas about them. Through my research i found that depending on where in the world you are, and what culture you lean towards, Dragonflies can be seen as either an evil creature or on the other hand a creature of peace and tranquility.

Wire Sculpture.

For the first half of this project i experimented into different ways in which i can portray the dragonfly with numerous materials. When it came to experimenting with different materials i wanted to keep the out come of the image somewhat relative to the research into culture i was working on at the time. For example the image below was made rather dark, with thick colours to show how in European culture the Dragonfly was considered to be the Devils insect, and as a rather evil creature.

Acrylic paints.

This image is of my final image, a piece of wallpaper sample that i decided to create after researching about Japanese cultures and their relations with the tranquility of Dragonflies. After researching into how the Dragonfly is often used within him Decor, i thought i would try and incorporate both decor and Japanese culture into one image in order to create my final piece.

My final piece was created with a mixture of drawing inks, charcoal and chalks.

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)