Foxes

For my Research Methodology project, I focused on foxes - due to the fact that where I live in Portsmouth, you can witness a vast amount of foxes in the night. I personally like the mysterious aura around these nocturnal mammals and so I wished to research into them further. Throughout the project, I looked at the stereotypical characteristics that foxes have within society where they are seen as cunning and malicious, however when I looked into other societies across the world, such as Japan, I saw that they are portrayed to be gods, either being extremely malevolent like in our society, or being seen as immensely benevolent and wise. The concept of the foxes traits being at two opposite ends of the spectrum intrigued me and so, the majority of my project was concentrated on the kitsune - the Japanese fox - and the Japanese tales surrounding it (such as the fact that the majority of Japanese tales show foxes to only transform into females in order to bewitch men).

The illustration above was supposed to portray the malevolent side of the fox in terms of the colour codes of the female fox's robes whereas the images below show the benevolent fox where the colours are more welcoming. The digital drawing to the right shows an incomplete shrine in the background which I wished to finish because it showed that the female fox would've been worshipped dearly and would have backed up the fact that it is a loving god rather than a malicious one.

Bats

For my menagerie project I chose to focus on bats.

I wanted to do an animal that I thought most people wouldn't do. Bats are not very popular and even feared but I think they are misunderstood and cute yet elemental. I looked at the different types of bats and where they live. I found that there are two branches of the bat family; Microbats and Megabats. Microbats are nocturnal, have external tails, are carnivores, use echolocation and are smaller than Megabats. Where as Megabats eat fruit and nectar, don't have visible tails, are diurnal so they have good eyesight and have no need for echolocation and are much larger.

I also looked into their behaviour and what their relationship is with people around the world. I used pencils, ink, collage and origami to show different aspects of the bat. The origami was the most challenging and the most rewarding.

Harlyn Blanchflower.

More on frogs

This was another experiment using water, oil and colour in order to create the idea of water and ripples within it.  Below is also a line of frog bunting representing the different personalities of people.

Short animations

3 short animations resulting from the Research Methodology project;

Save the Arctic
Pen and ink drawn animation by Aaron Baker

Gorilla 

Claymation by Johnathan Smallwood

How the Black Death Began 

Paper cut animation by Bryony Mellett

Cats

I love cats and this is the simple reason way I chose them for my project. They are loved by many and apparently mainly by crazy lady’s, including me. Besides being affectionate, cute and adorable I find they have a lot of character and attitude. This is what interested me most and what I wanted to focus on and convey in my drawings. I tried to communicate this through gestures, symbols and expression and use medium that would work and compliment the message and style. 

The Anglerfish

I chose Anglerfish for this project. I was really interested with the sheer appearance of them, their huge mouths, the sharp teeth and the glowing lure on top of their head. As someone fascinated in horror/monster illustrations I felt this deep sea creature would make a perfect project for me. 

At first I was looking at how you could make the Anglerfish look less intimidating and scary so I tried a range of different bright colours, the materials I used for these illustrations was mainly ink pen, water colour and photoshop. After these experiments I took a completely different approach to the project and found poems and short children stories about the Anglerfish. I found this one poem called 'The Mermaid Song' and it's about a beautiful young woman who was once heartbroken and spends the rest of her days as a mermaid in the deep ocean who lures unwary sailors and brings them to their death. I found this poem really connected with the Anglerfish and how it lures its prey near them till they're close enough to kill. 

Red Fox

I decided to focus on the fox for my research methodology project. I have always been fascinated by foxes, considering I had seen one bareley a handful of times in real life as they are such timid creatures. I began looking at lots of different species of fox, but quickly settled on the Red Fox. Having grown up in a fairly country-based town, I would frequently wake in the night startled by the sound of a Foxes shrill cry. However it would be near impossible to catch a sight of the sly creatures as they would lurk in the shadows in my then overgrown childhood garden.

I think the fact that I knew Foxes were difficult to catch a glimpse of created an interest within me for the creatures, and as a child I would constantly be fascinated if I caught sight of a Fox skulking into a bush in the day, or scuttling across a land at night. This Idea of a child so fascinated by a particular animal, yet not being able to see it with their own eyes, gave me quite a distinct idea. I knew I wanted to act on my love for children's illustration within this project, so that was the path I decided to go down, and I created Ella and Fox. A story based around a girl who finds all of the clues to a living creature in the forest, but cannot see this creature, so she goes searching for him, and learns all about foxes along the way. It seemed to me that as the character was discovering this information about the animal, the child reading the story would too, so it became a sort of mini fact file as well as a children's story. I had a lot of fun on this project!