FMP Development

Having decided on looking into endangered species for my final major project for University I feel that I have made a positive progression.

The main focus at the moment is on tigers in the wild and how the species is threatened due to a number of issues such as habitat loss and poaching caused by deforestation and the illegal wildlife trade. Therefore I have begun to create several ideas depicting how deforestation is threatening tiger species.

Here are my illustrations including process:

Idea 1: 

Watercolour and ink illustration portraying both sides of the story; a healthy tiger next to the destruction of deforestation which will be it's fate if nothing is done to prevent it.

Idea 1

Having completed the illustration, I feel that it is somehow quite disjointed and the two halves do not compliment each other. Perhaps if the tones refelcted each other more and the cut down trees formed the stripes of the tiger so that the image would connect as a whole. Even so, the fact the illustration is very literal means it is self explanatory which is important for conveying a message to the audience with instant impact.

Idea 2:

Watercolour and ink illustration of a close up tiger's eye filled with a scene of deforestation.

Idea 2

This illustration is intended for the audience to see how deforestation has a threatening impact from a tiger's point of view to create empathy. The scene is literally a reflection of what is seen by the tiger as excavators destroy its home. 

Inspiration for these illustrations came from a video posted by the WWF:

This video demonstrates how tigers could be here one day and gone the next. Without anyone stopping deforestation, habitat loss will eventually lead to tiger species becoming extinct. Through illustration, I aim to raise awareness about the issue and portray the truth behind the issue. 

Future development: 

So far I feel my illustrations are heading in the right direction although there is still much room for improvement and many more ideas. These illustrations could then be applied to a campaign brochure informing an 18-30 audience. The age category I have chosen is due to the fact that adults have the power to change, they can donate money or even be inspired to help conservation. I aim for my illustrations to not only raise awareness but inspire people who also want to and can make a change. 

Animal Rights: Badger Culling

As a new twist in my project and a desire to find more substance in my work I decided to look into current issues concerning animal rights. Through a short search I found out that the most recent issue in the UK seems to be the legalisation of badger culling and over the past month this has been occurring for the second year running.

An article struck me as shocking by the Western Daily Press as the culling was described in a casual, desensitised manner:

"The chairman of Gloucestershire’s NFU, Andrew Guest, said the cull was ‘a mixed bag’, but sources at the NFU said it was believed the marksmen had reached their targets of 70 per cent of the badger population killed"

This comment 'a mixed bag' caused me to think visually and need to create an illustration.

Original pencil sketch of idea

Badger portrait

After the initial ideas, I scanned the imagery into Photoshop for further manipulation. I decided I would set myself a rule to keep human/ man-made forms in digital media and nature/ animals in traditional media. This would highlight the vulnerability of the badger in comparison with the human form and bin bag which take control in the image.

Outlining the human form and bin bag with the pen tool in Photoshop brings in the digital side of the illustration whilst the badgers are preserved in traditional pencil making them appear vulnerable and innocent.

Overall, I believe that this new direction in my work in positive and more illustrative. These illustrations could accompany an article, campaign poster or book. Trying to bring more context in my work has definitely improved my understanding of where I want my illustrations to be placed within the industry.

I will continue to develop on this idea of badger culling and apply my illustrations to appropriate contexts to see how they can fit into the professional industry.


You can see more of my illustrations on my website at carlataylor.co.uk

Thanks for reading,

Carla

New University Project: Final Year

This post is long over-due, but better late than never they say!

So, I have started my final year at University (scary times!) and my first task was to decide on a project theme which could carry me through the whole year. No easy task although I was sure of my interests, it was just a case of crafting it so it would contain both visual and contextual substance.

Therefore, after much thought I decided that I would look into Animal Rights and the Environment, focusing on several aspects of this theme and developing them into a large body of work. As well as this, I have a desire to make sure my work is as professional as it can be at this stage, even though my first module consists of mainly research.

As an initial starting point I decided to research into local aspects of the theme, bringing the environmental side to the foreground and saving the Animal Rights aspect until I gathered some decent literary research.

Having a desire to be unique and create my own style, primary source research is important to me as an illustrator. Due to this, my first step was to go out and take my own photographs of the environment, with an aim to capture the relationship between the immediate urban landscape and nature:

These images were taken around Huddersfield and it soon became evident how man-made forms either take over certain areas of the landscape, or intrude on the natural beauty of the landscape which is already there. Another point I noticed was that much of the landscape will have been planted by men, so therefore is it natural? Or is it man-made nature?

Questions constantly popped up into my mind, and I so from this I am eager to bring nature into the foreground of beauty and push the urban landscape into the background as an attempt to regain some of what is left of nature. Even though I have questioned some of the natural aspects of the landscape, in my illustrations I will capture them in a beautiful, natural sense to highlight nature's importance in comparison to man-made forms such as roads, buildings and cars.

Further Experimentation

Dead Bird:

Created with acrylic paint, originally in black and white tones. Relations to the film 'Drowing by Numbers' first scene where dead bird hangs from a post. Significant to the themes of tragedy and death and provides more serious and mature attitude towards the topic.

Trees:

Also painted in acrylic. Totally from imagination, I aimed to focus on the tonal aspects of the trees. The simple image gives an eerie vibe when inverted in Photoshop, signifying the theme of tragedy and death.

Ace of Spades:

This acrylic painting aimed to capture the composition of a dead bird in the form of a classic Ace of Spades. This was an initial idea to go towards my playing cards, though I think these images are too rough an unfinished. Red in the right image symbolises blood and death

Dice Prints- Ace and Two of Clubs

These two images were edited in Photoshop from the original image seen in a previous post 'Dice Printing'. The first image reminds me of a butterfly perhaps, giving a more light-hearted feel to the symbolism of numbers. The second image appears more abstract and more is left open for interpretation by the viewer. As two of the clovers are included in this image, I would use this as a representation of the Two of Clubs.

Overall, these experiments are all unique and successful in their own ways. At this point I am not sure which style to develop further for my pack of cards, though I will create more imagery in both styles to see which work best.

Primary Source Photography and Studies

As a starting point to get my ideas rolling, I went out and took some of my own primary source photography. My main focus was to find numbers ideally in unconventional places, but out in the environment mainly outdoors but some indoors. The aim of doing this was to capture the placement of numbers in real life in comparison to the directors placement of numbers in the film 'Drowning by Numbers'.

A few of my primary source photographs:

 

After taking some photos within the environment I soon realised that numbers were a large part of society and was able to capture a variety of numbers in different settings.Many of the numbers were situated in obvious contexts, though some of them were more obscure. From this I had the idea of creating my own narratives from the numbers so I produced some charcoal studies and then put them in sequential order to see if a narrative could be created.

I am generally pleased with my quick charcoal sketches however I struggle to find any sense of narrative from the sequence of imagery.In this sense, the numbers make the sketches into a complete set which is similar to how the numbers create their own narrative in 'Drowning by Numbers'. Also, the way the images are cropped brings the numbers out of context and allows the viewer to interpret them in their own way, creating their own possible contexts.

As a focus for development, I will explore artists who deal with similar compositions and work with numbers in their work, in order to gain inspiration and find my own personal direction with my project.

Initial Thoughts and Ideas of 'Drowning by Numbers' (1988)

After watching the film 'Drowning by Numbers' (1988), I quickly noted down the main aspects of the films which caught my attention in mind map form. Complete with illustrations and screenshots, I felt that this way of organising my thoughts worked well. 

The main aspects which stuck in my mind when watching the film were: the sequential order but random placement of numbers throughout the film, the various games which were invented and played, and also the relationship between sex and death. In particular, I was intrigued by the game 'Dawn Card-Castles' and the idea that certain playing cards and numbers could affect the way you dream. This caused me to think that perhaps I could create my own ideas about how each playing card could cause a variety of dreams.

Moreover, I loved the general placement of numbers throughout the film which created its own narrative. This caused me to start thinking about how I could interpret this in my own way.