Zoo days

I was having a bit of trouble with my character, so spent 2 days at Marwell zoo, getting inspired. I looked at their list of animals before I went, so that I concentrated on the ones that I thought would be especially useful to this project. Having done the observation and experiment module last term, I felt a lot more confident than on previous trips, and as these drawings were more like taking notes for myself, rather than about producing drawings that were going to be marked, I felt a lot more relaxed.. I was lucky enough to get 2 beautifully sunny days too, which helped a lot!

Character Designs

I want the main character to be vaguely dragon-like, but a nice, friendly, slightly sad and lonely dragon, not one that will try to eat you! She will need to do some quite human things, so also needs to be able to stand on 2 legs and have quite human hands.

Ideas

We start back at uni in a couple of weeks, so I am starting to think about what I want to do for my next project. This one has to be aimed at a specific age group. I am finding it quite difficult to work out what age my idea would be appropriate for, but I'm sure once we get back, the tutors will be able to help me with that side of things. For now, I am just working on some rough designs for how I want the project to look.

Final piece

For my final piece, I put together all the pictures I had been working on, to make them into a small film/animation. Only 2 of the pieces are fully finished, the others are colour roughs, but hopefully you can get the idea of what I was aiming for. There is sound so please make sure you have the volume turned up a bit. The music was made and recorded by Nick at DTSE Music.

Finished pieces

I can't believe how quickly this MA is going. We have now finished 2 modules, and have 3 left to do. I really enjoyed the last module and was pleased with the 2 pieces of final artwork I managed to finish.

Ideas

Here are some initial sketches for ideas for my next module. We have to create a series of images that are in sequence. My idea is to have the building fall apart and be taken over by plants and animals as the series goes on. I haven't yet decided how many images there will be, but I would like to do at least 5, starting with this one which will be at night, with the fire lighting the room, then one for each seasons with a distinct colour palette for each one.

Putting it all together

So in the last 6 weeks I have drawn people, places, people in places, line drawings and tonal drawings. These are the last few pictures from this module, trying to use everything I have learnt so far. 

Interesting Objects

Interesting places

People in places

It's been pointed out that I draw a lot I floating figures, so I made a real effort to try to draw people in their surroundings, even if it was just finishing the chair they are sitting in.

Not looking

The final challenge I set myself today was to try drawing people, only looking at them, not at the paper. They're not the most beautiful drawings, but they are mostly recognisable as human, so that will do for now!

Fitzwilliam museum

I spent all day today in the Fitzwilliam museum. I wanted to try to capture my theme of curious people and curious objects. I overheard someone saying that they often had groups coming in for talks in the mornings, so I made sure I was there, pencil in hand when the museum opened.

After a while the groups all separated, to wander around the museum, so I drew a few of the rooms and added people as they appeared.

After all that, I needed a tea break, but couldn't resist drawing these two old ladies!

Tonal drawings

We had another tutor on Tuesday, author and illustrator Alexis Deacon and he suggested I try doing some more tonal drawings, starting with the shadow areas and working outwards, until an outline appeared. I drew this guy in the library because he was working at a computer and stayed there for quite a while!

It was a really weird way of working, not having an outline to begin with, but I think it worked ok (apart from his face! I think I needed a sharper point on my pencil!)

I spent the afternoon in the market, trying out this new technique. Unfortunately, people there did not stay still and I found that I just couldn't get them down on perp quickly enough.

So I went to the Fitzwilliam museum. And three hours later...

I feel a bit bad that the horse doesn't have proper legs, but I was so hungry by that point, I had to leave!

That evening I dug out my pot of stag beetle pieces (I knew they'd come in handy!) and drew some of them too!

People

We had a lecture yesterday and I had some free time before it started so I drew some of the people hanging around in the student common room. I think some of them spotted me, but they didn't seem to mind too much!

After our lecture, a few of us went to the public library to draw people. We were all desperate to draw a little (maybe one year old) girl who was having the time of her life throwing a the books on the floor and climbing on the book train in the children's section, but she would not stay still!!

Capturing tourists

It was a lovely sunny day on Sunday so I thought I'd make the most of the crowds of tourists around King's college, unfortunately though, they weren't very cooperative. I had hoped they would stand still and admire the architecture so I could draw them, but all they seemed to want to do is get a good photo, then now onto the next tourist spot. Very frustrating. I managed to get a few really quick sketches done, but I literally had only a few seconds to do each one, so they are not brilliant! I spoke to one of the tutors, Pam on Friday and she said I should try drawing with a single, confident line, rather than a series of sketchy lines until I got it right, so I tried to do that too.

I'm not sure what this guy was doing, he just sat, straddling the wall for a few minutes, so I thought I should draw him and his lovely hat!

The balcony in the museum of archaeology and anthropology is a good place to draw people because you can watch them without them realising... Creepy!!