Illustrated Menagerie: Invertebrate

Showing posts with label Invertebrate. Show all posts

Thursday 27 March 2014

Squids

I chose to look at the squid for this project.
Scientifically, little is known about many species of squid, and some have never actually been seen alive, so one of the themes I looked into was the unknown, and how curious and fascinated humans are about things they know little about. I also looked into what makes the squid a unique creature, and focused a lot on how they glow in the dark, and their skin.

I was mainly interested in the mythology associated with the squid, so I looked into the legend of the giant squid, old pirate stories and maps and eyewitness accounts of the huge creatures. I wanted to create something that people would be curious about, and illustrate the mystery that surrounds the squid, so I looked into victorian curiosity cabinets and had a try at making my own version.

aggie davies

Fireflies

Fireflies by Fiona Simpson

Monday 24 March 2014

Scorpions

Exomorph

Promarker on wallpaper

They say that scorpions are just a combination of spiders, lobsters, wasps and nightmares. I was drawn to the scorpion because I sympathised with it a little; it is always seen as a creature to be disgusted and afraid of but actually it is just trying to defend itself. It is also hard to discern what a scorpion is doing when you see one as it is either lying in wait for unsuspecting insects or hiding from predators.

I also felt that I could represent the scorpion with a little more colour and style than some of the images already out there as my drawings often feature bright pigments and bold outlines. Scorpions were particularly challenging to draw at first, given their many leg parts and strange angles, and actually I enjoyed drawing them by the end of the project.

But I still find scorpions really creepy.

Hidden scorp

Fineliner on trace, promarker

Origami Scorpions

Asian Forest Scorpion sketch

Promarker

The Butterfly

I decided to look into the Butterfly. I feel I was attracted to this animal because of its beauty and meanings to different cultures. The Butterfly is a symbol of many things including; change and transformation, Freedom and Soul, many believe that they are a symbol of immortality and represents departed ones. These were all aspects I found interesting.

For my work I looked at many examples of Butterflies, I found the medium of paper an interesting way to represent the Butterfly. The Butterfly is a very delicate and fragile creature, and therefore I used the paper to represent this.

Thursday 20 March 2014

The Emperor Dragonfly

I chose to look at the emperor dragonfly. Dragonflies are such a beautiful animal, what I found particularly interesting about them was the process of metamorphosis they go through and it was this idea that inspired my final pieces, I chose to explore the idea of the transformation of a person into a dragonfly as I felt it would really make people engage with the process of metamorphosis.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

The Magical Guide to Firelflies- Abi Mcneall

Sunday 31 March 2013

The Dragonfly

The theme that I have researched and illustrated was that of the dragonfly. It is such a complicated thing it amazes me on how it works. I have made many drawings to show the many different things that make up the creature and have found some things I did not even know about its habits and anatomy.

Thursday 28 March 2013

Short animation - ants

Whiteboard and marker animation by Dale Sylvester, commenting on the social interaction of ants and the importance of pheromones.

Monday 25 March 2013

Butterfly

The creature that I chose to research and illustrate was a butterfly. The aspect about butterflies that I explored was their beauty, which came from the vibrant, bold patterns on their wings and the effect they created when they flew. The idea of butterfly collecting also fascinated me. This influenced me to do a range of different media experiments in the form of prints, drawings and 3D.