Chameleon - Amy Tainsh

I chose to study chameleons for my Research Methodology project, I was interested to find out more about them as their ability to camouflage fascinates me.

I started with taking a closer look at it and did a few sketches, I started researching about their behavior and ability to camouflage and catch insects with their tongues at an incredibly fast speed. Chameleons visual abilities are also a huge part of what makes them so unique and successful, I wanted to focus on just an eye, so did a piece in fine liner. I also experimented with adobe illustrator putting together a digital piece that looks like chameleon scales.

I then experimented more with this my fine liner drawing as a starting point and reproduced the image in several screen prints. I looked at artists who use screen printing as a medium, such as Bicicleta sem Freio. I started experimented with a messier approach, but for my final piece I wanted to create something that was really clean and bold.

Crow- Amir gurung

Mixed media piece, I have used charcoal for the skull, cut out silhouette for the crow and torn cardboard for the background. Crows are also a scavenger which is why i have drawn a skull and crow on top of the skull.  

Charcoal drawing of a crow catching a frog and ready to eat.

Crow on a branch, I have used a watercolor for this work and used black as it is the color of the crow. Splashed lots of different colors for the background to see the outcome.

Crow is intelligent ! This is a continuous line drawing of a crow on top of the tree so it can drop the nut from top so it breaks into pieces for the crow to eat.

Wolf - Oliver Theobald

For my Research Methodology Unit I chose to research the Wolf. I chose the wolf because I think it is a really interesting animal, and its an animal that is rarely brought up. As I began my research I found out many weird facts about this fascinating animal.


For my 1st Image, I replicated the style of an artist that I had found Luke Dixon as I also like working in intense detail as it really reveals the details of the image. I used a black fine-liner pen so that the fur of the wolf was crisp and sharp.


As I started experimenting with a wide range of materials, I thought that water colour would give me the change in fur colour that I was trying to accomplish. I really like the outcome of this image as I consider water colour painting to be one of my major weaknesses.


A4 pencil of a wolf standing in the snow, found on a wildlife documentary and drawn from a still image.


On this my final image I thought about my animal and its habitat and realised that the animal would disappear if the environment around it were to vanish/be destroyed. So I created this image using Photoshop so that people can see if you take away the image of the wolves habitat then there would no longer be a wolf.

Praying Mantis

I chose the Praying Mantis as I wanted to choose a creature that is unique looking so I could experiment more with different materials and medias.

For this image I wanted to see how human and Mantises differ I used eyes to show this as they are a very distinctive features.  I used an A4 pencil and drew from memory I then paired the images together to show make a comparison of the two.

whilst I was experimenting with materials I found using green leaves to create a mantis is a very fun and unique way of experimenting and links back to the mantises original habitat.

For this image I created a stencil using Stanley knife I made the image a basic outline of a mantis because it is very unique and distinctive.

For this image I used an image of a mantis from and old book I found and used Photoshop to add more colours and more detail.

Jellyfish - Megan Bull

For my research methodology project i chose to look into Jellyfish. I chose this because i found them fascinating, in the way that something whom has no brain can still survive, breed, eat etc. I used a variety of materials and visuals. 

After a few hours of research, i found that they are quite troublesome, in the sense that they can cause quite a lot of damage when in large quantities. They are also victims of ocean pollution. This has a knock on effect to other sea life that are predators to Jellyfish. Turtles being the main ones for mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish. This gave me the idea to use plastic bags as my primary material, and how i can perceive jellyfish as plastic bags.

I also did a variety of experiments using jelly as a primary material, wrapping up lumps of jelly in cling film and pushing them round the sink with the tap on full to act like a current. These weren't too successful as the jellyfish became very top heavy. I tried another with cotton wool as the head wrapped up in clingfilm and this wouldn't submerge into the water because of the trapped air.

I found this unit quite interesting in the way of how I can create jellyfish using unconventional materials and percieve them in a different way relating to current issues we are facing in the sense of pollution.

Black Bear - Ben Stroud

For my Research Methodology project I looked at Black Bears as I thought they would be an interesting animal to research and study and I knew I had some good starting points for my research.  As my research went on the theme I liked the most was the relationship the bears have with the Native Americans and the respect the Native Americans have for these animals and how they portray it in their art.

The Native American art always featured block, bold colours that made up the bear as well as fill it and I took this stye and created my own pieces with the side profile of a Black Bear.  I experimented with the colouring of my bear as the Native American pieces feature patterned colouring and I wanted to include that.  Then for my final piece I used bright colours for the background for each bear which has given it a Pop Art feel to it.   

Killer Whale

For my Research Methodology project,  I chose to look at the Killer Whale (Orca) because I have always been intrigued by them and knew that there would be so many aspects and research to experiment with.

 

 

I took some pictures of ice and rain which I thought looked like the skin of the killer whale up  close, the details of the water on their shiny skin and the scars from other sea creatures. I researched further about why they are black and white, and experimented with acrylic paints on black card, making symmetrical patterns which I hoped would represent the patterns on the killer whale. 

 

 

I looked at artists like Dave White, who produces pieces of animals in acrylic paint. It encouraged me to experiment with acrylics and watercolours, the image above is in response to my artist research on Dave White. I really like the effect of the paint dripping, it could represent something falling apart making the meaning of the image more powerful.

 

 I experimented with marbling using inks and black nail varnish to try and portray the texture and look of a killer whales' skin. I found that the nail varnish made it really smooth and shiny which contrasted really well against the coloured inks.

 

 For my final piece I used the marbling technique on pieces of card, and individually cut out the pieces to make the killer whale and the background. In this piece I focused on the patterns made by killer whales when they move in the water, looking back on the experimentation I did I decided that the marbling technique would be the best way to create that effect. I was pleased with the way each pattern turned out, especially the vibrancy of the colours which made it exciting to look at.