Animal Hybrid #4 (Gelfo)

For my fourth and final animal hybrid piece, that is a part of my extensive animals unit, I have merged together the characteristics of a wolf, a leopard gecko, and one element of a snake. I took inspiration from Louise Hunter, an animal artist whom I researched in this blog. You can find my research on her, here at this link.

(https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8837406714505932435#editor/target=post;postID=3570898536486406806;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=4;src=postname)

http://purplecrystaldragon.deviantart.com/art/Loka-300701329 < image reference at this link.

In this image (above), she has created a wolf/leopard gecko hybrid animal. She is the artist who inspired me to create my own illustration of a wolf/leopard gecko hybrid animal. I have also taken inspiration from her, in terms of colour usage, and giving my animal a slightly cartoon visual style.

My 'Gelfo' illustration as a work in progress (WIP).

My completed 'Gelfo' illustration, note how I have used a similar shade of purple in my piece, compared to Louise's. Also note the cartoon visual look, and the tail style.

You can see which elements I have used in this piece, but I will note below as well.
The tail resembles that of a leopard gecko, this can be displayed through the lack of fur, and also the colour bands.

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/attachments/lizard-classifieds/61936d1338640587-leopard-geckos-sale-sunglows-tangerines-carrot-tail-.jpg < image reference at this link.
You can see in this image of a leopard gecko, how the bands are displayed on the tail.

Whilst the body resembles that of a wolf. The body is very furry at this point, which continues up to the head, which is also of a canine form.

http://gf3.statico.be/wp-content//uploads/2012/08/wild-wolf-montana.jpeg < image reference at this link.

You can see in the image above, the anatomy and the form of a wolf. You can also see how my illustration features such canine elements (body, head, ears etc).

The tongue however, goes back to the form of a reptile (leopard gecko) as you can see, the tongue is forked, and thin like a reptile's.

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/fb/89/39/fb8939c8a04d480c927ffc1516cf1a42.jpg < image reference at this link.

You can see in the image above, the fork tongue of a reptile. in this case, a snake.


Thomas.

Animal Hybrid #3 (Peahog)

For animal hybrid #3, I have created a watercolour painting, of an animal that is half Lemur, half bird, and half beaver. I decided to use these creatures, because I wanted to create an animal that had a long tail, and I thought about using a banded tail, like a Lemur's.

I took this photo, on the flamingo land trip. When I thought about using a long tail, I instantly thought about this animal.

I also wanted the head of a bird, this is most notable on the beak, and the penguin like 'arms'. Hence the bird element to the illustration.

As for the beaver, you can see this elements in the shape of the body, as well as the rear legs. I decided to use a Beaver as the body, because I wanted to add a rodent element into hybrid.

I have taken inspiration from Alison Fennel for this piece.

http://eastwitching.com/category/animal-art/ < image reference at this link.

She creates watercolour paintings of nature. I have tried to emulate her 'patchy' style, in this image of an animal hybrid as part of my four final pieces. You can find a link to my research on this artist, here at this link.

(https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8837406714505932435#editor/target=post;postID=6619588132308781172;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=1;src=postname)

For the creation of this piece, I looked at images of each animal featured in this 'mash up' hybrid.

(https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8837406714505932435#editor/target=post;postID=6619588132308781172;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=1;src=postname)

The piece, as a work in progress.

Ditto.

My finished illustration, resembling elements of the style, of Alison Fennel.

Thomas.

Alison Fennel

This blog post is about research on Alison Fennel.

http://about.me/Eastwitching < image reference at this link.

http://eastwitching.com/category/animal-art/ < image reference at this link.

Alison Fennel is a 47 year old nature artist, who is also a fully qualified teacher who teaches in watercolour painting classes. She specialises in creating animal watercolour paintings, and has been painting for over 20 years, so she has a lot of experience. Some of her water-colour florals and animals have been published by a few major printing houses in the United Kingdom. She has also notably had her work featured at the royal Cambrian Academy, and she also features often, in several big UK design magazines, such as Good Homes, coast and Landlove to name a few.

I really love her style. I love the way she uses watercolour paint, to provide a very soft, and uneven texture. The style she uses is borderless, and patchy. I like how she uses several shades of the same colour, to create the illusion of lighting and shadow.

I will take my inspiration from her, and work elements of her work themes into one of my final pieces.

Update:
I have used my research on this artist, and I have brought this into one of my final pieces, as part of the animal hybrid creation. I have taken inspiration from Alison, in terms of style, technique and medium. I have tried my best to emulate this with my illustration, which can be found here at the link below.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8837406714505932435#editor/target=post;postID=8270311067012307624;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=6;src=postname



Thomas.

Julia Ruffles

Julia Ruffles is a professional self taught UK artist and illustrator, who specialises in creating work in watercolour paints, ink and graphite. She has illustrations that contain absolutely incredible amounts of detail. She draws such animals as Tigers, and Leopards.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Zvg0_1oi4Sr7iTD-DwYmry1JlEFEn_oGwWrvs4qvE07DYsf8qV3u1fk-tRSx0718vipxUBlfvg1Vz2s5eOXEibAs7sHTqJmkAhqpm6KFyKxRrXDOup_rpeggzg89HpaiRe2SPbECXmiN/s1600/sri+lankan+leopard+drawing+1.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://www.juliaruffles.co.uk/p/graphite-art_04.html?m=1

Louise Hunter

As part of my animal artist research, I chose to research my girlfriend, since she creates the type of cartoon styled artwork that I am looking into. As well as the fact, that naturally I know a lot about her work processes, and how she works, as I have seen her work on images in person. I will however research her in a professional way, like the other illustrators that I have used in my research.

This blog is originally from the book of drawings blog, but since she is an animal artist who creates some interesting animal hybrids, I thought I would use her in both projects.

Louise Hunter. Born in Durham, England, lives locally, and she creates pieces in a style that I personally love, which is the cartoon-like form. Her style is slightly similar to griffsnuff's (Tina Alfredsen) but she tends to use much thinner lines, and focuses on the expressions more, than griffsnuff in my opinion only. I believe griffsnuff is one of her favourite artists, who she takes some inspiration from, from her characters.

I love how she uses colour, and couples it with an image that resembles the 3D form, but with a lot of 2D-like elements in it. She uses Adobe Photoshop 6, with a wacom intuos tablet, to create her digital artwork. She uses a few layers per piece, and can work to finish an image in a matter of hours/days.

She has been drawing from a very young age, and her style only improved as the digital age arrived. She uses an iMac to produce her work, which I'm aware that Mac's are deemed industry standard.

http://purplecrystaldragon.deviantart.com/art/dragon-396881712

Naturally she has a passion for animals, and coupling this with her artistic style, she has brought the two elements together. Apart from the canines she draws, she also sketches fictional beings, such as dragons, and she does so usually with biro pens. I like the biro technique, as it shows that pen can be a great tool to draw with, and you can shade with a pen, if you know how to. (See above)

http://purplecrystaldragon.deviantart.com/art/loka-autumn-413778575 < image reference at this link.

This image above, displays her shading techniques.

http://purplecrystaldragon.deviantart.com/art/new-chara-283833271 < image reference at this link.

This images displays some of her darker colour palettes.

http://purplecrystaldragon.deviantart.com/art/leaves-399355126 < image reference at this link.

This image showcases her expressions, and use of wallpaper. Another thing of interest, is that the 2 images of the cartoon styled creature above, is a fictitious animal hybrid. The animal is a half wolf, half leopard gecko.



http://purplecrystaldragon.deviantart.com/gallery/ < a link to her online gallery





Thomas.

Progression

I have based my final unit in this module, on this topic. I will be creating a book of illustrations, circling around animals.


Thomas.

Animal Hybrid #2 (Finfox)

For my second final animal hybrid illustration as part of the animals project, I have decided to merge the unique characteristics of two very different species together. I have taken some inspiration from the artist, Lucy Atkinson, in terms of mark making style, line use, and also the use of watercolour paint. You can find my research on here here, at this link. > (https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8837406714505932435#editor/target=post;postID=3227425674860409006;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=24;src=postname).

http://www.lucyatkinsonillustration.co.uk/Animal-Illustration < image reference at this link.

You can see in this piece, how she uses a bold watercolour outline in her illustration.

My illustration draft plan, as a work in progress (WIP).

Creating the outline of my Finfox illustration, using watercolour paint.

The addition of colour, on my illustration.

The addition of mark making, and simple shading.

The coloured background, filled in with watercolour paint like the rest of the illustration.

The animals that I have taken inspiration from for this piece, is of a Fox, and a Dolphin (image above). The ways in which I have displayed this is quite clear, however I will note where the elements of the two creatures lie in this blog post. The reason I wanted to choose these animals in particular, is because I wanted to see what a hairless marine animal, would look like with some fur, also I wanted an animal with curves, but also with a mix of rough elements (fur).

The head is based around that of a Fox (image below), I tried my best to display this via the shape, and also the size. The ears very much resemble a fox also.

http://www.qrpfoxhunt.org/fox_hunt_logo.jpg < image reference found at this link.

I took a lot of ideas from my sketches of foxes, the opportunity came along to sketch one in primary form, as Amy brought in a taxidermy figure, of a Fox, that lay in a resting pose. this was very helpful, and it was the first time that I have seen a Fox up close. It gave me a lot of time to study it's anatomy.

Sketch of taxidermy Fox #1

Sketch of taxidermy Fox #2

Sketch of taxidermy Fox #3

My initial draft, I used this as a design plan, and also to see what a creature with Fox/Dolphin elements would look like.

The body has been based solely on a dolphin, this can be easily seen through the addition of fins, the colour, as well as a smooth body.

http://wallnen.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Dolphin-01-HD-Wallpaper.jpg < image reference at this link.

I took some research from a previous blog post that I posted earlier. In this post I looked at existing images of the animals for anatomical use, and as a reference point.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8837406714505932435#editor/target=post;postID=5970409750920242110;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=19;src=postname




Thomas.