ASS5 - Assignment Final - Self-Directed Project
Assignment 5 Final - Self Directed Project
Series - Totem Spirit Animals
I have spent a few weeks thinking about what I wanted to pick from: a self directed project, Competition brief or a brief from a client. Out of them I finally decided on creating a Self Directed project
This is because I feel I can finally let loose and take up the challenge in creating my own very first illustrations with my interests and voice. I also think it is more of a challenge then the other two options as you are given a brief but as a self-directed task I will have to create my own.
I found this A3 Brown paper sketchbook and I thought it would give my work a different look. I have always worked on white paper in sketchbooks and thought this will also be a great opportunity to see how I work differently from using different coloured paper. I already cut out and stick in my sketchbooks a lot anyway so I think this would highlight my work better.
I began to do some mind maps of my interests, skills I am great at and Ideas for my self directed project.
My Top interests are
- Magical, spiritual and mythical animals
- weather
- Environment, nature and climate change
- Ocean and its needed protection
- All things Disney
- Food
- Travelling
- Zoology
- Animation
My Top Skills are:
- Paper cutting
- Understanding of the illustration market and selling
- Imagination
- Model making
- Traditional art
- Working out colout themes
- Drawing
- Paper clay
- Experimentation
My Top Ideas are:
- Creating a mexico paper pinatas series
- Series of 4 models of sea life in the ocean to campaign for help gain donations.
- Zoology - animal anatomy made through paper cutting looking inside an animals body
- food - A small book on health foods
- Animal sculptures
- Working in fashion with paper cutting
From doing my initial self research I then took to the internet for inspiration
https://www.behance.net/gallery/75667189/Links-Card-Game-Food?tracking_source=search%7Cpaper%20arty
Paper cuts of food. This would be something I would do for the illustrations if I was to do the book based on healthy food. I think it would be quite enjoyable to create items of food from paper.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/8946751/Paper-Dragon?tracking_source=search%7Cpaper%20arty
This model inspired me. It is of a dragon surrounding land on sea. It is made out of paper. I am interested in finally doing a paper model of my own design but not sure what yet.
These two illustrations are awesome works of art using paper, they have really thought about the whole process and have created some beautiful work that tells a story.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/91880203/Creation-of-Nature?tracking_source=search%7Cpaper%20sculpture%20animal
I have been wanting to make sculptures of animals for a while now like the above link. I have seen artists Zim and Zou create some wonderful 3D animals out of paper and leather. Maybe this is a great opportunity to test this out?
https://www.behance.net/gallery/66686179/Llive-Llaugh-Llove-Llike-a-Llama?tracking_source=search%7Cpaper%20sculpture%20animal
I really like the style of this Llama character, it gave me a few ideas to what it would be like if I did a series of pinata characters, It would be a lot of fun!
https://www.behance.net/gallery/59372981/Cross-Section-Paper-Craft?tracking_source=search%7Cpaper%20art%20animal
I had some ideas about doing zoology but when I can across this illustration it was something along the lines I was thinking of as though you are studying the inside of an animal. I would not want to copy so If I went down this route what could I do to make mine more different to what people have already done?
This group of illustrations really inspired me with my idea of fashion through paper. I had a go at making clothes from paper in a past exercise and really enjoyed it. I found it opened up my creativity and imagination.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/45011541/Paper-Sardine?tracking_source=search%7Cpaper%20arty
When it comes to creating animals out of paper I am some what of a pro due to running my own Paper Pawtrait business. Usually I work on a flat surface and work up in layers a little bit like this fish. I feel if I was to do this it would be more of a safe option as I an confident in that aspect. I want to create and explore another level of using paper, something that shows I am really pushing myself to my best current ability and exploring my own personal ideas.
After looking online I then looked at my ideas further:
My Best Idea - Animal Totem Spirits
What I want to do?
From looking at my ideas further I finally decided on an idea. I am so excited about my choice and looking forward to getting started. My idea is to create a series of wall hanging animal heads that are inspired by totem poles and animal spirits that guide you.
I have always been interested in animal spirits and the native totem poles that american Indians and different tribes used to protect their homes and villages. They have been used for generations and are still around today.
There will be a series of 3/4 spirit animals heads and I have decided to make them from paper mache. From there I will then add details on top just using paper. As well as being wall art sculptures I will also take photos of them and with digital help turn them in to illustration prints that I can sell. I will also create cards and stationery products. I think once I have the models I can use there images as prints for various objects. My main usage for my illustrations would be to raise money to protect endangered animals in the wild and also to send a message to viewers that we need a balance with animals.
Why I want to do it?
This subject is important to me. I don't really believe in religions that are out there but I do have my own beliefs. I believe that when you pass away you comeback as an animal, Could you imagine being reborn as a beautiful flying bird? a lion? or even an ant!! I love the beliefs of totem poles and how they represent animal spirits which guide and protect you.
This subject is something quite private to me and to be honest never really told anyone about it because I guess I'm scared of their opinions. However this will be a good opportunity to express my beliefs and my love for animal spirits. I also want to do this idea as it will be pushing my skills further than before. I have never done paper mache so its a pretty brave thing to give a go on such an important final assignment. I have a clear vision of what I want to do and I think if I can pull it off it will be my biggest and best idea yet with paper art. Its going to be a great challenge with a subject that is important to me.
Further research in to my concept of my idea:
Size of wall hangings?
I think around the size of an A3 piece of paper is a good size for each head. Its not to big because I don't want to do something that will take me a year to do. I need to think practical and to keep on schedule with this course.
Aimed at who? what age group?
My work will be aimed at animal lovers, spiritual and meditation people, zoos, wildlife organisations and I think my illustrations will suit all ages. from 10 plus.
Colours?
I want there to be a theme through my series. I want the colours to be the same for each animal. I thing the colours with help show that this is a series of work and not just individual animals. I want to use a limited pallet because I feel this will give them a strong and clear look.
Style?
My style will be toward of designs of totem poles which are bold bright. I am also interested in different styles such as Tiki and Aztec. I will also be looking at Africa masks as the create some great animal designs.
The Brief
Here is my brief above I feel I have put everything in which is required from a brief in order to do the work. I am very happy with it and will keep looking back at it as I go on to make sure I am sticking to it.
Research For Creating My Ideas
Its research time! I firstly went on pin interest which you can fine below here where I discovered some very inspiring things and found new illustrators which I am now following too.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/paperpawtraits/final-5-ill2/
Here below are a few of my main images I found and inspire me to create my own wall hanging designs:
Above the goat I really like how the artist has captured his personality and the colours make it look fun.
These two bulls above are so bold and bright they have some of the aspects which totem poles have. Some also have some unique patterns and you can see in the lower image that the bull has been decorated with a few.
I also went on a few websites which were useful too. They were full of information about totem poles, spirit animals and their meanings.
https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/totem_poles/
https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/canada/articles/where-do-totem-poles-originate-from/
https://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-american-culture/animal-totems.htm
https://www.cbc.ca/kidscbc2/the-feed/14-totally-terrific-totem-pole-facts
To delve in to my research further, I researched more online and collected snippets to create a few scrapbook pages to make sure I understand totem poles meanings, history, stylings and other features. Here are my pages below:
Here above are examples of totem poles that are still around today and other artist designs of how they see totem poles to. I have cut out and discussed each in my sketch book.
Above I discovered feathers and certain patterns were also popular with tribes and also quite a lot of the animals on the totems would be wearing feather head pieces too. I love feathers they are one of my interests and I actually collect them.
My Spirit Animals
Next I looked at animal spirits and different ways they were seen by others.
Once I was happy with my research I then asked my self what four animals am I going to use? I decided I would create my own totem animal spirits which I felt I was most influence by. I wrote a list (below) of some of the spirit animals and there meanings next to each I then worked out on the page next to it which ones mainly suit me and who I think has guided me in my journey so far.
Here below are my chosen four spirit animals. I decided to do a white on black sketch for each and the reasons to why I chose each animal.
Eagle - Hope - I am an upbeat person and am always hopeful this is why I feel connected to the Eagle.
Bear - Courage - For many years I suffered from panic attacks when I was 19 it got so bad that I could not leave my home. After many years of fighting my fears I am who I am today less fearful and I feel the bear with its courage has guided me to be brave, face my fears and become a stronger person.
Raccoon - Curious I am a very curious person I am always looking for answers and wanting to understand things better. Its one of my main traits.
Rabbit - Creative This is my biggest spirit. I don't think I have a non-creative bone in my body. I am not someone who can just sit in front of the TV I always end up feeling guilty because am not doing anything arty I have always got my sketch books or paper at hand to draw. I love being creative and the rabbit spirit helps me to continue just that.
Animal Spirit Designs
After doing all my main research and looking at designs of totem poles and animal spirits I feel like I am now ready to sketch my own ideas. I am going to sketch quite a few out of each animal and pick one of each as my main designs.
Here above are my designs for my Eagle and Raccoon. I created a lot of fun looking designs and to choose one of each I had to think about the logistics of making each animal out of paper mache and then adding their details on top with paper cuts. For the Eagle the best idea was the 12th sketch I did (I've marked it with white dots around it and same for the other chosen animals too.) and the Raccon the 3rd one. I think both designs when drawn out more bolder and neater will be great to work from to create my designs.
That's goes the same for the Bear and Rabbit spirits above. Again I have chosen the ones I like most and also keeping in mind that it will work out well when creating their paper mache bodies.
Final Images of Animal Spirits
The Eagle - Hope
The Raccoon - Curious
The Bear - Courage
The Rabbit - Creativity
Here above are my final drawings of my designs. I used a few different sized markers to draw them out. I feel they all work together well and each design has bold features which is a trait of totem pole designs. To also make this series work together in style I have given each of them feathers as a crown piece. The Rabbit hasn't got one but I am going to use his ears and manipulate them to look like two giant feathers sticking up. Now I have my designs I am going to look at colours and decide what pallet is going to bring them to life.
Choosing The Colour Pallet
Here above is my exploration of colours on smaller print cutouts of my designs. I tried various pallets such as using just all blue tones or natural colours. I still was not getting the bright look I wanted so I thought about neon colours and picked a yellow with turquoise, pink, blue and purple. I instantly fell in love with the colours and knew these were the best group of colours I wanted my animal spirits to be themed in. In the last photo above shows each spirit coloured in its final theme. It is more colours then I had planned in my limit pallet but I am happy with the contrast it makes. I think the colours send out positive vibes to the audience.
Thoughts On Process Before I Start
Creating My Animal Spirits
Building My Animals With Paper Mache
As I have not done paper mache before I had to do some research. I watched this video which made me more confident and eager to get started. This Lady in this video is great her paper mache animal head demonstration is in 4 parts and easy to understand.
Here below is my list of things I have now got at the ready to begin making my animal spirits I'm so excited to get messy and get making them!
Tools
- Cardboard
- White foam Board
- Newspaper
- Masking Tape
- Sculpture wire (incase I need it)
- Scissors,
- Flour and water
- mixing bowel
Getting Started!
As my spirit animals are going to be wall hangings they need to have flat back surface so that they can be flush with the wall they are on. I decided to get some foam boards and cut out the very basic shapes of each animal and work on these to form there heads up with the paper mache on top.
For each one to start of with I scrunched up newspaper and used masking tape to create form and structure for each animal head. I don't have any photos of this, but I have it captured in a time laps video I did which I will show later on. Once I was happy with the form of newspaper and masking tape, I then began with the paper mache.
learned a few things such as how to create the paste and when dipping strips of newspaper into it you must massage the paper to make sure its fully soaked in the paste. You can only do one layer at a time and then you have to wait till it dries before you can add on another layer of paper mache. I did a total on each of three layers. Once you can see its firm then its ready for the next steps. Doing the paper mache for all four heads took me a week because of having to wait for each layer to dry before adding the next.
Here below are some of the heads covered in paper mache.
Above : The bear
Above: The Eagle
The structure I created underneath with the foam board, newspaper and masking tape to create their head shapes turned out well and the paper mache brought their structures together to make a more smooth surface. They turned out better then I thought they were going to be and also for my first time I found it very fun to do and surprised myself. Once I finished all the layers and they had fully dried, I then painted each one white to have as a base coat.
Here above are my finished paper mache models ready to be worked on to create their textures and details. I am so pleased how they turned out! I am now ready to give my models character.
Videos Of Making Each Animal Spirit Head
The Rabbit
(This video also shows how I did the paper mache to form the body)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA4ERQxcUsY&feature=youtu.be
The Raccoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X99DfjTGvc&feature=youtu.beThe Bear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5i2MFMhDIA&feature=youtu.be
The Eagle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8R0OgQHHyY&feature=youtu.be
Discussing My Process
I first started of at looking at the designs and working out how I am going to add the details.
I have a huge cupboard full of different paper and manage to find paper to match each colour that I needed.
I looked at the fur first and decided that I was going to cut out small different shapes depending on
what type of texture they need on their bodies,. This photo below shows the different shapes I used:
For the Eagle I used triangles to capture a feather texture. For the Bear and raccoon I used oval shapes to get a feeling of wild woodland animals. Finally I used small rectangles for the rabbit to capture the fluffiness and thickness of his fur.
To create even more texture once I cut all these parts out, I then scored them to make them have a curve to their shape, so when I was individually attaching them on with glue they would bend upwards instead of laying flat. This helped to create volume and enhance texture.
I then also decided on each animal where to start first. For example on the rabbit (above image) I did his mane first as I thought once I put his fur on, it would be harder to put it on afterwards.
Here above is the rabbit with his finished mane, ears and I was just finishing off the fur at the centre of his face. This is to show even though I had done a lot of research and planning I still had to think of my process once being hands on and learning as I go.
This being said along the way I also changed a few things to the original designs.
Changes I made
I decided to leave out the pupils in their eyes. I felt they looked to cute and not enough spiritual. I discovered without their pupils they looked more possessed or ghost like which actually worked well for my idea of spirits. I think they look more within the subject then they would have with them.
I also changed some of the colour designs. I kept the colour pallet the same but I decided to keep the series as one and made sure that all noses would be pink. Even the eagles beak which was originally going to be yellow. I thought it made them connect to each other more.
when looking at my designs as paper mache models, I decided some areas are hard to create with paper so decided to paint some areas such as their noses or beaks. The bear had his ears and snout painted too. I think this also broke up the textures well and made their features more visible.
Useful Tools
Along the process I also discovered tools which I did not plan on using. One of the main tools I used was a hole punch. This made it able to create small circles out of paper which I could then add on to my animal heads as added details. I also used a compass for bigger circles. Other tools I used were a craft knife, scissors, pva glue and double sided sticky pads, to help stick it all together.
Problems I Came across
Obviously I would come across a few issues. I knew I would along the way as this was a big and new kind of project that I had given myself. Here below are the main problems which I faced and how I over come them:
Bears Crown
Rabbits Fur
Here below is a photo of the rabbits hair:
I need to talk about this because it was not an issue as such. I discovered when I cut out the rectangle shapes for his fur I decided to roll them to create texture. What I didn't realise was how long it was going to take to attach them all on. It took twice as long as the others fur textures on the other animals. Maybe I should not have rolled them and left them straight but from this time consuming way it still turned out good. Perhaps I should of practised before hand to see how a group of these shapes together work to create different textures.
Final photos of each Animal Spirit
The Rabbit
The Raccoon
The Beat
The Eagle
Group Photos
I am so happy with the outcome of my totem pole inspired animal sculptures. They really look like my initial designs which I had done before creating them. I love the pink backgrounds I tested them on. I think the colours really flatter the sculptures. I also put them on the grass in my garden to take some photos to get a natural atmosphere in the background.
Animal Spirit Heads as Wall Art Hangings
Here above are images to show the animals spirits as hanging wall art. To make them used as this purpose I attached these fixings below to create a hanging bracket:
They look great on a wall and on the right wall would stand out. Unfortunately there is not any good space in my home with good natural light apart from my art room. So I hung them on my wall where I already had nails. But with the right wall and colour they would make a fantastic series next to each other or vertical to make a wall totem pole.
Exploration Of Creating The Sculptures In To Digital Prints
Here above are examples of the bear. I tried dark backgrounds and used white speckles to look like stars to give a spiritual atmosphere.
However I still really liked the pink background I took photos of them on so I decided to try and work with these to see what I could come up with.
Hear above were some tests I did. I tried using petals as a paint brush but I felt that it was too much texture to look at as well as on the animal. I tried to put type on the prints and I actually thought this is a good idea to create prints that showcase positive vibes and messages that help to inspire people.
The Final Prints
I did some further playing around in Photoshop and these are the finished results:
The Bear
The Eagle
The Rabbit
The Raccoon
I love these prints they are so happy, heart warming and just by looking at them I find they cheer me up.
I decided on keeping the background plain but adding digital shapes to add more decoration to the animals. I feel this keeps focus on the animals then the background, I am glad I kept them simple. I used specks of white and yellow to create a spiritual vibe around the animals. With the type I used a Tiki style font to give each print a tribal feel and created a glow behind the letters to enhance a spiritual atmosphere. Finally I added a narrow underneath each meaning which helped with the tribal theme too.
The Finished Print Of Animals Forming A Totem Pole
I also wanted to create a print which forms an actual totem pole. After experimenting this is the final print I decided on:
I think its works so well and its feels as though my work has now all come together. I really like that I managed to use Photoshop to create my idea I had in my head to see how they look all together on a totem pole. I like the simple shapes I used around it which flatters the illustration too, it helps make the viewer focus on the main subjects.
Illustration Led Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca5Qu7pztKg&feature=youtu.be
Cards And Prints
Here below are examples of my work being used as prints and cards for selling purposes to help raise money for animals:
Has my work followed the Brief and does it live up to it?
Here below is an image of my brief again just to re-look at it:
From looking at the brief I can see that I have looked at all the key elements. I have not missed anything out and by doing my research and following my process I have learned from doing this course I am confident that my out come has produced great results.
Conclusion
I started this assignment in January before the lock-down and during this time to the present it has helped me to take this time to stop and think about ways I could use my illustrations to reach out to people. There is so much bad news at the moment so I feel my images I have created bring a little light on the present day, giving people hope and courage.
With the amount of research I did and because it was an interest of mine I really went in deep and clearly understood my path and what I wanted to achieve in this assignment. From the start deciding on an idea I was excited to finally express a part of me through my own work with using a process that I follow.
In this assignment I have showed that I have gone up a level and I've pushed my skills further and created three dimensional paper sculptures. I took on a challenge of something I have not done before but with my research I was able to be successful.
Reflection, Looking at the aims of this course and what I have achieved.
During this course I have demonstrated technical skills, material and medium knowledge. I am always conscious of the quality of my work and want to be up there with the best. I love to research and communicate my ideas to the world as well as my voice.
Along this course I have showcased creativity by doing a varied range of techniques, ideas and using different mediums.
By doing this course it has really made me grow as a illustrator and discover who I want to be as an artist. I understand what now is important to me and I am no longer afraid to voice my opinions through my work. I am very confident in use of colours and I like to experiment to get the best theme in my work. I take research seriously and look at things thoroughly to make sure I exhaust my idea to create the best idea I can come up with. From this course I will be taking my process with me that I have learned and the stages I follow. I will also be taking away my ideas and how this course has really pushed me. I feel I have grown and my work has improved greatly as well as my way of working.
I am doing Drawing 2 next which will help to improve my drawing skills, which will only make my work more stronger.
They are BEAUTIFUL!!!
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