Second project of the term. A choice between a Penguin book cover brief or the Zoo. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea for the zoo, so chose that project. However, the London Zoo (ZSL) had already created my idea, better than I would have; so a second trip to the Zoo was in order. I spent an entire day at London Zoo, from morning till evening, sketching and thinking, observing and such. Trying to get ideas. I was inspired by the architecture, the animals, the vintage posters, the themed enclosures, the signs, everything was interesting. I just have to figure out what is the most interesting to me.
Sketches from the Zoo:
What I forgot about the Zoo was how fast those animals move! I had to spend at least half an hour if I wanted to get just the simplest of sketches, purely because they move so often. The Giant Mongolia Snail, however was very slow so very easy to sketch 😉 ha! Where as the Monkey’s were the complete opposite (as you may imagine), so playful and cheeky looking little darlings. I loved them, they were so sweet and full of life; something that the snail seemed to be lacking. I did spend a good hour with the Monkey’s trying to capture that playfulness. I feel the crouching monkey on a branch was the most successful.
Note to self : more work needed on facial expression portayal.
For the earlier sketches with colour I used pro markers to highlight various things like the armbands on the penguins, or the water they swim in etc. along with just using them to colour in sketches. I know my field work has much to be improved, but I was drawing live animals!
With the Giraffe sketches I was thinking about sculptures and looking at all angles of the Giraffe’s head, the jaw line and eyelashes. This was to gage the dimentional variations of their faces, for if I were to create 3D heads. They’re stunning creatures, if anything this trip made me really appreciate the wonders of animals.
~ Attenborough epiphany style ~
See pinterest for more of my research and inspiration gathering