CONCEPT : Blog entry 20
Tried using the same technique I have been using with my images of birds with a fox to start off with (I'm going to try more animals later today too).
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| Experimentation - Fox |
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| Experimentation - Fox |
Just blocks of colour wasn't working with this, just white black and orange made it look like a blob, so have used slightly different shades of the colours to add some very simple and slight definition; just enough to convey the shapes of the animal, this works much better. I've had to do this with parts of the bird images to make them work too; things like the beaks, witch needed some more definition to look more realistic, and the eyes. To make the eyes work, I have to use quite a few different layers and shapes to get thy to work. Zoomed out you can hardly tell whats been done, but it makes a huge difference.
But the question is where to stop with the detail? This image I think would benefit from a little more definition in the face, but the whole point of working in this way was to make them very simple, and flat. By adding lots of extra shading and definition, is it making it too complicated again?
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| Experimentation with silhouette and fur - Fox |
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| Experimentation with silhouette and fur - Fox |
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| Experimentation - Badger |
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| Experimentation - Badger |
In comparison, the badgers don't seem quite as effective...not enough definition? The very first image I did in this style, of a goose (can be found here) was this simple.
I'm starting to think that the level of definition required will depend on the subject. instead of sticking to one format, maybe instead a set of rules to work to whilst trying to keep everything as simplistic as possible.
The main aim is to highlight the key identifiable aspects of the animals, and their main colours (easily identifiable, breaks it down, simplifies) but its what to or not to include after that.
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| Experimentation - Otter |
I didn't want to put whiskers on, as I thought that that was too much detail, I haven't added anything like that in my other images...but this one has just gone to hell. His face is awful, and doesn't look very ottery, but I don't know why, it was driving me mad. I'll come back to otters later. I just wanted to have a go, and I used the same technique I used on the fox, to add shape and shading to it - otherwise he might also have looked like a slug.
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| Experimentation with silhouette and fur - Otters |
Also tried he silhouette idea here too - maybe it's the shape of the otters that isn't helping? Can you tell that they're meant to be otters?
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| Experimentation with silhouette, fur & text - Otters |
...and then had another bash at making one of these things.
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| Experimentation - Butterfly |
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| Experimentation - Butterfly & Text |
I also did these the other day, but didn't add them to the blog. This didn't work very well, but I think I just need to practice more with working in this way but I think that this technique will work well for butterflies, I just need to spend more time working on it.
I think this is the start of a long journey towards getting this right; I just need to keep working on it, and trying different thing, and seeing what works best. And to be honest; if i do decided to bas this around a nature reserve, the work I have done so far is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amount of species I will have to draw..and I still haven't even thought of how I will do a hedgehog...
In the mean time, I should probably also be doing some research into guidebooks/nature reserve signs..and try to get a clearer idea of what it is I might make. I know we only just had a concept panel, but this term seems really short, and before I know it, the next one will be here soon (it is actually only 3 weeks away!!)
