stickerssss

I want to make some more stickers but I'm not really sure that they will fit in with what i am doing. here is a quite illustration that i thought i could use for my stickers...

miniature

at manchester museum i bought some bits and bobs to help with my project and research. i bout two ammonites (snail fossils) in little plastic specimen boxes with a magnifying bit on the top so you could really get up close and look at them properly. i really liked this idea as it was quite cute and small and it looks like it belongs in a museum. so i was straight onto ebay and bought a couple for myself.

i have been concentrating on drawing skulls at their actual size. so for these ones i had to do some research on the tiniest animals in the world. some being the bumblebee bat (kitis hog-nosed bat), bee hummingbird, white-toothed pygmy shrew and the mouse. these all had skulls that were about the size of a 1p or slightly bigger. so here they are. i think they are quite successful, and work really well. although, with watercolour, it's quite difficult to get good detail. so i might have to try some with just pencil to get some really good shading and detail on the skulls.

Julia Pott

these are illustrations by Julia Pott. I love them they are so fun and almost childlike. These prints, along with others are for sale on her etsy.com shop. i would love to do prints like these it'll be fun experimenting with skulls and skeletons in this manor.

Manchester Museum

Today I went to manchester museum and i found it really helpful. Not only did they have plenty of dinosaur bones for me to look at but they had a wide range of animal skulls and skeletons too. Stan the t-rex was also amazing. I got plenty of pictures and started to do my drawings too. there will be plenty of visits to manchester museum.

random but relative

all graffiti based works by people from deviantart website. everyday people who want to get their work seen. i am using these as research because i find them relative if i decide to go down this path again with my work.

Nathan Ota

i love these paintings/illustrations by Nathan Ota. they're really quirky and, in a way, quite dark and eerie. i love how they have quite a vintage feel to them as well and look like they could be a print and not a painting.

Quinn Gregory

After I had the idea of decorating skulls in their former disguise, i found these. These are all by Quinn Gregory and are beautifully decorated in swarovski crystals. the zebra is the kind of idea i had. but not all over so you cant necessarily tell it's a skull. I will have to buy a skull and do one myself to see what it looks like.

research

This 'Mosaic Skull; 1400-1521 by Mixteca-Puebla, gave me some good ideas about decorating skulls in something that relates to what they were, for example, if it's a bunny head, then i can decorate some ears on it or a cotton tail, or a skunk, use black beads or sequins to decorate it in the markings that a skunk would have.

fossils

here are some of my own fossils that i have collected myself. its quite difficult to get some fossils that are real, a certificate of authenticity is needed. also they are quite expensive. so starting small is a good idea.

here is a piece of T-rex bone. if you look really close you can see where the veins ran through the bones.

the larger tooth in this box is a baby Spinosaurus tooth. the spinosaurus is from the cretaceous period, this tooth itself is from the Kem Kem basin, Morocco. The smaller tooth is the tip of an Albertosaurus tooth, found in Glacier Country, North Montana, USA

This is an adult Spinosaurus tooth. its alot larger than the one before.

this tiny tooth is a Deinonychus tooth. A species of raptor, who may of had feathers.

This is a cast of a velociraptor skull. A cretaceous dinosaur, small and swift with a massive claw on each foot, their fossils, mainly found in Mongolia, can't be taken out of the country legally.

MA show 2010

i went to go see the MA show 2010 in the Victoria building today and it proved to be really helpful. One i found really helpful and sparked off a whole load of ideas was Lucy Caswell; surface pattern designer...

i love the combined designs of bone/skeletons, something often seen as dirty and not very pretty, and the illustrations and china-ware. they work really well together and i think the plates, cups and bowls look gorgeous.

i might try doing some illustrative work within my chosen theme, and not just traditional drawings. i could also try drawing different fossils/bones. i don't really have to just stick to dinosaur fossils.

objective;

- draw some illustrative types of drawings and designs

- draw some other bones and fossils; mammoth, saber-tooth tiger, human...

research

here are a few images i have picked up from the internet (no artist name). dinosaur related prints, all lino. i really like the crisp clear images they are. they look fantastic.

florida trip

i documented and photographed the majority of stuff that i sketched and drew. here are some pictures from florida, all at universal studios.

the jurassic park bit at universal studios were great for starting off my project and kick starting my research. these photographs will be a great help also and good references for my drawings.