Work Based learning module and TARGETS

For my final module (work based learning) we could choose to do either an animation or illustration with a theme of our choosing to focus on.

Initially my idea for a theme focused on sirens and mermaids and so I did some research to gather material for inspiration.

These two paintings were great inspiration for how my mermaid characters could look but I felt it was too conventional to portray them in this manner as beautiful, perfect beings with a fish tail- they are relatively suited to their environment with their fins and webbed fingers but the mermaids I wanted to create would be ominous and alien. I wanted to make them look more like fish than people.

This was more along the lines of how I wanted to design them, with gills and fish-like faces.

A deep sea mermaid was perfect in terms of creepiness!
It was this picture that also gave me an idea for a print I could make with a siren.

These two pictures then made me think of how I could illustrate my mermaid since it would be interesting to look at them as if you were observing a species and discovering how it worked. I could show how their skeleton might look  for example.

The graffiti work of "Nachos" is the perfect example of how I would like to do my illustrations, almost like an exploded diagram with cross sections in it.

It was from this point that I began to make some sketches of how I wanted to approach the project.

A fanged skull with features taken from that of an Eel's skull

One of my portrayed human/marine creature hybrids. I decided to incorporate an electric eel with a human. The result was…interesting :) I actually really like how his hair and tail turned out but I didn't spend too long on his face.

I also drew his skeleton to practice the illustrations I will be producing. Notice how I included a human pelvis with a tail bone. The tops of his leg bones are separate but fuse together to form a fishbone structure that makes up the rest of his tail. He also has protrusions coming out of his spine like a fin.

Pucker up! <3 o__O

How would these mermaids interact with their 15- 20ft neighbours who happen to have a mouth full of teeth?!
Harpoon them of course!

Face detail on a male and female, they aren't that different but the male has more pronounced cheekbones. This one has had a close encounter with a shark judging by the scars on his face and shoulder.

Body detail. Their tail is shark-like and swims from side to side rather than up and down in the manner that dolphins and whales do.

My targets for this week of work included -

• Deciding on what sort of illustration I wanted to do out of the three ideas that I had. DONE
• Begin research into the topic. ONGOING
• Create a work plan/timetable. DONE
• Make a powerpoint presentation showing my ideas. DONE
• Make a proposal and treatment of my project in detail. DONE

My next targets are-

• Decide a pose for my character
• Do some research into human anatomy (specifically that of the torso)
• Look at skeletons of fish, eels and shark cartilage.
• Look at diving poses, renaissance poses and water reflection.