bestiarystuff

evaluation draft.

Project Brief In this project I would like to explore the way different animal species have been portrayed in folklore, legends and mythology - comparing and contrasting this to their representation in field guides and science.

I would also like to research the artworks accompanying these different portrayals - from the fantastical child-like egg tempera paintings in medieval bestiaries to the painstaking, anatomically correct woodcuts from later nature books. I would like to find a way at combining the best of these two styles and mind-sets to create illustrations, which are at the same time feasible and magical.

Client Brief I would like to create a book of animal illustrations based on fables written in medieval bestiaries. I would like to combine the magical jewel colours of medieval art and illumination with the detail and practicality of scientific illustrations of animals and plants. I would also like the text to reflect this style; magical stories retold in practical scientific terms.

The book I would like to make would be something independently published or by an organisation such as Incline Press. It could be sold in independent book or gift shops.

 For my hand-bound and illustrated book of reinterpreted stories from medieval bestiaries, I selected animals to paint based on stories from the medieval books I have researched.  Each individual animal has a watercolour, gold (either paint, gel pen or leaf) and fineliner illustration inspired by medieval bestiary art and illumination as well as influences from the artists I have studied - such as Kay Nielsen, Lesley Ann Ivory and Ulisse Aldrovandi. I wanted to combine the bold medieval inspired backgrounds, borders and gold accents with more detailed, observed illustrations of animals more often found in modern field guides and nature books. This is so that my illustrations are fantastical and vivid as well as having elements of truth; so that viewers might rethink the every-day animals I have selected and view them as something more enchanted. 

I plan to use a Coptic binding for my book- an ancient method of binding, which ties in with my references from the Middle Ages. I plan for the pages to be watercolour paper so that I am able to paint directly onto the book pages. I want my paintings to be roughly A5 landscape; small enough so that I am able to paint a larger quantity of pages and so the book has something small and precious about it.

  
My influences

 I chose to complete the majority of my illustrations with watercolour. I chose this medium because it is versatile enough to be able to effectively cope with my various styles and influences, including bold medieval art, finely detailed field guide illustrations and dreamy fairy-tale plates. It can be applied in bright blocks, in light, flowing patterns, watery washes and dry and high-pigmented, for textural stippling and strokes. It is water based and absorbed by the paper, this means it does not resist other mediums, allowing me to easily work on top of it with other materials, such as ink, fineliner, colour pencils and gel pen. It is because of the flexibility of the watercolour that I have been able to paint in such contrasting styles.

 I think I have fulfilled my client brief; I have competed a set of illustrations and accompanying text that matched my aim.

 I think the contrasting styles I have chosen to work in complement each other very well. The bright bold medieval inspired backgrounds are whimsical and decorative, and frame my more practical animal paintings. The simplicity of them draws out the details in my animal paintings and the bright colours makes them more prominent. The thick, dark outlines turn the mild paintings into something more punchy and defined. The animal paintings also work to focus and relax the gaudy background, so the overall piece has more balance and poise.

Illustration from the book

 I would have liked to have explored this concept further and made my book a little more in-depth, with more animals included, more illustrations and text to accompany it. I’m very fond of my chosen subject and would have liked to explore it further, perhaps illuminating the text more grandly; including ornate start letters like in traditional medieval text. I would have liked to have made a more lavish front cover (although still slightly toned down than medieval covers). I could have made a textured cover; drawing out raised patterns out of string, tissue paper and glue, perhaps also embellishing it with small plastic gemstones, glass beads and gold accents after same style they were traditionally bound.

   

Medieval book covers & start letters

Statement of Intent.

For my final major project I intend to create a hand-bound and illustrated book of reinterpreted stories from medieval bestiaries. I have selected 5 animals to paint; a crow, dove, stag, fox and rabbit. I selected these animals because their stories from the medieval books I have found particularly inspiring, and because they are fairly common animals that I want to refresh peoples perspective of. Each individual animal will have a watercolour, gold (eaither paint, gel pen or leaf) and fineliner illustration inspired by medieval bestiary art and illumination as well as the artists I have studied - such as Kay Nielsen, Lesley Ann Ivory and Ulisse Aldrovandi. I want to combine the bold medieval inspired backgrounds, borders and gold accents with more detailed, observed illustrations of animals more often found in modern field guides and nature books. This is so that my illustrations are fantastical and vivid as well as having elements of truth; so that viewers might rethink the commonplace animals I have selected and view them as something more enchanted.

I plan to use a coptic binding for my book; an ancient metod of binding which ties in with my references from the middle ages. I plan for the pages to be water-colour paper so that I am able to paint directly onto the book pages. I want my paintings to be roughly A5 landscape; small enough so that I am able to paint a larger quantity of pages and so the book has something small and precious about it.

Design ideas.

For this design; I turned less to the art found in bestiaries to more general medieval manuscript illuminations; taking inspiration from the intricate flowing floral designs to frame my painting of a dove, enclosed in a more conventional rectangle border with a goldleaf layer inside. I used pale greens, purples, pinks and blues to compliment the colours of the dove as opposed to the more basic, bold colours usually used in medieval art; however I think this makes my design look too 'pretty', I would rather my designs to have more of a bold presence.

This is my revised design for my dove painting, using a design which is more blockish and bold than my previous design, with more deeper colours and more simplistic patterns to counterbalance the delicate, detailed dove. 

for this design idea medieval bestiary art directly influenced the background and border; I took elements from several medieval illustration pieces and turned them around with my own ideas to create a this design. The colours are largely muted primary shades; which is very typical of this style of art. the detailed white deer in the center of the composition overlaps with the border, which is another conventional feature of medieval bestiary illustrations as the artists tend to pay no mind to perspective or to representing things realistically. The deer however would be completed in a much more fine and representative style; juxtaposing the blue and gold stylised beasts found in bestiaries. The stars, rectangle center and the square shapes in each corners will be completed in gold leaf, while the rest of the image will be watercolour (with gum arabic to create the white pattern inside the border), stick and ink for outlines and fineliner for the details. 

This design broke a few of the more recognisable conventions in medieval art; the colour combination for example are fairly atypical in this style of art (muted primary colours with golds and browns are more conventional). I based by colour choices on the fur of the fox; not wandering far from harmonious red, browns and golds - contrasted with bright turquoise. As with all my designs; I'm combining the bright, stylised technique of medieval art with a painting of a much more realistic representation of an animal. The gold areas in the leaves of the tree and the squares in each corner will be completed in gold leaf. The rest of the image will be completed in watercolour, stick and ink for outlines and fineliner for details.                                                                                                              

This design combines all three of my previously drawn animals into one design. A composition such as this one would be used if I chose my text to follow a narrative. It would also be appropriate as a cover design, or to illustrate an introduction piece of text.

This is my front cover design. The contrast between the black and white design makes it eye-catching and bold. The gold and jewel border is taken from the front cover of a medieval book, incorporating an element of the lavish, luxurious style from which I have been so influenced by.
I chose to design my front cover digitally, as opposed to painting it traditionally, as I think this will give my book a more professional, sleek appearance. This also allows me to glaze the cover without worrying about the paint bleeding or smudging.

Lesley Ann Ivory transcription.

Painting to confirm my chosen media & style of working.

This painting was completed to see how I could combine the medieval style borders with my own designs and detailed animal images. The bold, primary-colour border brings a liveliness and boldness to the modest, unimposing rabbit image that is the centrepiece. In the red outer border, i have chosen a delicate vine and leaf design to compliment the detailed rabbit image, so that the juxtaposition between the two styles is not so stark. The watercolour is versatile enough to be able to effectively cope with being applied in bright block for the border,  light, flowing stripes for the grass, watery washes for the under layers of the rabbit, the high pigment, textural stippling for the top layers to create a fur texture and still be enough absorbed by the paper so that I can work on top of the paint with ink, fineliner and gel pen. It is the flexibility of the watercolour that I have chosen to add so much detail to my paintings, as opposed to the flat, simplified and stylised egg tempura paintings of original medieval art.
Gum arabic will allow me to create fine white and light coloured patterns and borders and add a texture and a range of mark making for the animal pelts.

                                        

  

Secondary source inspiration.
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