Task 6 - 3D material samples - including mod rock, papier mache and wire

Cardboard/Newspaper/Paper Mache

For the first 3d piece of my mini-beast, I used a combination of cardboard, newspaper and with tape and wire to keep the pieces together. After constructing the mini-beast, I put paper mache over it.

First I created the main structure of the body and the head, using a thick piece of cardboard. I then created the body pattern and the eyes using thinner pieces of cardboard, and attached them with masking tape. I did this because I felt like it made it look and feel more 3d, as when you touched it you could feel the bumps and ridges.

The head was created as a separate piece and was created by inserting a long piece of wire through the back, out of the front and then back through the head. The ends of the wire were then inserted into the body, and some tape was placed to keep the wire in place.

Next, I created the limbs. The side limbs were made using thin pieces of cardboard with layers of newspaper wrapped around them. At first I didn't have cardboard in them, but the legs were too flimsy and wouldn't be able to support the weight. Even with the cardboard in the legs, they didn't keep their shape properly due to the weight of the rest of the 3d piece, so I inserted a piece of wire into the legs and used that and some tape to keep the limbs attached.

The back legs were made from cardboard, and had tape wrapped around them. These legs helped to keep the mini-beast stand up, as the back legs could support more weight due to their sturdiness.

After constructing the 3d piece, I had to cover it in a single layer of paper mache. As I added paper mache, the limbs started to struggle slightly to hold the weight, and as a result the limbs would twist to the side. 

Wire

After completing the paper mache piece, I started creating a second piece that was completely made up of wire. This piece was much lighter and easier to shape, although the wire wasn't very tough so it was also easier to be put out of shape by careless handling.
To start off the wire piece I created the main body section, as it was the biggest and most central part of the mini-beast. I got 2 pieces of wire and twisted the ends together to make the initial base of the body, and use two pieces of wire across the base to create a more stable structure. Then I created another base of the same size and shape and then connected the pieces together with short lengths of wire. 

The next stage was the create the head of my mini-beast. Using a similar method to the body, I created 2 flat head-shaped wire frames, and connected them together using short wire. I did not create a supporting structure for the head, as I felt that the connecting pieces of wire kept the shape of the head well enough. After that I had to connect the head and body together. I did that by having a length of wire, wrapped one end around the top wire, and then looped around the body and head and then wrapped the other end around the bottom.

The limbs were the simplest part of the wire piece, as each limb only used a single piece of wire that was bent into shape. Although the entire piece was light overall, it was rather flimsy which meant that the legs struggled slightly to stay in shape under the weight. To fix this I made the back legs using a thicker and sturdier piece of wire.

Once my wire piece was completed, I decided to add more details and make the legs thicker and stronger. The majority of the details were done to the main body of the piece, where I used bent pieces of wire on the top of the body to look like the pattern from the 2D piece. The legs had copper wires coiled around them, mostly to strengthen them, but also to make them stand out.

Clay

The final 3d piece I did was made using clay, and a small amount of wire. This piece was much smaller and thinner than the previous pieces, as the clay was much heavier than the cardboard and wire. I molded the shape of the body and the head separately, but managed to connect the pieces using a small piece of wire and wetting the clay to merge the sides. To make my mini-beast more detailed I carved the patterns into the clay using a toothpick, and made the dotted pattern by pressing the end of a pen into it.

The limbs were difficult to make and put into shape, as the clay was soft enough for the wire inside to cut or pierce through and bend out of shape. The legs were connected to the body the same way as the head, by inserting the end of the wire and wetting the clay to be able to merge it together.

Because of how flimsy and weak the clay was when I was creating the mini-beast, I had to use some folded newspaper to support the body, so that the legs would be in shape when it all dried and became more solid. Even though the the clay was stronger and able to support its weight after drying, it still felt rather brittle.

Task 4 - Final A3 colour mixed media illustration

For my final A3 piece I decided to use Acrylic paint, Oil pastels and Watercolours. 

The oil pastel was mainly used for the pattern on the main body section of the mini beast. I used some white oil pastel as a resist technique for when I was painting the body with watercolours, and created a spotted pattern with it. On top of the white pastel I used some blue, as I felt pure white spots didn't look as good with the rest of the colours on the insect.

I used watercolours for the side limbs, the inner section of the body and parts of the head. I used a dark grey colour to paint the eyes and the antennae of my insect, and used yellows and oranges for the inner body where I used the oil pastel.

I used the acrylic paint for the outer section of the body, the main part of the head, and parts of the limbs. Most of the acrylic I used was a brown colour, but when painting the body I painted it at different times and had to make the brown again, which made the browns noticeably different. The red sections of the limbs were painted with diluted acrylic, which gave it a similar effect as the watercolours.

Task 3 - Alternative mixed media sample illustration of mini beasts

For these 3 samples, I used acrylic paint of the 3 primary colours, and cotton buds to try to create a blend effect. I dabbed the buds towards the middle of the paper, and had the colours overlapping in the middle. This technique didn't create a gradual blending of the colours like I planned, and looks rather messy.

In these samples, I used acrylic paint and a medium-sized brush. To create the purple, I used blue and cadmium (lighter version of red) and blended them together. I used cadmium because a darker red would have produced a browner colour. For the orange, I blended cadmium and yellow together, and the green was done with blue and yellow. I liked the way the paints blended together, with the exception of the green, which didn't turn out properly.

For this sample, I tried to gradually change the tone of the pencil by drawing short lines at the top of the paper, and making the marks lighter as I moved down the paper.

For this sample, I drew short bursts of lines across the paper, and tried to keep the lines as close together as possible to make it look like a pattern. 

For this sample, I drew short lines going across the paper facing one direction, and on the next line facing the opposite direction, to create chevrons.

For this sample, I used a pencil to try and create consistent wavy lines from one side of the paper to the other. As I progressed, the lines became clearly different from the original line.

For this sample, I used a pencil to draw a continuous line of figures of eight. The line ended up having a squiggle effect as it progressed.

Like the angled line sample, I tried to create a gradual change in tone, but this time doing a cross hatch effect.

For this sample, I used a pencil to gradually change the tone on the paper, and then used a rubber to erase diagonal lines down the paper.

For this sample, I used a pencil to create a gradual tone change on the paper, and then used a rubber to erase lines down the paper.

For this sample, I drew lines down the paper, but tried to change the heaviness of the line as it went down. As I moved down the paper, I applied more or less pressure on the pencil to change the strength of the lines.

For this sample I used a pencil to draw a zig-zag pattern down the paper, and then tried to draw another line next to it, keeping the shapes of the lines similar to eachother. As I drew more lines, the zig-zags became increasingly different from the original line.

For this sample I used the side of a pencil to shade the paper. At the top I pressed down hard with the pencil, and pressed lighter as I drew down the paper.

For this sample, I drew squiggles across the paper, and made them lighter as I moved down the paper to create a shading effect.

For this sample I used a pencil to create a gradual change in tone, using my finger to smudge the pencil.

For this sample, I used charcoal to cover the entire paper, which resulted in it all looking unevenly drawn.

For this sample I lightly applied charcoal to the entire paper, and then drew heavy lines on top of it.

For this sample, I lightly applied charcoal on the entire paper, and used a rubber to erase lines in the paper.

For this sample, I applied a layer of grey acrylic paint, and after letting it dry I put white acrylic paint on top using a sponge.

For this sample, I glued down a layer of newspaper text, and then painted a layer of white acrylic paint on top of it.

For this sample, I put a layer of orange oil pastel on the paper, and then a layer of blue oil pastel on top. Afterwards I used a toothpick to scratch through the surface to create a zig-zag pattern.

For this sample, I put a layer of green oil pastel on the paper, and then put a layer of blue on top of it. Then I used a toothpick to scratch through the surface and reveal the lower layer.

For this sample, I covered parts of the paper in PVA glue, and then painted green and yellow watercolours over it. The glue caused parts of the paper to resist the paint, and leave blank spots on the paper.

For this sample, I drew random lines on the paper using white oil pastel. Then I used green and yellow watercolours and tried to blend them towards the middle of the paper. The oil pastel resisted the watercolours on parts of the paper, creating a nice effect.


For this sample, I glued 4 pieces of string to the paper, and then painted over them using green and yellow watercolours. Removing the string afterwards would have left behind clear lines.


For this sample, I placed ripped up pieces of tape on the paper, and painted over them using green and yellow watercolours. The tape slightly resisted the watercolours, and added texture to the paper.

For this sample, I put a layer of white acrylic paint on top of a piece of brown paper using my finger.

For these samples, I used a glue spreader to paint red, blue and yellow acrylic paint on the paper. I then used the glue spreader to mix the colours with white acrylic paint, and tried to create a gradual colour change on the paper.

For this sample, I separated each watercolour into blocks on the paper. After letting them dry, I went over each block using the same colours, but less water to make the colours fuller.

For this sample, I used a pattern of yellow, red, blue, and yellow watercolours and blended them together on the paper. The colours did not blend very well, but the effect still works.

For this sample, I covered the paper in diluted coffee, and then used a cotton bud to create the dot effects with concentrated coffee.

For this sample, I applied a layer of slightly diluted coffee over the entire paper. The coffee was applied unevenly, which created the effect shown on the paper.

For this sample, I covered the paper in some white acrylic paint, and then used a toothbrush with tea on it, and used my finger to 'flick' the tea onto the paper.

For this sample, I applied a layer of tea on to the entire paper. Due to the uneven way I applied it, it created the odd effect shown on the page.

Below are the mixed media samples for my mini-beasts:
My first sample was done using watercolours, oil pastels, and fine liner.
Most of this sample was done with watercolours, and it was mostly yellow/orange, red and brown colours. The outer part of the body was painted brown, with the inner section being painted a bright orange, and the oil pastel in that section resisting it.
The back legs were completely painted yellow, and the rest of the limbs went from yellow to red as it went outwards from the body. The eyes and antennae were painted black, but turned into a grey when it dried, which I felt was more effective.

I used the oil pastels as a resist technique for the main section of the body, and to make a dotted pattern. Over the top of the oil pastel was a small amount of blue watercolours, so that the dots weren't just blank.
Once I was done with the oil pastels and watercolours, I used a fine liner to draw the outline of my mini beast to make it stand out more.

For my second sample, I decided to use a mix of acrylic paint, oil pastels and some fabric. The fabric was only used for the main body section and the middle of the head, and it was rather difficult to cut it into the correct size and shape.

I had never done a combination of fabric and oil pastel before, so I tried to draw the dotted patten onto the fabric with some brown oil pastel. I did not achieve the desired effect so I chose to draw oil pastel over all of the fabric. 

I also put orange oil pastel around the fabric and on the back legs, but many white spaces remained. To counter that I used orange and yellow acrylic to fill in the spaces. Red oil pastel was used on the ends of the limbs, but I couldn't smudge it properly due to the small space.

I used black and grey acrylic paint for the eyes and antennae of the mini-beast, and also used yellow to paint parts of the limbs and to fill in the gaps that couldn't be filled by oil pastel.

My third sample was made using a combination of charcoal, oil pastel, fine liner and an eraser.

The charcoal was used for a large portion of the body and the head, and also the claws on the ends of the limbs. I smudged the charcoal on the body and for most of the head, to make it look more grey than a pure black colour, and then used an eraser to draw the dotted pattern and clean up the edges of the mini-beast. To make the antennae and claws look sharper, I decided not to smudge them.

The rest of the mini-beast was coloured using oil pastels. An unintended effect of the charcoal made the yellow oil pastel I used looks much darker, but it ultimately fitted the other colours of the mini-beast. For the limbs, I first used orange oil pastel, but towards the end of the limbs I changed to red. I smudged the oil pastels slightly, and cleaned up the edges by using an eraser.
To finish off the sample, I used a fine liner to draw the outlines to make it look sharper.