Assingment 4 - Post 3 - Discovery

'Discovery' - I did several pencil and pastel versions of the T-Rex skull. Going to the internet to assist with more detail on the skull, I played with high contrast to bring out the bones.

I decided that to encapsulate the word 'Discovery' I needed to include the child and the image should be a glimpse inside his imagination as it is fired by the discovery. To this end, I wanted to create a feeling of the magic of discovery around him, so I decided to use a jungle texture in the background. I considered adding flesh to the bones in some areas, but that idea felt a bit heavy handed, so I went for my orginal idea of the Lizard eye appearing animated. I also moved the child to opposite the T-Rex so that it had more a feeling of the child approaching the T-Rex and reaching out to touch him.

In the first black and white sketch I went for a dreamscape, but decided that this might be pushing the brief a bit far. So I put the boy into a more static setting and a suggestion of the primordial jungle of his imagination in the background. I tried this image in Pastels..

I had intended to use this as a visual, but actually I rather liked the pastel and the tinted paper which had a bone colour to it. I had wanted to keep the dino and the boys face quite stark to unite them and make them stand out from the lush background. I liked the red eye which could either be a Dino eye or a parrot or something in the jungle.

colour enhanced - pastel

However, in the spirit of discovery myself, I wondered if the image needed to be a bit more 'earthy' - as initially I had wanted a bit more of a 'fossil' feeling. I wanted to experiment with the surface texture... so I had a play on the computer to see what a monochrome image would look like.

black and white version

sepia version

In a last ditch attempt to crack it I collaged two of the images together so that the stone colour gradually gives way to the vibrant greens and the bright red of the eye as the T-rex extends to the child. Perhaps this one best sums up a sense of 'Discovery'.

Last attempt!

My worry is that I'm not sure if this quite works as an image although I like the idea behind it. Perhaps I needed to use different software to move between the monochrome and the colour versions.... it's not as smooth a transition as I would like.

Just for fun, I took the image right out of the literal and into the realm of dreamscape... by inverting the colours of the original pastel drawing.

pastel Discovery - with colour inverted (experiment)

For some reason, I can't put my finger on, this one rather appeals to me....

I decided to try to get some earthiness back into the image by attempting some acrylic monoprints in a sepia paint to give a more 'stone' like feeling. Printing with Acrylic is new to me, I have always used printers ink before and it's got some advantages.

monoprint 1 with acrylics on mirror

I didn't have my brayer with me, so I had to use a brush to lay the paint onto the mirror, which gives a rougher finish. I quite like the result as an image, but it's a bit difficult to read. So I decided to have a play in the computer and brighten the colours a bit... but it's still a bit too difficult to read.

monoprint 1 colour enhanced on computer

I quite like the reds picked out by the computer, it gives it a fiery quality.  My 2nd monoprint was a drawn through monoprint, and I rather like the image... it has a look of a cave painting about it...

monoprint 2 

This was a bit too indistinct for me, perhaps, although I really like the textures in the image.

Monoprint 3 also drawn through and hand tinted

I was quite pleased with this result... the scratchyness of it works quite well for the stony excavated feel I was trying to achieve. Unfortunately I think the child's face is a bit too indistict. Perhaps I could have changed this in the computer.

As ever, I seem to get rather obsessed by fiddling with images, and all my good intentions of following the brief exactly seem to have gone to pot, as I never really came up with a visual (unless you count the small image in my sketchbook) and still haven't decided which end product works best!