Olivia Myers - A-LEVEL The Movement of Animals Project

STATEMENT OF INTENT:

I started looking at figure drawing and human proportions in a small A5 sketchbook, and then moved on to looking at artists such as Tim Burton and Henry Selick. Their style of work is different to any other, the gothic-fantasy theme creating a unique type of character. I also started to take photos related to this idea and planned to draw from them – transforming the people in the photographs into characters in the two artist’s styles. I really enjoyed this experiment into a new and completely different style for me and was interested in the techniques used – this led me to look into other cartoon-like styles/artists, as well as into larger animation companies and organisations.

I started to think back to my previous work and what I had formerly focused on – this being realism, especially in animals. My past projects were British Artists, where I looked at African animal artists, and Water, focusing on sea animals. I decided to look into other types of animals and decided to start drawing domestic animals, typically household or farm animals. I also chose to use a medium I haven’t used so much, leading my sketches to be in pencils. I really liked the way they turned out, and found I was getting better at using pencils to create depth and include a lot of detail. I then started to think of ways I could link both of these areas together to create a project idea that I was really excited about.

I decided on the ‘the movement of animals’ as I feel this captures all of the ideas I have for this project in a broad way, which gives me a lot of room for experimentation and to be able to explore a lot of different areas. Whilst my chosen title allows me to look into illustration and drawings/paintings of animals and capture movement in a still image, it also gives me an opportunity to start to experiment with animation and film and look into the way animals move in different situations. I plan to look into the history and techniques of Disney and use their style and methods of animation and illustration to influence my work.

I feel that researching the work of my biggest inspiration will help me to feel very passionate about my project but will also allow me to understand how to create successful animations and tell a story through pictures. I would also like to use this project as a chance to use sculpture to create animals and move them to help me create animations, like a stop-motion film. I feel that these areas will be challenging for me as I have never tried them before, but I am excited to try something new that has enthused me for years.