Project 3: Graphic Animal

Study Sketches

I chose eagles for this project. I started out with a Google image search and collected various photos. Then I started my sketches. This was fun. I haven’t drawn by hand in a while and I definitely enjoyed it. As I drew, features of the eagle that stood out to me were the spiky feathers on the head, the fierce eye and shadows surrounding it, the sharp protruding beak, and the large wingspan and long feathers in the wingtips.

Silhouette Drawings

Next I thought about eagles silhouetted in trees, which is how I often see them. I can recognize them as eagles even though few details are visible. This fit perfectly with the graphic reduction idea so that’s what I set out to capture in my graphic reduction illustrations. Again I searched online for pictures of eagles, this time perched in trees of other positions I thought would make good outlines. I did three outline sketches. Then I went over them with a fine tipped pen and filled them in with a black brush pen. I scanned everything onto the computer.

Photoshop

I opened the silhouette pictures in PS and used the quick selection tool to select each one. It didn't require much correction due to the contrast of black on white. I did however zoom in and make some small adjustments to the spaces between the wing feathers on one, and the feet on another. The scanner had done too good a job in capturing the pen strokes of my black marker; I wanted solid color (or solid no color). So I made new fill layers of black. Then I made new files and moved the fill layers into them to get the final compositions. I experimented with different colors and variations of the black and white themes remembering to keep it simple.

Conclusion

I’m happy with the final compositions. The simplified images definitely contain the essence of the original eagle images. The characteristics I picked up on in my study sketches are all there except for the eye, but the graphic reduction doesn’t need to include everything. The most challenging part of this assignment was deciding how to simplify the image. After I finished the study sketches I was attached to the details I had included and felt they were needed to properly represent the eagle. I almost switched to an animal that would be simpler to draw. Glad I didn’t though, the simplification process was exactly the point of this exercise.

If you want to see some great examples of graphically reduced animals check out: http://www.cafepress.com/petdrawings/1142321 I know it say ‘pet drawings” in the link, but they have a wide variety of animals.