Minibeasts

Left handed 1-line drawing

Here is a drawing of a ladybug that I have created by using only my left hand and not taking my pencil off the paper. As you can see, it looks quite bad since the lines aren't very clean or straight as I am right handed and haven't practised drawing with my left hand at all. you can see that my pencil is never lifted off the paper since the lines are all connected with is proved by the dots on top of the ladybug.

1-Line Drawing

Here is a 1-Line drawing that I have created but this time, I have used my stronger hand this time considering that the lines are rather smooth and the image itself looks much more appealing than the left handed drawing. I wasn't able to add much detail since I was limited to having one line only meaning that I was unable to life my pencil off the table or I had broke the rule.

Left handed drawing

In this, I have used my left hand but with no limit to how many times I could lift my pencil off the table. As you can see, the lines are still quite sketchy but I think that it looks much better than the one like since I was able to be more careful with my drawing and I could take my time 

Normal Drawing

This time, I have created a normal sketch of a ladybug using a pencil. I was free to use my hand I was most confident with to draw/ write and as you can see, the result is far superior than the other types of techniques I have used. The lines are clear and you can easily tell what the sketch is supposed to be. 

Thread Drawing

In this, I have taken my "Left-handed one line drawing" and then I have created this outline using thread. To do this, I have used transparent material, thread and a pencil and as you can see, the outcome was quite effective as it is quite similar to the original design and the thread itself is done without too much mess taking effect. I used my transparent piece of plastic and placed it one top of the original drawing so I could easily view the image I was creating using the thread. I kept the thread in place using a thin layer of PVA glue and I moved the thread around by using the led of a pencil which made the whole task so much easier.

I feel as if this was quite difficult to maintain well as I think that it took me quite a while to actually finish this thread drawing because of how fiddly and easily destructive task was. I found my self resetting this a couple of times until I finally got the hang of it and as I started to do more of this, I figured that I started to slowly improve at the process of creating my thread drawing.

Wire Drawing

This is a wire drawing that I have created in a similar way to the thread drawing but this time, I have used wire. This type of wire was quite easy to manipulate as the texture was quite soft and it bend in directions very easily. I did this by using masking tape to stick the current wire down and bent the wire in the correct directions to copy the outline of the ladybug that I drew by hand. The outcome looks quite sketchy and a bit incomplete but I think I did quite a good job considering that it was a difficult task to maneuver the wire in different ways to get the right shape that I like and I found that the wire had also kept peeling of the paper really easily which also slowed me down.

Drawing Insects

This is a sketch that I have created of an insect in detail as I shaded in the darker parts of the image and gave the image more tone. I didn't end up spending too much time on this and I didn't really struggle to create this piece since I am quite used to using a pencil as I enjoy to draw in my free time. 

This is another sketch of another type of insect which in this case is a wasp-like type. I tried to implement as much detail as I could whilst creating this and I think that the outcome looks quite appealing as I've made the image stand out with the dark tones and shading that I have used in different areas.

3D Wire Shapes

Here is a 3D wire structure of a sphere that I have created. I actually spent a whole lesson creating this because I wanted my work to be rather precise and more interesting rather than creating more simple and easy to create shapes such as cubes and cylinders. To create the precise shapes of the wire, I simply used the edges of my water bottle and created different sizes of circles to use for the final piece which I would attach them all together using the softer and easier to manipulate wire. I used the black type of wire for the main structure as it was quite tough and less easy to manipulate so I thought that this would be perfect as it would give a sturdy and solid edge to my structure. I had also half decorated and half gave the wire extra structure by wrapping the original circles in more wire as I needed to attach them together anyway so I could decorate it at the same time. When I gathered all of my circular shapes. I started to place them in the areas that I had planned to create the structure out of with more additional soft wire and as you can see in the result, the outcome was pretty good.

I feel as if this task took quite a while because I had to create so many different pieces of wire which was okay at first but after a while started to hurt my fingers because the material itself was quite hard. The process of wrapping the wire and attaching the whole structure together was probably the most difficult task considering that it took a lot of time and the whole process was rather fiddly as I had to keep twisting the wire and rotating the shape but after I got used to it, I could proceed with this at a moderate speed.

After I had finished my 3D sphere structure, I attempted to create another difficult shape which is the doughnut-like shape. It took me quite a while to figure out what type of structure I needed to keep this together but after some research, I decided to try using some different sized circles to keep the whole thing in place. The technique I used was very similar to the sphere that I have created as I used the same materials, I have decorated it using the softer golden type of wire and I have attached it all together using the same material. I think that this was extremely fiddly to do as I found myself giving up with this at one point but then I tried once again and managed to get the right kind of shape I wanted. I found it really difficult to keep the separate pieces in place as the wire kept on falling out of muy hand and I think I could have saved a lot of time if I used some equipment or a person to keep it held in place whilst I connect each piece together. 

Cardboard Minibeast Model

Here is a Cardboard model that I have created by using different pieces of cardboard and masking tape. I used a pencil to sketch out the shapes that I wanted to take and used a pallet knife to cut them, which was really easy to complete and then I applied it all together using masking tape. I gave my model legs using the same type of black wire I used in the previous task as I think that it would look effective for this model as the legs which give the model stability and make it look like an actual insect. If I had more time, I could have added much more detail to the model itself but I moved on and in the end had no time to improve this model.

I think that this was one of the easiest types of model that I have created since everything was easy to manipulate, nothing was really messy and the structure that I went for was also quite easy but effective at the same time. 

Modrock Minibeast Model

To create this, I have used cardboard for the main shape, masking tape to keep the cardboard structure together and also mod-rock for the solid outcome. To create this, I made a base structure using cardboard below the mod-rock and after I was happy with the shape, I then started to apply mod-rock by dipping strips of it in water and gently applying it to the cardboard. 

As you can see, the outcome looks decent and I think I did quite a good job since I haven't used the material before. The whole task of this model wasn't exactly difficult but the process was really messy and dusty since the material was quite like plaster which set after a short amount of time. 

Wire Minibeast Model

Here is the Minibeast model that I have created by using Wire. I am really pleased with how this turned out since I was quite confident with wire by this time as I have used it in other multiple occasions such as the wire drawing and the 3D wire structures so I was confident that I knew what I was doing. To created the body shape, I molded the wire around my bottle and stretched it out and bent it upwards to give it a unique but also appealing type of shape that is very similar to a bug. To attach everything together, I used the soft wire and I created other body parts of the minibeast and attached them such as the legs and antenna.

This Model was much more challenging that the previous 2 models since I felt like there was much more work and effort that had to but put into getting the right shapes of wire but the task was probably much easier than it would of been if I had never used the wire before but since I had quite a bit of experience, I was good at the job and presented a great outcome.

Paper Mache Model

In this Paper Mache Model, I have created the structure by using cardboard and I have used paper mache to decorate the model. To create this, I have simply used teared up newspaper and PVA glue as I glued down the paper and then added another layer of glue to make sure that all of the area was covered completely. Whilst I was doing this, I was quite unsure whether I was actually doing it correctly and I think that I have actually done an alright job since its my first time using this material and knowing what it is.

This task took quite a while since I had to allow time for the glue to dry but overall, this model was rather simple and didn't take too much skill to create. However, I didn't really enjoy creating this due to the fact that the materials were very messy and the newspaper fell off from time to time. 

Evaluation

Overall, I think that I have completed all of the tasks to quite a good standard and I enjoyed most of the tasks we were given as it was very creative and practical. I feel as if I were to repeat this unit, I would proceed with doing a great job because I now have experience with all the materials and I feel so much more confident with using each of them. In this unit, I have learned about many new types of skills and materials that I could use in an artistic style and I also found out that I was much better at some things such as the wire than the more simple tasks such as cardboard. I think that I would need to practice a bit more with cardboard as I think that I wasn't the greatest at making minibeast shapes and structures but I know that the more I did it, the more I improved over time.