FMP Animal Photos (primary research)

After deciding to focus on the monster, Chimera, for my final piece, I needed photos to work from photographs so the painting or drawing (I haven't decided on the media yet) will have a real life feel to it. The Chimera is made up of three different animals; a lion, a goat and a snake. Here are some of the photos I took -

These pictures were taken at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Being the most important part of the Chimera, photos of the lions were my first priority.

The species of goat is an African mountain goat, or Ibex and like the lion, these photos were taken at a zoo.
 
 

Not taken at a zoo like the others, this snake's species is a Royal Python and is my friend's pet.

   

I used these pictures to familiarize myself with the animals I needed to draw by sketching them and using coloured media. Here are some of my studies on mood boards -

FMP Le Minotaure - George Frederic Watts (artist research)

George Frederic Watts was widely considered to be the greatest painter of the Victorian era. A portraitist, sculptor, landscape painter and symbolist, Watts's work embodied the most pressing themes and ideas of the time, earning him the title "England's Michelangelo". He famously said the phrase, “I paint ideas, not things". During his last years Watts also turned to sculpture, completing his most famous work, Physical Energy, in 1902. 

   

 

FMP Greek Mythology

Already being knowledgeable on the subject of greek mythology, I decided to cover it as part of my research to be able to learn more about it and simply because of the huge roster of creatures and legends at my disposal to draw. Many of these creatures have become iconic and are very recognizable because of their unique looks.



MEDUSA


CHIMERA


CHARYBDIS


CERBERUS


CENTAUR


NEMEAN LION


MINOTAUR


HYDRA

FMP Hyakkai Zukan - Sawaki Suushi (artist research)

In the sophisticated popular culture of the Edo period (1603-1868), much attention was devoted to Japan's rich variety of traditional monsters and apparitions, known as yokai. Sometimes frightening, sometimes humorous, these compelling Japanese folk creatures were the subject of numerous artistic and literary works. One such work was Hyakkai Zukan, a collection of picture scrolls completed in 1737 by Sawaki Suushi, a relatively unknown artist. Hyakkai Zukan's colorful depictions of Japan's most notorious creatures inspired yokai artists for generations. Here are some of Sawaki Suushi's paintings and my own study of the Ushi-Oni (cow devil) at the top -

 
 

 

FMP Odilon Redon (artist research)

                                           
Odilon Redon, (born April 20, 1840, died July 6, 1916) was a French symbolist painter, lithographer, and etcher of poetic sensitivity and imagination. His prints explore haunted, fantastic, often macabre themes and foreshadowed the Surrealist and Dadaist movements. His oils and pastels, mainly still life drawings of flowers, won him the admiration of Henri Matisse and other painters as an important colourist. Redon produced nearly 200 prints beginning in 1879 with the lithographs collectively titled In the Dream. He completed another series (1882) dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe, whose poems had been translated into French. Though there is a relationship between his work and that of the Impressionist painters, he opposed both Impressionism and Realism as wholly perceptual. Here is my own study of his work along with other examples.


 

 

 

FMP Tanuki (Japanese Folklore)

Many of the monsters I found in Japanese folklore caught my eye because of how strange they are, and a good example of this would be the tanuki. A tanuki is a Japanese species of animal sometimes called a raccoon dog, having an appearance similar to that of an American raccoon. The legends surrounding the creature however are much more unusual and have been significant in Japanese folklore since ancient times.
The legendary tanuki is supernatural, and is said to be mischievous and jolly, a master of disguise that has the power to shape-shift, but is also gullible and absentminded. They are classed as yokai (ghosts) and can change their appearance into anything, even having the power to possess people. Their appearance in literature and art however is very bizarre. They are depicted to have absurdly over-sized testicles that they use for gliding, carrying water, as sleeping bags and even drums. It was the pure insanity of this idea that convinced me to include it as part of my research and to show how weird Japanese mythology can be.