Task 1

At the beginning of the task, I was handed multiple images of insects and was tasked with creating line and tonal drawings of them.

When creating the tonal drawings, I only used pencil which allowed me to shade certain areas using the side of the pencil while at the same time I could draw more detail into the insect. However with the line drawings, I had to use a fine-liner pen, which allowed me to draw the insect with more detail however I would be unable to shade my insect.

 (A)

 (B)

(C)

In pictures A and C you can see I created those insects with tonal using a pencil and the side of it. To draw the basic insect I used the tip of the pencil to create the shell and add a bit of detail to the drawing but I then used the side of the pencil to shade the darker ares of the insect such as the patterns and even the hair on its legs. However in picture B I had to use a fine-liner pen which made the insect stand out more but I was unable to shade meaning for the darker areas I ended up cross-hatching where I would of shaded to give the same effect.  

Task 2

Below are the various mini-beast designs that I created. When designing my mini-beast, I used the insect drawings I did and or pictures I took from the internet, took parts from them and put them together. I chose 3 insects and made half a dozen. In the end I chose a design similar to (B) 

 A

B 

 C

Pictures A-C are an insect made from the combination of a Spider and an Ant, I used a combination of water colour, materials and acrylic paint.

 D

The image above is a combination of multiple insects such as a mantis, fly etc.

E 

F

Picture E and F is created with a combination of a caterpillar, dragon fly and a cricket.

Task 3

In this image, I layered green oil pastel on top of yellow oil pastel, and then scratched a zig-zag pattern onto the surface of the page. I quite liked how this sample turned out, and I thought that the blue and grey combination worked well together

Here I layered red over the top of blue oil pastel, it didn't really work out very well as the red didn't really completely cover the blue.

In these samples I used acrylic paint and cotton buds to produce this effect. The aim of these samples was to blend the colours together, so I used the three primary colours again. I dabbed the colours on each side of the sample with the cotton bud and had each colour meet in the middle so they both gradually blend into one another

In this sample, I used watercolours and blended the colours red, yellow and blue together using just water and a watercolour palette.

In this sample I used watercolours; however, instead of blending them, I used each colour from the palette in blocks, which I then went over each block of colour using the same colour but without as much water.

In these images, I used nothing but acrylic paint and glue spreaders to achieve this look. I used three different colours; red, blue and yellow. I then used the glue spreader to blend these colours into white acrylic paint to make the colours fade gradually.

To create the orange I used a combination of red and yellow.

Here i used a combination of blue and red to create a purple I used a combination of red and blue. (However, when creating the purple, I used a different variant of red known as cadmium as using a brighter red would cause the purple to appear browner.)

To create the green, I used a combination of blue and yellow.

Here is a acrylic paint applied and once dried is covered over with white paint applied using a tooth brush

Task 4

For my final A3 piece I decided to use Acrylic paint, Oil pastels and Watercolours. 

The oil pastel was mainly used for the pattern on the main body section of the mini beast. I used some white oil pastel as a resist technique for when I was painting the body with watercolours, and created a spotted pattern with it. For the legs I used oil pastel again and instead of painting over it with watercolours I used purple Acrylic to make the legs stand out from the body. A dark-ish blue Watercolour was used for the rest of the body as that was the main theme colour for my insect.

The background behind my insect was created by layering green and blue over each other which allowed my insect to stand out in the colours. 

Task 6

Newspaper/Paper Mache Model

For the first 3D piece of my mini-beast, I used a combination of cardboard, newspaper and with tape and wire to keep the pieces together. After constructing the mini-beast, I put paper mache over it.

For the head and two body sections, I created them separately by rolling newspaper up in to balls of different sizes and using masking tape to keep the newspaper rolled up, this was quite difficult at times. For the limbs I used wire and to make them stronger I wrapped each leg up in string to strengthen them. After that I used large pieces of wire and toothpicks to connect the body and head together.

After I had constructed my 3D model I covered it with paper mache, as I added paper mache, the limbs started to struggle slightly to hold the weight, and as a result the limbs would sometimes twist to the side but if postioned correctly it would be able to stand up. 

Dry Clay Model

The 2nd 3D piece I did was made using clay, and a small amount of wire. This piece was much heavier than newspaper so If I wanted it to stand it would have to be smaller. Just like I did with my previous work I created 3 balls of different sizes and shape.

To connect the body and head together, I used 2 toothpicks and to make sure it stayed together I would wet the areas where they connect allowing the edges to merge together.

The limbs were difficult to make and put into shape, as the clay was soft enough for the wire inside to cut or pierce through and bend out of shape. The legs were connected to the body by inserting the end of the wire and wetting the clay to be able to merge it together. After connecting all pieces and positioning the legs so the model could stand I left the clay to harden after some time the clay became completely solid and even began to crack in certain areas and if I tried to move any pieces to forcefully the clay would probably snap completely.

Wire

For my final 3D piece, I created piece that was completely made up of wire. This piece was much lighter and easier to shape, although the wire wasn't very tough so it was also easier to be put out of shape by careless handling and even snapped in certain cases..

To start off the wire piece I created the main body section, as it was the biggest and most central part of the mini-beast.

 To start off the wire piece I created the main body section, as it was the biggest and most central part of the mini-beast.  I used 3 wires to create a sphere which would become the back of the insect, after creating the back I focused on the centre of the piece I used one large wire to create the main shape and then to make it stronger and give it a better 3D shape I added 4 arcs on the top and bottom of the body.

Then after creating the body I worked on the head, using 3 wires, and finally to connect the separate pieces I used a more flexible silver wire which was easier to wrap around the edges connecting the head to the body and the body to the back. However when finished the legs were too weak and would tend to just bend and my frame would collapse so I had to add extra wire to strengthen the legs and ths made the legs stiffer allowing the frame to stand.