Subject Translation

SUBJECT TRANSLATION

Sometimes the best idea is, in fact, the first one that zaps you in the brain like a lighting bolt of inspiration. I’ve got this. No need to do anymore sketches. I’m so clever. Time to slap this into Photoshop and take a nice long break for two weeks. Even better, I don’t even have to do this tonight.

Let’s go finish that game of Mass Effect 2 I was working on.

This idea is so awesome that I have everything figured out and can do it easily a couple days before it’s due. WRONG. No matter how amazing your first inspiring idea may be, it can only get better by working with it. And even if it turns out that your best idea was early on in your process, it has given you confidence. You’ve tried all the options, you know that this is the one. Process gives you the freedom to look at a problem from many different angles. You can be as crazy, or as analytical as you want. For me, both have produced amazing results. I’ve created things I never would have dreamed would come out of my head, just by doing process. Maybe I’m just a problem solver, but process is my favorite part of design. I enjoy the end results of my photoshoping and drawing labors, but doing sketches, researching, and making silly little cardstock creatures is much more enjoyable. Plus, as somebody who compulsively cleans and organizes things as a way of relieving stress, process relieves pressure. I slowly organize my process in steps. Clean out less successful ideas, organize the better ones, and when I’m done I have a final result I’m confident about. Process is that childhood stuffed animal friend that you still keep somewhere and look back at more than you’d like to admit. It makes you feel safe; and when you start to overthink things you can always come back to it and see how much you’ve grown.

CHOOSING THE CREATURE

Animals are infinitely inspiring. Their colors, shapes, behaviors, and the way that they are so perfectly adapted for their lifestyles...they are nature’s examples of great design. I willingly (and probably too often) spend my time watching documentaries about giant otters, man-eating ants, various breeds of cats, and whatever else, much to the chagrin of my boyfriend who can only watch the Planet Earth series so many times in a row. I even have a website dedicated to a bunch of creatures that I invented for my own amusement because I ran out of new animal information that I could get my hands on. How can I possibly choose one out of all the fauna?

Process. ++what does it look like? ++what is its personality? ++what does (could) it sound like? ++how does it feel? Is it heavy or light? hard or soft? ++how do you relate to it? ++how does it grow? ++how did it evolve? ++how does it reproduce? ++how does it interact with its environment?

ANTEATER!

Why an anteater? For one, they are a very recognizable animal that people know about (unlike most of my other choices). But, at the same time they are not used very commonly. Everyone knows about them, but I certainly haven’t seen one out in the media recently. It’s an untapped resource that also happens to be one of my favorites.

PROS

++ Recognizable silhouette ++ unique animal ++ can be broken down into only 2 colors if needed ++ interesting behavior ++ very fun to draw...plus not time consuming as there are not many stripes or spots ++ I can relate to them...they are interesting to me ++ can use ant imagery as well since this creature is so identified with its food source

CONS

++ could possibly get mixed up with an Aardvark if I don’t draw them well enough ++ people know the Giant Anteater better than the Tamandua, so I may only be able to stick to one type ++ most people wouldn’t identify the black stripe on the anteater, even though it is an important graphic element of this creature ++ limited colors (they only come in earth tones and sometimes gray)

first drawing I did once I decided that I wanted to choose anteaters as my subject

SPECIES OVERVIEW GIANT ANTEATER

MYRMECOPHAGA TRIDACTYLA Size: 5-7 ft. long, 40-100 pounds Range: southern Belize to Northern Argentina Habitat: grassland savannahs, wetlands, woodlands Diet: Ants, Termites, Ripe Fruit

HIGHLIGHTS

++ can eat 30,000 termites a day ++ possess a 2 foot long tongue ++ babies ride on monther’s back ++ they are a solitary creature except for mothers and their young which stay together for up to two years ++ they are a “near threatened” species ++ also called the “ant-bear” ++ walks like a gorilla due to its long claws, which are the largest on any mammal

TAMANDUA TAMANDUA TETRADACTYLA, TAMANDUA MEXICANA Size: 1.7-2.8 feet long, 4.5-15 pounds Range: South America Habitat: forests and grasslands Diet: Ants, Larva, Bees, Fruit

HIGHLIGHTS ++ ++ ++ ++

spends 13-64% of their time in trees much smaller than its cousin, the Giant Anteater when upset is hisses and excretes an unpleasent odor the word tamanduá is Tupi for “anteater”

Sources: Smithsonian Institution (http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/Facts/factanteater.cfm), Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). “Anteater”. Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.).

Cambridge University Press.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Myrmecophaga_tridactyla_-_Phoenix_Zoo.jpg, http://www.flickr.com/photos/douglas-fisher/151227551/, http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mQP554yURWw6muPyxfSoWQ, http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LHoYnsU8MxRFXo6f6NWRg, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tamandua_tetradactyla_qtl1.jpg, http://www.biolib.cz/en/image/id21981/, http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/taz-roDb1o3_DDkJMhFoDA, http://snuzzy.com/4-hi-res-baby-anteater-pics/, http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1111122467042687404GyEXwK

RESEARCH PHOTOS

INSPIRATION

Etsy Sellers (etsy.com): CrowBiz, polardeer, berkleyillustration, Puzzimals, Brimborion DeviantArt Members (www.deviantart.com): MO-ffie, chien-san, spiresvortex, shamoosh, petterpetterpetter, deathofrats, altergromit, black-cat7, BeachedOctopus, rosipose

ANTEATER COLOR SWATCHES

“NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A SHAPE.” The great thing about anteaters is that they have a unique shape. It’s also a fairly hard shape to get just right, so first things first. I need to get comfortable drawing the basic shape.

DONATED DRAWINGS

We had to switch animals with a classmate for five minutes.

These are the drawings my partner left me...they turned out to be a great help!

UGLY ANIMALS

In class we were challenged to spend 3 minutes trying to make our animal seem as gross and ugly as possible. Don’t know if I succeeded, but I ended up in a completely different direction by the end.

BLIND CONTOUR DRAWINGS

After I saw the blind contours that my animal-trading partner gave me, I decided to do a few of my own!

HOW DO I CONTINUE?

I’ve done the most basic process, which was to simply get comfortable working with the animal...so now what? In what other ways can I explore? I can try out materials that I’m both comfortable with and uncomfortable with. I can also pose “what if?” questions to give me a narrative to go on.

THERE ARE ONLY TWO RULES:

++ make this a part of my daily routine ++ have fun

WHAT I KNOW HOW TO WORK WITH: ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++

pencil photoshop web design flash sewing colored pencil markers watercolor pencil graphic pens crayons

WHAT I WANT TO WORK WITH: ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++

pastel cut and torn paper wire bleach drawings stencils acrylic paint ink metal wood baking stamps printing

OTHER IDEAS:

++ anteater made of word “ant: ++ anteater made of ants ++ maze made out of tongue ++ pixel anteater ++ anteater shaped cookies ++ anteater shaped pancakes ++ anteater shaped cupcakes ++ anteater simplified logo in illustrator ++ fingerprint anteater ++ anteater factfilled envelope

MATERIALS ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++

wool felt faux fur pink ribbon stuffing black felt white fellt

TOOLS

++ sewing machine ++ sewing needles ++ thread ++ pins ++ chopstick ++ seam ripper

STUFFED PLUSHIE

I’ve been making stuffed animals and sewing since I was a kid, so the first idea that I wanted to check off of my list was to make a plushie. It would give me a better idea of what this animal felt like and how it is structured. I wanted this plushie to be 3D so I looked back at a pattern that I worked on last year (for a goat plushie) and modified it. The fabric that I chose for the anteater plushie was wool felt and faux fur, which worked out quite nicely because of its rough texture. I’ve never touched an anteater before, but that fur looks rather bristly.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Anteaters are indeed most known for eating ants. I cannot think of too many animals who are so connected to their food that it ends up in their common name. The concept for this exploration is simple. Make an anteater out of the word “ant� using rubber stamps and ink.

THUMBPRINT STAMPEDE

I tried to make an anteater out of thumbprints using the least amount of fingers/prints as possible. It didn’t work out as I would have hoped, but it was still fun to make! I did get one thumbanteater that was acceptable. Maybe I’ll try to make a larger one in the future.

WHY NOT COOKIES?

I thought that it might be a fun diversion from the normal design grind to make cookies for process. So my boyfriend and I made paper templates, made some dough, and got to baking.

RECIPE FOR COOKIES:

++ 1 stick butter ++ 1/2 cup sugar ++ 1/2 egg ++ 1 1/2 cup flour ++ Pinch salt ++ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder ++ 1 teaspoon milk ++ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cream together butter and sugar.

Slowly add dry ingredients.

2. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours 3. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut into desired shapes.

4. Cook for 6-10 min. and let cool for 2 min. before moving to cooling rack.

Source: How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

ANTEATER TONGUE MAZE Help the anteater get the ants by following his tongue!

Or you can travel through the termite mound to help the anteater find his meal.

This was one of the first ideas that I had for the anteater. It’s tongue is just so long that is great for making these kinds of things.

ANTEATER ENVELOPE

As somebody who probably likes office supplies way to much, designing an envelope template is really fun.

This idea didn’t really come together for me until I thought of the closing method. Having the envelope close by having its tongue wrap around a button pulls this all together.

SPACE ANTEATER CONTOUR WIRE DRAWING

The goal with this experiment was to make something 3-D look as drawing-like as possible. After making one of these one has a much better understanding of the contour line.

This is one of my favorite pieces I’ve done all year. I feel like it has a lot of personality. I also like how you can only tell what the sculpture is from one angle. People often play with the idea of making things that are 2D appear to be 3D, but rarely the other way around. It’s an interesting concept.

TAMANDUA EMBROIDERED PATCH

Just something that I did for “fun.” It started out fun, but embroidery takes a long time. Nonetheless I really liked the end result.

It was really satisfying to actually finish a piece of embroidery for once.

STITCHES This was the first time I’ve done “couching” in embroidery so I had to look it up in my book.

OTHER STITCHES USED: ++ long-and-short ++ satin stitch ++ back stitch

ACTUAL SIZE

DETAIL

UNITS CHALLENGE

In my 256 class we had to make an animal out of only certain provided shapes with only the reflect and rotate tool. I decided to make an anteater since I’m at this point very familiar with them.

GOOGLE DOODLE

we also had an assignment to make a “Google doodle.” If it were our birthday and Google changed their logo just for us, what would it look like?

G g

e

ANTEATER SCREENPRINT My mom was using screenprinting in her current art piece and offered to show me how to do it. I took her up on it and we had a really great time making anteater prints and shirts. I wanted to do an anteater in a different style than my previous ones, just for some variety.