Pictographic Drawing
Contents Introduction Part One: Irreducible Essence Chameleon Gecko Frog Explorations Finals
Part Two: Integration Explorations Finals
Part Three: Translation Explorations Final
Part Four: Contextualization Posters
Pictography
expression and communication by the use of pictures and drawings.
Introduction
This book documents the open and critical exploration of three related animals as a series of pictographic drawings. It is about pushing the limits of representation using the most basic shapes and forms. My chosen animals are a Chameleon, a Gecko and a Frog. Each have distinctive patterning and body shapes that make them easily identifiable yet they also have the ability to camouflage themselves in their environments. They have extensive climbing abilities and prey predominantly on insects, with specially developed tongues to catch their food. It will be interesting to see how these characteristics can be translated into pictographic forms.
Part One
Irreducible Essence Irreducible: not able to be simplified further without losing identity Essence: intrinsic nature or indispensable quality that determines something’s character This first section shows my various experimentations with different media and techniques to push the limits of my technical approach and visual capabilities. I advanced my pictographic drawings both by hand and with computer to develop and refine my three chosen animals into a cohesive set. Each animal within the set has been simplified to its Irreducible Essence.
Veiled Chameleon
Chamaeleo calyptratus Chameleons are specialized tree-living lizards that prey on insects, using their unique long sticky tongues. They have eyes that can move independently from one another to look in two directions at once without having to move their heads or body. This helps the chameleon to avoid predators yet also become a hunter itself by moving both eyes forward to focus on its prey in order to perceive depth. Chameleons are famous for their ability to change colour. The colour change serves only partly for camouflage. Although chameleons at rest tend to assume colours similar to their surroundings, colour change is most often used to signify emotional state.
Tokay Gecko Gekko gecko
Tokay geckos are solitary and nocturnal. They have squat and cylindrical bodies and legs designed for climbing. Their toes that have fine grooves on them allowing them to cling with ease to vertical and over-hanging surfaces making them very agile climbers. The coloration of a tokay gecko is very important to its survival. The skin is usually grey with several brownish-red to bright red spots and flecks. It has the ability to lighten or darken the colouring of its skin in order to blend in or to be less noticeable to other animals. They are able to cast off their tails as a defensive mechanism again becoming caught and are able to regenerate a new one in about three weeks.
Golden Bell Frog Litoria aurea
Bell frogs are ground dwelling tree frogs native to eastern Australia. They have extensive climbing abilities yet often choose to spend most of their time close to ground level. Bell frogs are brilliantly coloured with an overall green appearance interspersed with bronze or gold coloured patches. Their colouring helps them disguise themselves in murky water or on mossy rocks. They are voracious eaters of insects but some will also eat larger prey such as worms and mice. Unlike most frog species they are active during the day and are generally found sunbathing.
Silhouette Chameleon
Silhouette Gecko
Silhouette Frog
Ink Drawings
Exploration
Initially I drew my three creatures in their more realistic forms, emphasizing the distinctive patterns they have on their skins
To begin deconstructing my creatures I cut them into geometric segments as a way of helping me to understand how they are put together.
I looked at what was most distinctive about each of my 3 creatures and made an icon of that feature. The head shape of a frog, the tail of a chameleon and the foot shape of a gecko.
I also segmented their bodies in a more fluid and natural way, creating gaps where the joints would be. This style gives the creatures a much friendlier look.
Cut paper creatures. I limited myself to creating them with only rectangles of black paper. This helped me to really look at the proportions of the creatures.
Using grid paper I limited myself to drawing only on the grid-lines. When refined digitally they started to lose their identities.
Above: Relief prints made as a way to simplify my creatures down into their most basic of shapes. The shapes need to be simple and clean to enable a good print. Right: Splatter art created using cut out creatures as masks. The shapes became more straight and geometric in shape, inspired by Inca and Aztec textile designs.
Drawing my creatures using continuous flowing lines allowed me to replicate the fluid nature of my creatures and imply more movement within my pictograms
I wanted to focus on the features of each of my animals, while limiting myself to work with a circular shape. The hand drawn result is somewhat comical yet that aim was to capture the strange appearance of these creatures, especially the chameleon. The digital refinement of this idea was created with more cohesion, looking more are the shape of the eyes to distinguishing each creature.
Using circles as a grid to constrain the shapes of my animals.
Continuation of using circles to constrain the shape of my creatures to create a cohesive set of pictograms.
Trying a more freehand approach in drawing my creatures digitally. I wanted to emphasise the flexibility of my creatures and show them in more dynamic poses.
This series of pictograms was created using a grid yet I kept the shapes fluid. The last set is reminiscent of Inca symbols. I further refined this idea in illustrator, simplifying the shapes using the grid . This made the animals become more iconic rather than realistic.
Exploration of my creatures as Inca or Aztec symbols. Inspired by textile pattern design. I experimented with adding patterns and textures inside the forms, but they disrupt the simplistic style of the pictograms.
Refinement
Finals
My chosen finals for this section reflect my interpretation of ancient Inca or Aztec symbols. The geometric treatment of the creatures, using straight edges, is influenced by their textile designs. I wanted to capture this simplistic style of design and portray my creatures as icons that can be manipulated and used in a multitude of forms. I have striped each creature to the barest of lines I can get away with while still keeping the distinctive shapes of their bodies. The stillness of their poses allude to the way these creatures can lie in wait for very long periods of time, waiting for prey to venture close by or to hide from predators.
Part Two
Integration Following on from the previous section I continued to develop my pictographic skills through integration. My aim was to explore various approaches of simplifying, abstracting, combining and integrating two or more ‘Irreducible Essence’ pictograms into one harmonious form, while still maintaining the integrity of the individual animals.
This series of integrations focus around using the chameleon as the primary shape.
Final
My final integration was developed with the idea of concealment and hiding in plain sight. Continuing with the geometric shapes of my final pictograms from part one, I experimented with layering and replicating these shapes to create new forms that would interweave, creating a balance between two different creatures. My chosen final contains the frog and gecko shapes layered together to reflect how they are able to hide and disguise themselves within their environments. Both of the creatures can be identified within the integration, yet you have to look a bit harder to distinguish the two from one another. There is a direct correlation between this and my 3D translation final.
Part Three
Translation This section is the development of my integrated pictograms into 3D forms, using materials and construction methods that are relevant to the creatures being depicted. The aim of the final sculpture is to build on the intrinsic qualities of the original integrated pictograms and respond to media characteristics to allude to the original creatures I started with. To start of my experimentation of materials I worked with paper and cardboard, before moving onto using a variety of transparent plastics that were laser cut to create more complex and uniform 3D forms.
I tried paper quilling as a way of replicating the texture of a chameleons skin.
I tried a straightforward layered approach, stacking the various shapes of my creatures on top of each other. If I had expanded on this idea the various shapes would be cut from a transparent material so each creature would be able to be seen through the other.
A simple translation of one of my straightforward integrations.
Exploring how a flat piece of paper can be transformed into a 3D form.
Cardboard prototypes of my final translation.
Refinement of shapes and colours, experimenting with the layering of the shapes and the transparent qualities of the material. (acetate sheeting, 0.5mm)
Final
My final sculpture is made of P.E.T plastic, laser cut for accuracy. It was coloured used glass paint to keep the material transparent. I have two separate 3D forms; the frogs and the geckos. I have placed one inside the other to create layers, which was something wanted to expand upon from my explorations earlier. Sunlight was used to extend the visual representation of my object. I wanted it to be something that could be manipulated and that could easily its change appearance in different environments, just like my original three creatures.
Contextualization Poster Design
My concept posters for my final 3D object focus on the reinterpretation of animals from their physical forms into spiritual deities. My final poster was contextualised as advertising for an art exhibition called Totem, that would run during the Auckland Art Festival.
Kerryn Smith 2o14