May 2010
49 posts
Bibliography
Books
Dahl, R., 2007, Fantastic Mr Fox, 4th ed, London, Puffin.
Websites
Gray, L., 2009, Urban Fox Count: The Daily Telegraph launches study to count urban foxes, [Online]
Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/4862873/Urban-Fox-Count-The-Daily-Telegraph-launches-study-to-count-urban-foxes.html [Accessed 14 May, 2010]
Gray, L., 2009, Foxes being treated as ‘free pets’...
Evaluation
My brief for this project was to produce a series of illustrations, based on the subject of foxes. I chose to do this for two reasons. Firstly, I was keen to present foxes in their natural environments and in a positive way, i.e. not as pests and nuisances as they are often seen to be these days. Secondly, I wanted to do this in a way that would help me develop my own illustration style. Since...
Sketchbook...
Now that I’ve done the majority of my research, I will move onto developing my illustrations from my initial ideas in a sketchbook. I may post some reference images after this, but the majority of work will now be done in sketchbooks.
Rationale
Having complete all of my main research, I am now going to write my statement of intent, which will cover what I plan to do next in this project.
My research for this project consisted of watching a lot of video clips of foxes to see how they act first hand, reading a lot of articles on foxes and finding out different opinions about them and collecting a good number of reference images to begin...
Illustration Research Summary
I’ve noticed a pattern forming as I have been looking at fox illustrations. Firstly, the majority of the time, foxes are being presented as clever, cunning and sly animals. It’s not surprising that they are presented in this way as this is how foxes act in real life and how they are thought of. The second similarity between the illustrations is that in order to present foxes in this...
John W Golden
This fox illustration suits it’s title ‘the crooked fox’ a lot due to the long spindly legs and slanted ears. There is something crooked about foxes in real life too, they aren’t the most attractive animals and are often very skinny and have matted, patchy fur, however, there is still something cute and appealing about them - I think Golden has got this across perfectly...
WatchIssue 5 - Uppercase magazine
Matte Stephens
Whilst carrying out some research into contemporary illustration, I found a magazine called ‘uppercase’ which in this seasons issue, features a collection of illustrations of foxes. The front cover of the magazine (above) was created by illustrator, Matte Stephens. Matte has a collection of illustrations called ‘crafty fox’ so I suppose this is how he see’s foxes...
Jen Collins
Jen Collins is another Scottish artist who often uses animals in her illustrations, but I am particularly interested in her as she has produced some illustrations of foxes.
What I like about this piece by Jen is that she has incorporated a background which tells us something extra about this fox and allows us to imagine what is going on. Although the facial features aren’t really...
Lizzy Stewart
Lizzy Stewart is an illustrator based in Edinburgh and has a large collection of illustrations which have animals as the main subject.
Lizzy has a very apparent style of illustration - her rough, directional lines create great texture and are continuous through most of her illustrations. However I also think she has a subtle way of capturing and manipulating the character of an animal....
Traditional Wildlife Illustration
Mike Hughes
Mike Hughes is a British illustrator who has recently produced a series of wildlife illustrations. Although he has only been illustrating for the past 10 years, his work has a very traditional look about it from the attention to detail to the earthy colours and material (acryic and oil paints) used in his work.
I think that Mike’s Work has a very traditional and...
By creating a set of initial fox illustrations, I was able to discover how to draw the basic form of the fox. However, now my aim is to give the fox character and a personality, but before I attempt this, I will look at traditional and contemporary illustration to see how illustrators have achieved what I am trying to achieve in my illustrations.
Illustrating
Now that I have conducted my initial research, I feel like I know the direction in which this project is heading and I am ready to begin illustrating. I will do so by looking at reference images first and then as I become more confident and used to the shape and structure on the fox, I will start to draw from memory and by looking at previous illustrations which will hopefully bring out an...
Appearance
Now that I have carried out research into the general life and character of a fox, it’s important that I research into a foxes appearance and collect a lot of reference images as I will need to know all of their common features and variations etc.
Fox Dens
During the day foxes usually shelter in their earths or dens. Some cities have some natural fox habitats such as parks, cemeteries and railway embankments. Foxes are territorial creatures and the availability of habitat and food will tend to control their population naturally. In large cities, fox earths can be found under sheds, in cellars or in any other quiet place whereas in more rural areas,...
Rural Foxes
Although I have a lot of photos of rural foxes, the majority of information about them is the same as that about urban foxes as they are fundamentally the same animal, they just live in different locations. I think this could be a key point to my illustrations - I could present the fox in both habitats but essentially it won’t change the fox’s behaviour or character.
Rural Foxes
Images from http://my.opera.com/SittingFox/albums/show.dml?id=234601
Meet the Foxes: Channel 4
Meet the foxes is a cutting edge documentary, first broadcast in 2008, which uses footage of urban foxes to demonstrate the typical experiences of British urban foxes and tells the story of a year in the life of a virtual fox family as they try to survive in London. The documentary shows the foxes living off rubbish, mating, being trapped and even being shot.
”Part wildlife film and...
An Insight into Fox and Human Interaction →
Urban Fox Hunt →
Urban Foxes
Foxes first colonised the UK’s cities in the 1930s. At that time, land was cheap and large areas of suburbs were built leading up to WW2. The low density housing, with gardens, built in these suburbs provided an ideal habitat for foxes and they started to increase in number rapidly. From these suburbs, foxes then moved to more urban and less favourable areas.
Foxes in urban areas cause a...
Habitats
Foxes live in both urban and rural areas but there is no real difference between urban and rural foxes. Not only are they the same species, they are often the same animal, i.e. urban foxes are just as healthy, the same size, and just as fit as rural foxes. The only thing that differs is their connection with humans which I will explore more over the next few posts…
Other Interpretations and Connotations...
The term “foxy” in English is defined as meaning “attractive” and “sexy”, as well as “red-haired”. And “to outfox” means “to beat in a competition of wits”, the synonym of “outguess”, “outsmart” or “outwit”.
In early Sumerian mythology, the fox is the messenger of a goddess. This could...
The Fox and the Crow - An Aesop's Fable
A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its beak and settle on a branch of a tree. “That’s for me, as I am a Fox,” said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the tree. “Good-day, Mistress Crow,” he cried. “How well you are looking today, how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds, just as your figure does; let me...
The Character of a Fox
Foxes are stereotypically thought of as being sly, cunning and clever - which is true. Even the dictionary definition of cunning use the fox as am example.
In many cultures, the fox appears in folklore as a symbol of trickery, however, the fox never appears as a symbol of evil which I think is a very interesting point - the fox is simply appreciated for it’s intelligence.
A Brief Overview of Foxes
Foxes are small carnivorous animals which come from the canidae (canine/dog) family. Foxes are slightly smaller than an average sized dog and are recognised by their long snout and bushy tail. The most common species of fox is the red fox and is found on most continents. Foxes can live for up to ten years, however, due to hunting (which has now been banned with dogs) and road accidents, they...
Initial Research Points
It is important that I have an idea of what I’m going to research and discover my own point of view before I begin anything, therefore, I have produced a list of issues surrounding foxes from which I will then pick points which interest me and which I think could be major factors for this project:
Life:
growing up
character
building families
habitats
natural dangers
survival
...
Text to Contextualise Interest in the Brief
Taken from http://www.thefoxwebsite.org/faq/urbanfoxes.html
Context
I have chosen to illustrate foxes for two main reasons. The first reason is my interest in the topic - foxes. Growing up in the countryside and moving to the city has given me ample opportunity to live alongside these animals and form my own opinion about them, as well as noting other people’s opinion. With the help of the media and first hand experience over the years, my interest in foxes...
Brief
I am going to produce a series of illustrations, based on foxes.
