VISUAL DISTORTION - Visual distortion

This exercise is designed to push you through a deliberate process of stylisation. Tackle it

with an open mind and be prepared to adapt or adopt some of the approaches you

discover.

Begin by drawing a cat or dog. Use reference from any source – life, photos or images

from the internet. Draw the animal in a way that makes it ‘real’. Remember to describe

some aspect of its appearance or personality.

Do a second drawing using no more than five lines. These lines can join up with each

other and overlap or can be less connected; they can be straight or fluid.

Now make a collage from bits cut from a magazines and printouts. Let the texture of a

tree be the fur for example. Have fun introducing surreal elements. Deliberately distort.

How far can you bend reality?

Produce a drawn version (not a tracing) of your collage. When drawing, edit and select

from the collage being aware of the properties you want to create a strong character.

Review the distorted version and decide how you can refine the image.

This image can now be incorporated into a bigger image. Use your imagination and

introduce at least one other element that introduces a narrative. Be creative but

consistent in the development and rendering of this additional content.

Tazzy the Jack-a-bee dog

I've decided to draw our family dog, Tazzy. Tazzy is a mix of a Beagle and a Jack Russell (Jack-a-bee). Due to the combination of these two breeds, she is hyperactive and friendly and can be quite serious when focused on something she can chase!

I drew Tazzy's head from the photo using pencils.

Five lines

This was my first attempt to draw Tazzy with just five lines.

This was a lot harder than I thought, and I spent the whole page doodling more sketches with only five lines.

I labelled the lines and found that the best one I produced was the one where I used only one line. I felt the images were more fluid when I didn't take my pen off the paper. (See below.)

I felt that Tazzy was a happier dog, almost cartoon-like.

Collage

I then composed a collage from magazines. This was a fitting tribute to Tazzy because her pastime is food! I used only food magazines to create the college as this was all I had available. I was quite surprised with the outcome as it gave me ideas on distorting her eyes, nose, and ears.

Final

The original photo showed Tazzy sitting in the car after running after a bird. I thought putting her in an aeroplane would be funny, still chasing the bird. To add an African narrative, I decided to add a giraffe eating in the clouds and being surprised to see a dog chasing a bird in the sky.

This time, Tazzy is more aggressive and focused on catching the bird, so she doesn't realise a giraffe is in the sky. I made her ear longer and more exaggerated as I painted the picture with watercolours to show how fast she could go to catch the bird.

Reflection

This exercise was quite challenging because I wasn't sure if I had distorted the image enough by the end of the task. During the collage part of the exercise, I got lost and wasn't sure if distorting the eyes and the nose was sufficient. I felt that changing too much would completely alter the image, and Tazzy's character would be lost. I wanted to maintain Tazzy's personality, but at the same time, I wanted to show that Tazzy was willing to go to great lengths to chase a bird. I distorted the reality, but perhaps not Tazzy enough.