I see faces- Artist research

I struggled to find gif based artwork similar to what I wanted to create, so I looked simply at static artwork of a similar nature.

Whilst looking at ways to develop my bear character into a hand rendered format I looked at the work of several practitioners, my favourite of which were Lizzie Mackay and Julia Pott, who both anthropomorphised bears through adding clothes, but in very different ways. Mackay uses flat colour and simple shapes, whilst Pott creates depth and character though pencil work. I really like how Pott portrays her characters through cohesion in the media used for both the bear and the clothes, and I would love to emulate this in my work.

What I like:

- Character given through simple, set emotions

- Additions of human clothing/accessories fairly crudely put on add humour

- Block colour and line create a playful and quirky outcome

How this has influenced my practise:

- Made me think about ways to add human attributes to my work, such as rosy cheeks and detailed eyes

- Has made me think more about placement of colour and how it balances on the page

- Gave me new ways of thinking about how to put clothes on animals

- Made me realise how necessary it can be to simplify drawings, especially when translating them to gif form, as many frames will be needed-meaning I will need to simplify my designs before I create my final drawings

Own work

Julia Pott

Dominique Le Bagousse

Lizzie Mackay