Initial Observation Sketches & Rough Digital Drawings to Practice Forms
- imogenwest98
- Feb 15, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 26, 2021
Despite completing various projects across my time at uni that have incorporated different elements of nature and animals, monkeys and orangutans specifically, are not something I have come to draw before - this is one of many reasons as to why I decided to work towards the Orangutan Foundation brief, opposed to the Penguin one.
Where wanting to gain some initial practice and understanding of different orangutan forms, shapes and features, I produced some initial sketches inspired by secondary research and imagery online.
To me, when I think of orangutans, I picture their bright orange fussy fur and generally quite relaxed, 'lazy' facial expressions. Through research I have learnt that orangutans spent the majority of their lives in trees, so I wanted to ensure I began sketches briefly focusing on this.
Where they may spend a lot of time in the trees, orangutans certainly also spend some of their time sitting on the floor. Again, I completed these sketches from secondary sourced images. Whilst drawing these sketches of the sitting and slumped orangutans, it made me recognise that this is how I have often seen other monkeys appear behind the glass and bars within zoos. The Orangutan Foundation represent the protection of orangutans and their habitats, and protecting the fundamental relationship they have where being necessary for their ecosystem - orangutans are to be free, and the sketches drawn below somehow didnt remind me of this.
Having sketched orangutans in the trees and sitting, I wanted to also briefly sketch a potentially further form of them standing and / or walking on all-fours and then again sitting. I decided to take this approach digitally, just to give myself some initial practice and understanding of ways in which I could develop the forms of orangutans.
Producing these sketches digitally also allowed me to start analysing initial practice of colour, and ways in which i could represent the beauty of the orangutans fluffy, orange fur.
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