Final year II

And...now you get the second part of the promised post!! :D

After I visited a parrot breeder, different bird parks and bird of prey centers, the collection of the biodiversity center Naturalis and of course the Clinic for Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish in Giessen. And making the first sketches to portray the birds I also had to study the important parts: The urogenital-systems of the blue-fronted amazon and the saker falcon.

Not only I had to see these parts to illustrate them in the correct way, but I even had to see them in their different states. First you have the juvenile urogenital-systems: That's when the birds never had been sexually active before. Then you have the active and the inactive urogenital-systems: That's when the birds are sexually active at the time of breeding season or not active because it is not their breeding season. Their sexual organs do change, active = bigger and inactive = smaller.
These anatomical illustrations have never been produced before so I had nearly no books I could rely on. That meant that I had to do many dissections to prepare the sketches for my illustrations.









For the representative of the Psittaciformes shown I chose the blue-fronted amazon because it is a common pet parrot in Germany. That gave me easier access to specimens of this kind. To illustrate a falcon and not another parrot species was important, because there is a big difference in the anatomy of the females of falcons, hawks and kiwis and females of other bird species. Due to evolutionary reasons most female birds just have only one functional ovary (the left one), connected to an oviduct. Kiwis, hawks and falcons have two. So that was an important aspect to illustrate.





Two anatomical sketches made during dissection.

Final Year I

So.... now you get the promised post about my final year!

It all started with a video on the internet. It showed part of a short documentary about a new method to inseminate birds which was used in the Loro Parque Foundacion. Since I grew up with two ornithologists/nature photographers I was hook in an instance. A brand new scientific project about birds and how to protect bird species with it. AND there were no illustrations produced so far for it. Just perfect!!
So I contacted the LOF in Tenerife and after a few mails and calls my application got forwarded to Prof. Michael Lierz from the Giessen University who actually developed the new method with his research group.
A few more calls later I was happy that I could look forward to start my final project in september 2013 in Giessen.

In september I started with studying the birds (and their urogenital systems) I would portray. I visited a parrot breeder, different bird parks and bird of prey centers, the collection of the biodiversity center Naturalis and ofcourse the Clinic for Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish in Giessen.






But before I got to my finished illustrations I had to make many sketches:



The Pelvis of an amazon parrot





and the skeleton of an amazon parrot (without and with the sternum)





First sketches of the urogenital system of the femal saker falcon.

10.000 is the number!

10.000 is my number of the day. 10.000 views since I started this blog! Just to bad that in the last couple of months I didn't write as much as I wanted to do.
But.... to sum everything up which happened in the last few months:

I finished my Masters degree and... after enjoying the summer for about a few weeks...it finally hit me: I am not a student any more!! I won't go back to academy after this summer!!
And I panicked... more or less. First I just didn't know what to do and after a while I still didn't know what to do.
Lucky for me I already had some kind of new assignment AND I had to get my administration together. When I was engaged with these things it made it easier to look for new clients, jobs etc.
But what I did do is to re-correct my master thesis and get a re-print of it.
And since I never posted a single finished illustration of it, here you go:

In the next post I will go into the details of making these illustrations and how that year was for me. But if you can't wait until then there is already a pdf version of it online.
BUT *drum roll* I am working on a brand new website which will include an animated view of my book so that you can turn pages etc. And until then I hope to have finished another bird-project I am working on just now!!

Next to that I am working on some other very nice personal and not personal pieces and projects. The personal ones I will use to participate more in various competitions! A great article by Donato about that can be found on Muddy Colors!! If you don't already follow that blog I tell you know to do so!!

And as a preview for the upcoming blog post the sketch of one of my personal projects:

Deadline is near

....for handing in my final exam! And you can bet that I am quite stressed out about it. Now it is just about finishing everything in time and make it all come together. That is also why I have put my shop (and designing the new layout for it) on pause.

I thought it is time to show you some sketches and wip's! Here we go:

What you see would be a sketch of a saker falcon, some sketches of blue-fronted amazon's and the 'under-drawing' of one and the nearly done illustration of the other blue-fronted amazon. They will be used for different things in my publication (e.g. introduction...).
The rest will consist of anatomical illustrations, in-vivo and isolated urogenital system and a manual of collecting the semen and inseminating. More details soon! ;)

Sign of life or... Happy New Year!

Didn't I tell you in the last post how things are planned but sometimes don't work out....?? Yup....so much about posting regularly again.
The reason is my final exam. Although I am moving on more slowly than I planned (again....hff) it consumes most of my time and now I even have to go faster.


At the same time I am working on a new layout for Morlo's World - the Fb page as well as the Etsy-shop - and some new Morlos. So I hope there will be some updates there as well.
Besides these things we are still working on our home. There are still the tiny (or last things) to be fixed e.g. painting the old stairs in a new colour or get the garden ready for spring as well as some tiny improvements in my workspace.
For the rest of the time I am just trying not to panic because I have to hand in my publication in about....MARCH allready. Can somebody hand me a paperbag...hfhfhf!!!



But here are - as some kind of starting the big update flood which I promised the last time - some hand drawings with the hand-skeletons. This is part of our Master and we had to draw many more hands to be abple to draw them okay in the future. Hands are a pretty important thing if you are going to illustrate in the medical field ;)

Flood

So i had this idea to just try to post everything from the summer until now in chronological order in a few entries.
Yeah...hm... sometimes you plan things... and it just does not work out that way ;)
At the moment I am overflooded with new and exciting and interesting things which are happening arround me!
That's why I decided to just post everything when it's done or whenever feel lik it and I hope that the past illustrations and back then exciting news will be all posted until december.



This is a new illustration of a red-backed shrike and the second illustration from the 'peekaboo' (temporary title) series. It is also published in my second bird series on behance: Birds II
There you can also see a new illustration of a hoopoe for a spanish agency.

Hope to be able to update soon with my old academy assignments and maybe even some new stuff.

But for now just a picture of me and Lima the Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle in Hellenthal.



I went to Hellenthal a great station for bird of prey in the Eifel in Germany to do some research and get some references for my master publication. There I could follow a day-long workshop on bird of prey and falconers. That's how I got to know Lima and even had a go in traning together with a harris hawk named Cora.

Long time no see

Hei guys,

I had quite a busy summer. Because of that I had to abandon my blog and some other pages for some time. But I am back now!!!

To get you back on track:

I finished the sheep illustration and went on with two rat illustrations :) One in colourpencil (which you can see right here) and one in line which still has to go through some minor corrections and will be shown in the next entry.

After that I finished an anatomy assignment which is still being digitalized and a spread about the 'Double opozing z-plastic' which still awaits correction of the surgeon we worked with.
As soon as everything is ready to be shown I will post it here :)
Next to finishing my last assignments I moved together with my boyfriend in an old house which wasn't renovated since the 50's. Now I have my own workroom with enough space for all my stuff. A single workplace for digital drawing, traditional drawing and sewing ;) Pictures the next time!! :D

After I was just done with all of that I started my final exam at the clinic for birds, reptilians, amphibians and fish in Gießen (Germany). I got to do what I wanted to do: to illustrate a publication about the arteficial insamination of birds using the example of parrots and birds of prey. So I get to draw cool birds :P

I hope to be able to update the blog soon! With the remaining assignments and maybe some final exam sketches. Stay tuned!




PS: There is a new about section on my website!!

My little sheep

So.....I finally finished this assignment for my study. This is my second animal we had to dissect and illustrate. Ofcourse I didnt't dissect a whole sheep (although I nearly bought a whole sheep by accident - still wonder how I would have brought it home with me on my bike :P) but I got a sheeps brain which is a quite common specimen to dissect. Since I was interested in the brain nerves and the eye movement I made this.
Other assignments are coming very very soon!!

Way too much happening right now!!

My mum always says " If something is going to happen it will be very likely that everything is going happen at the same time."

So true, so true (mums are always right anyway :P).

At the moment I don't know where to start with. It is probably the best to start with what allready HAS happened:





A new creation!! This is Albert the MORUNCULUS!! As you can see a Morunculus is a more or less further developed Morlo. They turned to the upright walk and clothing! :)
This ones name is Albert (best pronounced the french way). He likes waffles with strawberries in the morning and insists on having an afternoon coffee-break with a different cake every day. As you can see he has a bit of a sweet tooth (I already told him that if his pants don't fit him anymore he has to make one himself!!) But I got him interested in fruit so hopefully this will be a healthy addition.

I hope that I will be able to show you more Morunculi this year. Albert is what you could call a protoype. As you can see in the next pictures he is slightly posable but I would have liked it to be more. This one will not be for sale since he didn't fully turn out as I expected AND I always like to keep the first of its kind (Morlo, Mini/Baby Morlo and now Morunculus). So if you are interested in buying posable Morunculi stay tuned.

Now I will tell you about all the stuff which is happening right now:

Right now I am preparing for an exhibition in Germany (Halberstadt im Harz). My first exhibition *yeah* :D
It is the 'MoVo - Moderne Vogelmaler' (Modern Birdpainters) and everybody participating has the chance to win the 'Silberne Uhu' (Silver Eagle Owl) as award. I figured that it was time to dare to sign up for one or two competitions this (and maybe every) year. That was my hint in my post "This year will be exciting.

You are probably curious which drawings will be displayed :)
They picked

You can have a closer look at these illustrations in the blogposts Bearded Bird, The Blue Tit and Three little Puffins. I am very happy that three illustrations were chosen. The exhibition will take place in June and I look forward to tell you guys everything about it.


Due to all this happening it could seem as if my final exam has taken a back seat. But it's not like that at all. I hope to be able to post some more details about my project this month. Before (and after) that I will work my ass off to make everything go down as smooth as possible!!! :D

PS: Four more Morlos to come. All finished just waiting to get good pictures taken and descriptions written!!!

PPS: Got featured on Drawing Served with my illustrations of the skeleton and abdomen :) Thanks to the person responsible for that!

Deer skull and some good news

So I finally really get a hold on my to-do-list :)



This is one of my academy assignments. This should have been finished way earlier but....gnah... sometimes time is not your best friend.

But I am working as hard as I can to finish everything in time :). Should have everything done by summer since I will start with a really cool final exam project (yeah!) then!!!! :D

The deer skull is one of the two assignments I was talking about in the last posts. The other one is about the sheeps brain and eye-movement and should be finished this or next week. Then it is just a handful of really big assignemnts.... hff... but it is better to get your ass moving instead of sulking about how much is still left to do :P Then nothing would happen and you would have even less time to get it done. You better just start without thinking about how much is still ahead of you! (that's how it works for me).

Probably going to post some sketches in the next days. Has been a while since I did that. After that hopefully my new Morlos (all finished, just waiting to get a nice photoshoot) and then just what I am able to fill in my tight agenda :)

More to come

I am still busy like a bee :) and although it is a heavy workload it is also quite nice. In two days I will be able to post the finished version of the Puffin illustration (Three little puffins). Hopefully I will be able to show some assignments as I am currently working on a refined drawing of a buck skull and a poster about the sheeps brain in relationship to the sheeps eye and the sensory eye movement (quite a big project ;) ).

So much about my illustrations for academy or for some competitions....

My plushie-online shop got featured by a french website a while ago and I am very thankful for that :) I hope to update the site in the next week. I am looking forward to introduce three new Morlos to my loyal followers and soon I will even introduce a new creature. The Morunculus!!!

And now something inspirational:



a cinematic live dance experience called SEIZURE.

WIP - Three little Puffins

As mentioned in the last post I rarely have the time to write or post anything at the moment. I am very busy, I am sorry for my readers.

But today I couldn't resist to show you a little bit of a private project I am working on right now:



Still working my butt of for the school assignemnts, the contests and for my online shop "Morlo's World". Some new Morlos can be seen there soon!!

2013 will be exciting

2013 started out very exciting which is also part of the reason I rarely spend my time posting new art or writing new posts here in my blog...

First thing is that I have some very very exciting assignments at the moment... as soon as they are finished I will post them and write about them here :)

Second exciting news are that I will start to apply for my final exam (Masterpublication) this week. There is one very exciting place where I would love to go, but it is quite famous in Europe, so a lot of people will try to get in there ... I just hope they never had someone from a programm like mine and that they like my work so far and that they would like to work with me!!!!

And last but not least I will try to take part in some competitions this year. One is a national one (Germany) and one international one!! Following a post about competitions on "Muddy Colors" by Greg Manchess I thought it would be time to get myself out there!!!!

Bee-eaters

Or: still training my skills in drawing birds and still not succeding fully. I find it mesmerizing that, although I can see I get better and better in drawing in general, there is still so much to learn and so far to go.

It is awesome to be on this journey and being a student forever. There is always something to get better in, something to do different. A few years ago I kinda had that idea that someday you would 'arrive' somewhere where you know 'ok, that's it. I am there...'. But now I rather think that you will never have that moment as an artist or maybe I even hope it.

Btw. these are two bee-eaters. Some of the most colourful birds we have in Europe and I am very happy that I was able to observe them myself in Southern Germany close to the french border.

Digestive system of the rat

This is my illustration with legend for the digestive system of the rat we had to do. First we had to diesct a rat ourselves and decide which system we would like to visualize. I decided, as you can see, in favour of the digestive system:

Olecranonosteotomy II

NOW: This is finally the colour illustration of my self dissected specimen.
It shows an olecranonosteotomy of a left arm. It was quite difficult to dissect it and to get the perspective right in the drawing etc. I had to clean up lots of 'stuff' in the drawing to shape it into something logic.
I am quite satisfied how it turned out. Since I have experience in colourpencil but NEVER ever used this technic I am even more happy that I managed to get all the colour right.

I showed you the sketch in an earlier post:

BW-sketch

Workspace

This week a fellow student took a picture of me in our academy because one of my docents thought it was quite a view how I arranged everything arround me:





I thought these are good to show how I work:

You can see me (with new haircut ;)) working on the colour illustration of the olecranonosteotomy. To the right I have the black and white 'sketch' as well as some notes and an actual photograph, which is blurred out for different reasons. Between my colourpencil box and the black and white drawing you can see some colour tests (I pinned it to the drawing with the top of the box), then, quite visible my big box of colour pencils, next to it all my normal/usual pencils and pens and the rest is, books, tea and water. You have to stay hydrated!!

Olecranonosteotomy

This is the black and white drawing (aka "sketch" for my docents) of my self dissected specimen.
It shows an olecranonosteotomy of a left arm. It was quite difficult to dissect it and to get the perspective right in the drawing etc. I had to clean up lots of 'stuff' in the drawing to shape it into something logic. I am quite satisfied how it turned out.

As I said in the beginning officially it is a sketch: for a full colour drawing/painting. We were allowed to do it in watercolour or any other coloured medium. I decided to do it in colourpencil and hope that it turns out ok.

WIP

A sneak peak of a new drawing. For the first time I tried to use the technics I learned in my Master Programme in a free illustration. Hope to be able to finish it this week and to start a new one before Academy starts again in 2,5 weeks.

Insight II.

I am still moving forward.Last week with high speed, this week (since it is official vacation time here) a little bit slower. But I got the okay to work on a lot of assignments this summer :). Hopefully I will be able to finish most of them, so that I am again on track with my study plan.

I am so happy that I finally finished the second part of the Somso-modell:

It is the second out of three illustrations. The one before was this one: http://ankatsart.blogspot.de/2012/05/to-get-insight.html and the third will be an ink-drawing from the very first illustration. So stay tuned!! :)



And for some 'out of academy' inspiration:

I, pet goat II from Heliofant on Vimeo.