Animal Spirit

Hey Guys !

Today I will give you a little presentation of an unfinished project I've started few years ago. I've been working on the "Animal Spirit" of different people, I started with myself but also used one of my friend as a model later on. Everyone has an animal spirit, the question is : Which animal represent more our personality ? I had this idea by working on another subject which I wasn't really pleased of anymore. I couldn't choose which animal I could be so I ask my friends and finally choose the black panther. I really like this animal for what it represents. Here is a small paragraph to explain to you the symbol of the black panther :

The black panther is here to remind you that although things are looking fairly dark now, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Alternatively, the appearance of this black panther can herald a period of uncertainty in your life. A feeling of not knowing which direction to turn or which path to take. If the black panther is your totem, you have a tendency to be an introvert and avoid large crowds and social activities. You are much happier in small groups or one on one situation. Now, I have to admit I don't suit the idea of the black panther perfectly but used it as a experience. I started by a drawing of myself next to a drawing of the panther.

Using different sharpeners and a normal 2B pencil I tried to create a relation between the panther and myself. The style of this sketch is mostly dreamy, we're not sure if the panther protects the girl or is about to attack her..

After, I completely mixed myself to the panther :

This is a really soft drawing, which is usually not my type but I wanted to change and give a sense of technical work to my coursework. I really love this drawing because of its emptiness, I didn't want to color it or give it more details because the less there is, the more mysterious it gets.

Moreover, I mixed everything together to get a "final piece". As I told you before, I never finished this project but here is a picture of its evolution :

This is a representation of the three steps of my work : the photography, the painting and the mix media. The mix media (on the right) is really mysterious, we can perceive some parts of my face, which remind my human part, but most of my face is surrounded by my "animal spirit". The fact that this mix of animal and human creature doesn't have eyes take out the reality part to let your imagination creates how would it be to see this creature in front of you.

The next step for me was to find another model to expand my idea. One of my friend agreed to be part of my art work. However, after a big change in my art classes, I didn't find the time to finish this part of my project. I will still share it with you :

I used the personality traits of my model to choose an animal to compare to him. After a huge hesitation I had the idea to mixed two kind of birds to finally find the animal that suits my model the most. My selection was a vulture and a condor which are both two opposite birds by their image however they still look the same. By mixing those two birds I obtained the two strongest part of my model's personality : The vanity and the strength of the condor with the sneaky side of the vulture. Working about relation between animals and humans pleased me a lot, I think I will try to expand this part of my work and may be, making a part 2 of this article. As I said before, everyone has an animal spirit, however it's always hard to find which animal suits you the most. Also, I always try to link art with psychology. In my opinion those two subjects create a mystic painting making the viewer asking himself why this painting, what do I feel. It actually create a link between the painting and the viewer. You finally reach the end of this article ! I hope you liked it, if you want to know more about animal spirits or want me to help you to find your own you can contact me, all my social networks are on the front page. Also, if you want me to talk about something in particular on my blog let me know ! Have a nice day!