Hi all,
There is so much happening in Auckland at the moment. Its like the last available month of decent weather has multiple activities all over town available to the willing.

Last week I went to ZooMusic. I'm a bit of a fan of Pluto (this won't be the last you hear me mention them...lol) and they were the featured band along with Mint Chicks. So I decided to turn the experience into a bit of an excursion. Turned up at the Zoo a bit early and set about taking photos and doing some sketches.

Sketching animals is super fun! I am going to buy myself a years Friends of the Zoo pass so I can go whenever I like and practice. I would have liked to have finished sketching the elephant, except when a elephant walks away there is no convincing him otherwise ;) What to do? Sketch of his backside as he walks away!


In the examples from my book, the Rhino is essentially a large rectangle with a smaller rectangle on a 45degree angle (the head).
The flamingos are ovals - or even better, eggs. Eggs are dimensional rather than flat so seeing them that way makes it easier to show their form with shadow and highlight.
The elephant, a combination of rectangles and squares. Even his backside is a square with the corners chopped off.

Try it, it's easier than you think!


This journal spread:
Left side - Pre-washed background, animals sketches, photos and notes, piece of bark tied to the page.
Center insert - Zoo Music advertising eyeleted and attached to the spine.
Right side - Pre-washed background, notes, a sketch of the harsh late afternoon shadows from the line of people waiting to get in, photos of the band and photo of late night dinner at GPK.

Note: Bombay Pizza from GPK is the best - Indian spiced chicken, red onions, cashews (!), mango chutney, yoghurt, coriander and....banana. Fantastic surprising combo of flavours.

By the way, I stayed for a bit of the Mint Chicks but really Pluto is where its at. Music must accompany this post! ....

Labels: Great-Places-Auckland-Region, Journal-Pages, Restaurant-Review, Sketching, Sketching-Tips