The Lure of the Stag

The Brief

Consider and identify what a journey could be. After a full brainstorm & thorough research, select a journey and illustrate it in an appropriate and compelling way.

Stu the Rabbit

This was my Final Major Project brief. My chosen journey was 'a journey through the woods'. I'm a country girl at heart. I've spent most of my life riding horses through forests; you see much more of the world from the back of a horse, wild animals don't run away so quickly, and you don't speed past the scenery at the pace you do in a car. 

Colin the Crow

I had to convince my tutors that this did constitute a proper journey; I mean, to me it was as good as any journey, but to them drawing trees and wildlife didn't quite cut it. So I wrote a story, the journey of a man who gets lost both physically and spiritually in the woods and of the creatures he encounters there:

"The journey from town to home is six miles of forest; just six miles, six miles long. But all it takes to lose your soul, is one footstep wrong. 

You go under the trees of a thousand faces, leering down at you with thick twisted malice, the trapped travellers who trod these tracks before you. You shiver as their hollow eyes follow your progress not seeing, but knowing your frailty. This upright and noble man, never stumbled, never sinned, is heading home to his wife. He's had a hard day of boxes and charts; he's had a hard life, of very few delights. "

Instead of conventional illustration, you know, pictures on pages, I chose to build models of the animals. I was working towards a scene that would fit a window display, as well as being applied (through photos) into a book form. The models are made out of wire and papier-mache. 

Jack the Fox

I also made twenty five moths out of wire and tissue paper. These were all hand stitched and took me an hour each! I'm not a massively patient person, but I just worked on them in the evenings whilst watching the tv. For the photos I attached them to fairy lights so that they glowed. 

 

In the end I painted a backdrop of a wood on my set, and these were the images I went with, but I also took my animals out for some fresh air.

Sally the Stag 

I've had the book made up by Blurb, and it is pretty swish if I do say so myself. You can preview it below, and, if you like it or want to read the whole story, you can even purchase your own copy.

The Lure of the Stag by Hannah Harding | Make Your Own Book