As most people close to me know, one of the main inspiations on my creativity and practice as an Illustrator is nature in all its forms. I am particularly fascinated by plants and micro organisms and often find myself spending a lazy afternoon wondering around my local Cambridge Botanical Gardens, taking reference photos, sketching and documenting the transformation of the plant life here over different seasons throughout the year.
This summer has been no exception and my recent trip has provided me with so much inspiration regarding shapes, textures and patterns in nature.
Patterns in Nature: - Cambridge Botanical Gardens, Summer 2015
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Photography is another love of mine (other than my illustration practice) and this technique/process lends itself well to the documentation of patterns within nature. I particularly love to use macro lenses in order to capture all those tiny, often minute, details we all tend to miss at first glance. I also like how macro photography provides me with a new, mush closer range within a cropped frame - this for some reason really helps me compositionally when setting up and capturing the subject in hand.
Examples of my own macro photography:
I plan on collating as much reference imagery as I can from now until the end of my degree course. Now is the time where I can really strengthen my body of sources, to be in the best position for tackling new briefs and coming up with new concepts / ideas after university. I am sure many of these images will come in handy for future briefs on this course and in my future practice.
