Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.
Your Visual Response: Biology Inspired Impossible Creatures
Illustrate a children's topic on biology inspired but impossible creatures; design a topic cover that would visually summarize the topic's content
(write a short story that would go on the back side of your topic and then enhance your writing with visual representation that corresponds
to your writing). Consider functions your creatures could perform to survive in the demanding natural environments and obey physical laws.
Compare and contrast your creatures' performance with the requirements of their habitats. You may inspire yourself with various sources
such as myths, biology, and science to create an impossible creature, both entertaining and informative for the young audience. Imagine
your audience and target your design toward it; think how your illustration and design would impact your audience.
Figure 12 presents student's work on this theme
created in the “Digital Illustration” class:
room glows to attract animals in the dark.
Predators lie in wait, and the fungi get any left-
overs. Spores make you sleepy. Blind Bird lives
in caves; it has no color but has a special vibra-
tion-sensing beak that can be held against stone
to feel what is moving nearby. It is very maneuver-
able; can fly blind by clicking its beak.
Explanation of the characters: The creatures show
adaptations to environment and some specialized
senses that enhance their survival skills. Modern
Bat is flightless; it uses electric senses to ma-
nipulate electronics. It licks wing tips to make
them more conductive and can squeeze them into
tight spots. The Rock Eater is very slow, eats rocks
after dissolving them with its special saliva. Cat
Bird is like regular bird; special markings make
it look like a cat when it puffs up. Glowing Mush-
Apart from the nature inspired approach, you
may want to compare this project to a robot de-
sign. A free of charge educational programming
language named Karel after the Czech writer Karel
Čapek may be helpful here.
