shantell: Foreshortened raven staring at viewer with head cocked to the side (Default)
2018-02-07 11:54 am

Stop Motion Animation

My next major project has been announced, and I already have ideas on what I want to do.

I was inspired a couple of weeks ago by this video of a snowy owl chilling out on a frozen lake:



I want to do something based upon this idea. I'm tentatively calling it "Ookpik," and would like to have throat singing as background sound, mixed in with the sounds of wind and water. I'd like to incorporate elements of old-timey puppet show/operetta effects. Something along this line:

wave props

But instead of water, I'm thinking of doing water-colour painted blocks of ice, which will be moved up and down.

I'm looking into whether there are owl songs in tradition Inuit throat singing.
shantell: Foreshortened raven staring at viewer with head cocked to the side (Default)
2017-09-09 08:27 pm
Entry tags:

Of a Feather: Research and Inspiration

What is a bird?


  • According to Merriam Webster, a bird is "any of a class (Aves) of warm-blooded vertebrates distinguished by having the body more or less completely covered with feathers and the forelimbs modified as wings."


[Bird in flight by santabamba.com]

What makes a bird a bird?


  • Birds are vertebrates.
  • Birds have feathers.
  • Birds have wings.
  • Birds have bills.
  • Birds are warm-blooded.
  • Birds have high metabolisms.
  • Birds are bipedal.
  • Birds have a furcula (wishbone).
  • Birds lay eggs.
  • Birds communicate verbal and nonverbal sounds.
  • Birds migrate.
  • (From What is a bird?)




Who have they inspired?




[Frillback Pigeon]



[The Wright Brothers]



[Spirit Nest]

Peregrination to Toronto


On Saturday, September 9, 2017, I travelled to the University of Toronto's Biodiversity Teaching Lab to draw and photograph biological specimens. I was immediately attracted to the cabinets filled with birds and bird parts.

Here are some of the specimens I photographed:












I set up a work station and chose some specimens to draw.


I ended up doing two drawings.