Zaika 4

Elephant's Body

I've chosen to create a picture of an Asian looking elephant that will be covered in henna designs. However whilst flicking through pictures of Indian elephants I thought that the elephants didn't look feminine enough which wouldn't suit the henna theme. Henna is heavily associated with femininity as in Asia it is mainly used by girls to decorate and embellish themselves. The elephants have quite small ears which is the main place I was imagining to draw my designs. To me the large humped forehead doesn't appear very girly nor aesthetically pleasing. Because of these reasons I've decided not to focus on Indian elephants and look at African elephants instead.

After looking at images of African elephants I was happy that they would be focus of my image. I've researched various pictures which contain the full body so that I can observe exactly how the body looks and how it looks in different angles. I intend to illustrate a full bodied elephant therefore these pictures are helpful as references. I think I will considering to design my elephant in a facing forward composition rather than putting it to its side, this is because it'll be a décor image after all therefore facing the customers will hopefully attract more attention to itself. Although I may have to tilt the body to a side slightly as whilst the elephant is facing forward there won't be as much surface space to draw my henna designs on whereas if its tilted then I can use it's back and stomach as well as its legs and face.