I was thinking about the illustrative style to use when producing the images of my two jokers..... i remebered ben saying to consider using blocks of colour and geometric shapes, as is often used in the work of more contemporary illustrators. I noticed this pattern of owls on a dress which belongs to my sister, (which i photogaphed,) and thought it was particulaly interesting.

The body of the owl has been simplified into a singular block of colour, with a pattern added over the top to suggest feathers. The eyes are then depicted in two large staring circles with smaller circles inside to show pupils . I could certainly use a style like this to illustrate the jormungandr and quetzalcoatl.

Photograph of a bird featured on a oriental china plate

I found an oriental style china plate which has some illustrations of mythical beasts on it (which i have photographed). The illustrations feature a bird, serpent, a dragon (of some description - i think) and what looks to be a turtle. They are produced only in a limited palette of blues, greens, reds and purples with a gold trim. The style is typically oriental - decorative and inticately patterned, which is a feature i really like. I thought the serpent was interesting, particularly the manner in which the scales are depicted on it's body.

Photograph of serpent featured on an oriental style china plate

I really like the strong flowing lines of these illustrations and flat, block areas of colour.

Photograph of a dragon (or is it a lion?) featured on an oriental style china plate.

These images provide a useful reference point when developing the illustrations of my two jokers and the four top cards in my card suit. They could also be useful when considering the four card suit symbols.

Following the idea of using feathers as a basis for one of the symbols of my four card suits, i decided to take some photographs of a pheasent feather which i found when i was out walking my dog. This (and some peacock feathers which i had) will hopefully be a useful find as it allows me to get some direct reference from life as a pose to using other peoples photographs or images.

For my 4 card suits i was thinking of having characteristics of my chosen mythical beasts, i wanted the card suits to be related to features of each of my mythical beasts in some manner. I was intially thinking of having talons, feathers and scales, but was unsure of what the fourth suit should be.
Talons and feathers are a feature of the Quetzalcoatl, Gamayun, and firebird
Talons could also be a feature of the jormungandr and rainbow serpent
Scales are a feature of the jormungandr, jengu and rainbow serpent

Having done some research into images of lizards, and spending some time drawing them, i came up with the idea of having my fourth suit as lizard eyes. This would then relate to the Jormungandr, rainbow serpent, quetzalcoatl and even possibly the jengu depending on how i decide to illustrate her.

I decided to research some images of the above so i could come up with some simplified versions to use as symbols for my card suits.

This is a very detailed photograph of a feather, Although an image like ythis is far to complex to use as a symbol, it provides some interesting information about the structure of a feather, which may be useful at some point...

I thought this image was particularly good at revealing the general shape of a feather, which is what i need when considering how i might simplify a feather into a symbol.

Finally, i thought this image would be useful because it shows several different shapes of feathers,

Very little informantion availible on the internet about my chosen myhtical creatures, i did manage to find this story about the rainbow serpent.

Far off in Dreamtime, there were only people, no animals or birds, no trees or bushes, no hills or mountains.


The country was flat. Goorialla, the great Rainbow Serpent, stirred and set off to look for his own tribe. He travelled across Australia from South to North. He reached Cape York where he stopped and made a big red mountain called Naralullgan. He listened to the wind and heard only voices speaking strange languages.

This is not my country, the people here speak a different tongue. I must look for my own people. Goorialla left Naralullgan and his huge body made a deep gorge where he came down. He travelled North for many days and his tracks made the creeks and rivers as he journeyed North. Goorialla made two more mountains, one of the Naradunga was long made of granite, the other had sharp peaks and five caves and was called, Minalinha. One day Goorialla heard singing and said, "Those are my people, they are holding a big Bora." At the meeting place of the two rivers, Goorialla found his own people singing and dancing. He watched for a long time, then he came out and was welcomed by his people. He showed the men how to dress properly and taught them to dance. A big storm was gathering, so all the people built humpies for shelter.

Two young men, the bil-bil or Rainbow Lorikeet brothers came looking for shelter but no one had any room. They asked their grandmother, the Star Woman but she had too many dogs and couldn't help them. the Bil-bil brothers went to Goorialla who was snoring in his humpy but he had no room. The rain got heavier and the boys went back to Goorialla and called out that the rain was heavy. Goorialla said, "All right come in now." The Bil-bil bothers ran into Goorialla's mouth and he swallowed them. Then he began to worry about what the people would say when they found the boys missing. He decided to travel North to Bora-bunaru, the only great natural mountain in the land. Next morning the people found that the boys were gone and saw the tracks of Goorialla and knew that he had swallowed them.
You may never see these lakes or mountains, but after the rain you will see his spirit in the sky , which is the rainbow. This is the reason why he is called Goorialla the Rainbow Serpent.

Since the rainbow serpent is featured in Aboriginal folklore, it is often depicted in the aboriginal style - made up of dots of colours which create shapes making up an image.. I have found two quite different interpretations of the rainbow serpent, both of which are produced in the traditional aboriginal style. This image below shows the serpent as a flat black shape with bright glowing white eyes a very limited colour palette has been used, mainly dusty browns, blacks, reds and white. This is quite an interesting thing to consider when thinking about any colour i may want to use in the illustrations on my cards.

 I was thinking it may be interesting to depict each mythical creature i have selected to use for the four top cards in the manner which they are depicted within their culture. In this case, i think that the detailed aboriginal fashion of depicting mythical creatures would work well as a decorative illustration on a card.

I thought this image of the rainbow serpent was prticularly interesting as it shows the rainbow serpent as part of its cultural identity. The image shows the serpent depicted in a traditional aboriginal fashion, as well revealing some of the folklore associated with it. I also really like the bright colours used, which are very different to the image i found above.

Since the Quetzalcoatl is described as half bird half serpent and two of the other mythical creatures i have decided to illustrate (Gamayun and native American fire bird) are based around birds, I have also begun looking at imagery of birds (- found some interesting skeletons and stuffed birds in the natural history muesuem).

I thought that this image was particularly intereting as it shows a bird in flight, the black background really helping to define the white feathers of the birds wings. Often a Quetzalcoatl is depicted as a lizard with birds wings, so this image is particularly helpful as it is possible to see the birds wings in full extension.

 

I thought this image featuring a bird of prey may also be helpful as the wings are again fully extended, only this time the photograph is shot from a different angle, giving more imformation about a birds anatomy.

Finally, i felt that this image would be useful as it is a close up of a birds face, which shows the details around the beak and eyes of an owl. The hooked beak and almost cat like ears are particularly interesting.

To start thinking about the jokers i am going to have to illustrate, as well as the different card suits, i have decided to find some imagery of animals which have the same characteristics.

Below is an close up image i found of a lizard. This shows the detailed nature of lizards bodies - the intricate scales, cracks and folds in their skins.

This is a texas horned lizard. I found this image interesting because of the spines that the lizard has round it's neck, which reminded me of a dragon or a serpent.

Above is an image of a gecko, which has an unusal pattern on its body. Most lizards have some sort of markings on their bodies (sometimes to camoflouge them), which is an element to consider when thinking about how to illustrate my mythical creatures.