Endangered Plants Index Degree Project

One thing that I have realised through my conversations with tutors, peers and external parties, is that due to the scale of my degree project (or the scale that I want it to achieve), I haven’t got a clear idea of how my project might finally be disseminated with the world. It has always been clear that I want the project to be multi-faceted and multi-platform, using a wide range of media to engage with the largest audience possible. However, I have come to the conclusion that I need to decide on the final format of the project: how each disparate part might work together to create one large, interactive and cohesive unit.

The media which I am planning on using are:

• Youtube (Video)
• Social Media (Instagram)
• Website/App (digital exhibition?)
• Physical Display/Exhibit
• Postcards
• Printed Media (Book)

Some of these media are very clearly linked together: for instance, social media, website/app and YouTube, and exhibition, postcards and a book. However, having them all fit together under one ‘banner’ is the area I am having difficulty in. Ideally, I think, an app would be most successful – as it would be something that anyone could use and access, and would be a place people could use as a launchpad to learn more from the other resources/media. The only issue with this is that I have no experience in writing or coding apps, nor do I believe that I would have the time or resources in this module to do so, and would therefore need to export this task somewhere else… (which would require funding) I am also going to have to think about the ‘merchandising’ of the project more carefully – to begin with, coming up with a title that I can use over all media for the dissemination of my project.

A crucial part of my degree project is botanical illustration, as the means of disseminating the visuals of the plants that I am researching. I am therefore in the process of learning traditional Botanical Illustration, and have chosen to start with Pen and Ink drawing, as it seemed the easier technique to learn (out of watercolour or pen and ink).

I have also chosen to use the dip pen rather than a fine liner, at least for my initial drawings, as it is what I have to hand, and although it’s more ‘labour intensive’ (due to having to constantly clean the nib), I feel more connected to the drawing, and my sense of satisfaction is much greater in the end. I think the connectedness also stems from it being the tool illustrators in the Golden Age of botanical illustration would have used, and I feel more connected to the history and context of the technique as well.

In my first illustration (above), I didn’t have a grasp of how the shading (created by stippling) worked, and went much too overboard on trying to capture every little detail of the texture of the petals with shading. This created a mess of dots, that isn’t at all representative of the plant and just confuses the viewer rather than enlightening.

In my second attempt (below), I made a much more concerted effort to minimise my shading to capture only the necessary detail and structure in the plant. I also decided to start with the leaves rather than the flower, as they had a much smaller amount of detail visible on them, and would make it easier to reduce the amount of shading and detail that I used and included.

This illustration is much cleaner and clearer looking overall, and although isn’t perfect, it it much closer to the scientific pen and ink illustrations that I was aiming to emulate.

The element that I feel I need to work on most now, is the areas of darkens (such as the centre of the flower), which not only need to show a colour change, but depth. This is going to be a challenge and will take more research.

I have been using Botanical Art & Artists and Lizzie Harper’s websites as reference and starting points for my botanical illustrations, while waiting for the books on botanical illustration that I have ordered from the library to come in. They are very useful – especially for references to other sources and images (examples) of how stippling and shading should look in scientific illustrations.

Review: 28/10/21:

I have now thought of a new name for my project: the Endangered Plants Index. It’s functional and explains what the project is, without it being too out-there or pretentious. I will now start work on creating a ‘look’ (including a logo) for it, which I can then incorporate into my work – such as embossing stamps on the pieces (as suggested in a tutorial, as this sometimes occurs in archives), or normal ink stamps, or to be displayed on the rulers next to my illustrations (as the rulers at Kew have their logo on). 

Update: 10/10/21:

Contacting Trees A Crowd Podcast was hugely beneficial for me – not in an artistic way, but logistically and practically. They helped me to realise that there are huge parts of my project that I hadn’t fully considered – specifically in terms of dissemination, scale and time-frame. It has become clear to me, that creating an overview of my degree project and what form I want the majority of it to take (or how each disparate part will fit together) is a hugely important stage that I must decide from the start, if I am to complete a successful and cohesive work. 

The idea for my degree project came in part from a podcast that I have been listening to, called the Trees A Crowd Podcast, where (in the current series) the host (actor, artist and amateur naturalist) David Oakes explores the 56(ish) native trees of the British Isles, exploring their importance, uses and history. It has been a very enjoyable and eye-opening listen for me, and made me realise how little people think about and consider the importance of plants in our world and how the endangerment of plants is very rarely spoken about – even though they underpin everything.

I therefore decided to get into contact with the podcast myself, to discuss my project with him and get his advice and thoughts on it, as they have already embarked upon a very similar project. I contacted them by email a few times, but finally managed to get into contact with them through the Trees A Crowd Patreon account.

I am hoping that my correspondence with them will be very beneficial to my project, in terms of structuring the project, dissemination and perhaps other contacts that he may have that would really help to move my project forward.

For my final degree project, I have embarked on a very lengthy and involved process of creating an engaging and interesting resource about the most endangered plants in the world.

As a climate activist, I talk about the human cost of the climate crisis, and the obvious flora cost – such as rainforest deforestation and logging, but I have become very aware that the endangerment of plants and their extinction – something that is so perilous for our continued life on this planet – isn’t something that is spoken about very much in the public domain. Animals often get much more attention, but we rely on plants for everything: food, shelter, materials, other ecosystems that support our own, and we have forgotten, I believe, how wonderful and crucial to all life on this planet, they are. Therefore, I want to use my final year degree project to raise public awareness to the plight of our plants, which are most endangered, why, what their uses are, their biology – everything really – to open people’s eyes and minds to the magical world and importance of plants. I am planning that my project will take the form of traditional botanical illustration, combined with video, audio and other media (although this may change over time), to create an interactive and accessible resource, that is interesting and appealing to modern audiences.