MDes Graphic Design/Illustration/Photography School of Design
Holly Harper
My practice focuses on the conservation and celebration of wildlife. I am a science meets art kind of illustrator, and I have a passion for all things biology. I try to include educational elements in my work whenever possible to promote the weird, wild and wonderful stories of animals. I am a mixed media illustrator, and I work in a range of mediums depending on the project. Primarily, I am a fan of ink in all its forms and I also create work in watercolor, acrylic, pencil and charcoal, as well as 3D installation work using unconventional materials for exhibitions. I like to work from my own reference materials whenever possible, and can often be found in the middle of a field trying to photograph bugs and birds.
Cryptic: A Guide to Animal Camouflage
Cryptic is a publication I created focusing on the science behind animal camouflage. This combination of my research findings, writing and illustrations explores the relationships between how we perceive camouflage, and how its intended audience might see it differently. This project also explores how light is perceived, how color theory works in nature and how optical illusions are created by animal markings.
The illustrations in this book were created with watercolor, pencil and fine liner pen and I used this project as an opportunity to explore the connections between traditional scientific illustration and more contemporary and editorial styles. I also produced a series of informational posters as part of this project.
Leaving the Nest: A Scottish Birding Adventure
Leaving the Nest was my biggest undertaking so far, a research project across Scotland and the Borders exploring birding at my home, in the wild and in captivity. This love letter to birds documents my weird and wonderful encounters with birds in these very different environments: from watching a wildfire with Jackdaws to having a staring contest with a Heron.
This project was made using only reference photos and sketches generated by me on these trips, and focuses on celebrating the lives, deaths and afterlives of birds. The imagery was created by painting with ink at a variety of different scales.
