What does an ox have

to do with the letter A?

Jessica AllenThe history of the letter A and its connection with the ox through the Phoenician alphabet is what was my particular focus within this project. Pictographs and basic lines used in the drawings for the old alphabets link with the stories told in cave painting. From around 4000 BC, the ox, also known as the Auroch was a commonly painted animal in cave painting. Using this information I wanted to create homage of the relationship between the ox and the letter a using basic line, mark making and the use of intricate detail to mimic the style of cave paintings.

Beth McLoughlinMy initial research gave me a few starting points, one being how oxen often featured in cave paintings, and another being that an aleph (which is an extinct breed of ox) was historically drawn as a pictograph to represent the letter A.

The triangles in this piece came from looking at the letter A as shapes rather than just a symbol, and I noticed how different fonts had different shaped triangle counters. I cut different sized triangles out of my original mono-prints, because the dark grainy textures corresponded to the inside of caves. The positioning of the triangles as a collective represents the mountainous habitat of the alephs. The colour scheme of the type was taken from cave paintings, whilst the words and cursive font relate to education, and how the pictographs were used to write and teach the alphabet.

Jon HansenThe inspiration for my final outcome was found in the history of typography and illustration. From cave paintings and the first known form of written language, pictographs. This developed through exploration of different materials and sizes.

Through this project I have used the photocopy machine as it adds a natural texture of dirt, or grunge. This gave me strong associations to cave paintings.

The typographic part comes from the first time I heard the sentence. It is also the word “what” that defines the whole sentence.

Izzie MustardI wanted to create an illustration that would catch peoples eye and get them to look closer. When creating the illustration I referred to the research I did when I was given the brief and all the development work I had done since the beginning of the project. I am happy with my final outcome as I think the mono print background reflects early cave paints of Oxen. I really like the typography I have layered over the top as I think it reflects the initial confusion you have when reading the sentence and the pictogram of an A that looks like an Ox’s head. I used red for A as I wanted it to stand out.

Sian LarkinMy approach towards this brief was to investigate how I could interpret the style of cave paintings, in relation to the ox. My thinking behind this came from the fact that an ox’s head was originally a pictogram representing the letter ‘A’ in ancient hieroglyphics, later becoming the ‘aleph’. Therefore I wanted my image making to reflect the ancient meaning and style. In order to create this effect, I have used mono printing, as this created uneven, blotchy mark makings, which resembled the surface of cave walls. The simple black lines stand out from the textured background, similar to the strokes of cave paintings. Although my image has become abstract, I think it is still successful in relating to the ox and the style of cave paintings. The added colour also enhances this, and the use of water colours enabled worn washed out look adding age to the image.

Holly LyonsWe where given the sentence what does the letter A have to do with an Ox. I carried out research into the letter A and it’s relevance to an ox and found that the letter A in Egyptian times was a pictogram of an ox head. I used colours that related back to this periodic time for instance browns and oranges. I then repeated the letter A to represent the way the Egyptians used to repeat their patterns when creating art on buildings etc. Linking back to the way the Ox was used back in those times.