Aim:Gwen Hardie is an artist who makes careful drawings and paintings of small areas of her own skin. Richard Wright is a former sign writer turned Turner Prize winner who makes intricate wall drawings. Grayson Perry is a ceramic artist who makes detailed extended doodles. Jim Shaw combines exquisite naturalistic detail with complex cartoon imagery. Do some research into artists who work in a similarly painstaking or meticulous way, something which arguably has become one of the most significant features of contemporary drawing. By making a drawing of your own which involves focused effort you’ll be in a position to reflect on how this affects your relationship with the subject and the process and what it communicates to the viewer.
- Stuart Finer - Partner. “I focus on preparation so we can account for every contingency and think through every scenario before we go to court. With our bases covered, we’ll often solve the problem in my client’s behalf in pre-trial litigation.'
- The FINER method can be a useful tool for outlining research criteria used in the construction of a research question. Due to the flexibility of the criteria, this method may be used for a variety of research scenarios. The FINER method prompts researchers to determine whether one has the means and interest to conduct the study.
This calculator will find either the equation of the parabola from the given parameters or the axis of symmetry, eccentricity, latus rectum, length of the latus rectum, focus, vertex, directrix, focal parameter, x-intercepts, y-intercepts of the entered parabola. To graph a parabola, visit the parabola grapher (choose the 'Implicit' option).
Method:Choose a subject which has a substantial number of detailed parts. Think about whether these parts will be repeated (a plate of baked beans, for example) or all different (a hyper-realist drawing of pins and nails). Consider also whether the parts will be drawn from observation or invented (as in the work of Paul Noble). Remember that the original subject may not be primarily visual (in extended doodling, for example); you may be using drawing to describe a narrative or even musical score, so that the imagery is secondary to the relationships between the elements.
On a technical note – if you’re drawing with pencil, you’ll need to sharpen a normal pencil much more frequently when working on fine detail. You may prefer to work with a harder pencil than normal. Be careful to protect areas with a sheet of paper to stop the moisture or movement from your hand smearing the graphite. If necessary, support your forearm with a cushion to lift it from the page. It’s not ‘cheating’ to use a projector or tracing paper here to create extra layers of complexity. If you decide to make a hyper-realist drawing, remember that the key to this is rendering the behaviour of cast light accurately to the smallest degree you can muster. In reality, each eyelash and pore of a face has its own little microcosm of light falling on one side and casting a shadow behind to reveal volume. Many hyper-realists use blown-up photographs of their subjects to get into the nooks and crannies that the human eye just can’t differentiate.
Reflection:Stephen Walter is a contemporary artist who works a lot with drawing and mapping. He works in such detail that the viewer needs to use a magnifying glass to experience parts of his artwork. Look at Walter’s work, read his comments and reflect on them in your log. What does such a fine level of detail lend to the image?http://www.stephenwalter.co.uk/home.php [note: online link cannot be found].
Research:
Research on the artists proposed and a couple of others that have attracted my attention can be found here: project 3 research
My finer focus:
I have a garage full of spare parts for cars and workshop manuals for just about every car I have had the pleasure of owning and driving. From one of these manuals I pulled a page describing the intricacies of front brake disc callipers and pads. Enlarged onto A3 card, this became my ground for the drawing:
Retrieving a single brake disc calliper and disc pads from a box in the garage, I set out an initial composition on top of the workshop manual page:
Fiber Focus Month
Brake disk calliper and pads
Adjusting and adding bits to the composition allowed me to then lay down my drawing in pencil:
I chose felt-tip pens and coloured brush pens to create the brake parts, and pencil and charcoal to draw out the spanner and pliers, with shadows. Also added some tea mug stains and thumb prints:
Day 1 – first rendering
More of the same in Day 2, expanding the disc calliper and adding more touches of actual rust:
Building the brake calliper:
Finger Focus Highlighter
Day 3 – third rendering
Completed brake calliper and pad along with final shadows:
Reflection:
Not a map of a physical place or space, rather a visual reminder of the process, the tools required and the mess of deconstructing a brake calliper. The detail achieved by using ink pens and brushes suggests another dimension – a world of colourful drabness that is not always visible.
Stuart Brownlee – 512319
11 January 2019