A brief guide to analysing a drawing
1) INTRODUCE THE DRAWING IN GENERAL TERMS
•What is the title of the drawing?
untitled
•What is the name of the artist?
Lucia Nogueira
•What is the year the drawing was done?
1997
•What is the medium? (ie the materials us
ed to produce the picture, for example charcoal on paper, pen and ink etc)
Watercolour and ink on paper
•What is the subject matter or general theme of the work? (eg is it a figure drawing, a map, a portrait, an autobiographical work, a picture about nature, a drawing of the city etc?)
it is a dancing elephant figure.
•Does the drawing have a particular purpose? eg Is it a diagram that explains how something works? Does it record accurately record the appearance of something? Does it express the artist's emotion or memory?
the artist was focus on the emotional and psychological life of objects, so, it is a painting about a moving elephant.
2) DESCRIBE THE DRAWING IN DETAIL
•How is line used? What does it do/express?
there is no any direct line on the paper, it was only the dissolve of the water color, and the ink of the feet.
•How is tone used? What does it do/express?
the artist used warn tone of the color, orange, brown and light purple, and it gave the harmonious feeling after appreciated it.
•What can you say about shape and/or form in this picture? What is the effect?
she make good use of the water color and the shape is not sharp, but you can understand that she drew a happy and running elephant.
•Is texture a feature of the drawing?
i think there is no any texture of this painting, it is a flat surface.
•What can you say about the composition of the drawing? What is the effect of this type of composition on the overall drawing?
it is the simple composition that only one elephant on the button left.
•Is rhythm important in this picture? If so, say more about it...
i think it bring the playful feeling of the painting, so the rhythm is quick facilely like a bird. even the elephant is heavy.
•Is the picture balanced? Explain...
i dont think the picture is balance, it just captured the running and dancing from the right to the left. even the artist had not paint it, but we all can imagine it!
•Is perspective used in the picture? If so, describe the way that the illusion of three-dimensional space has been created.
i think there is no perspective......i think
•Is the picture harmonious? If so, in what way?
i think the painting is very harmonious that there is not any straight and thick line. and she used the light and warm color tone to draw
•Are there any strong contrasts in the picture? Say more...
i think large amount of the white area can make a big contrast between the elephant and the area. And the tone also quiet harmonious, and make good use of the watercolor.
3) INTERPRETATION AND EVALUATION
•What is the mood of the drawing? Justify your answer using information from your responses above.
i think the mood is quiet relax and playful that the elephant like running and dancing actually. the painter use few colors to make a brief outline of elephant. and it use four dumbbells to show moving legs. and it can enhance the funky action.
i like the painting that the style something like Chinese calligraphy, the painter left space in the white paper, it provides more area to emphasis the objects, elephant. And it can left some space to let us have some creativity and think about what elephant is thinking about, and it is not like the common western art, and western art paintings like use all the color to fulfill all the fabric or paper.
•What does the drawing express? Justify your answer using information from your responses above.
the drawing express the playful and the artist always painting the objects like in fairy tale or little princess. it shows the artist like this style and mood so much! i think the artist shows the peaceful and harmonious world to the audience. and it can also make audience please.
•In your opinion, why is this work interesting/moving/ clever/ imaginative/thought-provoking/......? Choose the adjective(s) that best fit(s) the work, and then justify your conclusions by referring to specific features and qualities of the drawing (including those you have discussed above).
in my opinion, interesting is the reason why i chose this painting. it is not easy that to use some simple water-color brushstrokes and shows the objects clearly. and it is so peaceful and funny that the artist represent the happiness feeling to the audience.
Winsome: Though your analysis is rather short, but I can see your effort. It is actually a very expressive and imaginative painting, with solely a simple subject. No contour lines are applied on the objects, but colours are used to create this lovely elephant. They are orange, ivory-white colours, The ivory-white tone helps to create a transparent tone for the subject, while the orange colour make the subject look more three-dimensional. The combination of two subjects makes it look like a real jade object. In order to tell the viewers it is actually a painting, a lovely act on applying black colour to depict elephant's legs, contradicting the body of the elephant.
ReplyDeleteStephen: I think your analysis is concise and concrete. The use of amber and ivory instead of grey as the colors of the elephant gives me a sense of purity, simplicity and optimism. I agree your view that the whole drawing is playful, light, quick or brisk, which is represented by the tone and colors of the drawing. This is interesting as it contradicts to our understanding of white elephant, which in Thailand symbolizes valuable but burdensome possession that people can not dispose. It is also interesting as the drawing of black dots under the four elephant legs gives me a feeling that the elephant is actually playing roller skating!
ReplyDeleteChloe: Hello Venus, your analysis is yet completed. The painting you chose is very interesting to me, so I would like to see more description and interpretation from you.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned that, the painting brings you a playful feeling, you gave out the reason as the rhythm is quick with an elephant moves like a bird. That is a good interpretation and imagination. Keep on doing your analysis.
Mingming:
ReplyDeleteHi Venus! I love this drawing as the elephant is so cute. Also, I agree with you that this drawing is playful. But I think you can talk more about the tone, the purpose of this drawing and the artist's emotion.
Easy: This picture look like chinese painting and use warm colour to present a elephant .You said the elephant look like dancing and so I try to imagine the elephant moving out of the paper and that is funny and I like your comment on the cute elephant.
ReplyDeleteJacqueline: In my view, rhythm and color/tone are important in this work. The rhythm is highly expressive in that it creates a very dynamic and happy mood. I particularly loved how with such an economy of tone/color the elephant comes alive.
ReplyDeleteI see why you think of Chinese calligraphy. Because of the transparency from the watercolour and ink, it is like the flower and bird painting from Qi baishi. But of course, elephant is never been a subject in Chinese painting (I think;P).
ReplyDeleteThe link below are the Qi's painting and I think it shares the feature of Nogueira's work.
http://www.shxw.com/zhuankemeishu/2008/0307/article_452.html
Miranda
Ryan:
ReplyDeleteI think your analysis is good and I think the picture is interesting. I love the painter used the watercolour and ink to depict the elephant, and I think the texture of it was similar to jade. I think this effect is interesting and successful to make the elephant so honorable.
Carol: Venus, your analysis is almost satisfactory, but more detail is needed to back up your claims and feeling about this picture. More detail would make your analysis more convincing and allow you to discuss the drawing in greater depth. Constructive comments on others' work. Well done.
ReplyDelete