Drawing with coloured ink from pictures taken from New york inspired by Ansel Easton's Style

Medium and Material: fountain pen, blue, black and yellow ink, highlighter and paintbrush

I was so intrigued by Ansel Easton Adams’ work that I decided to draw the buildings I took a picture of in New York. For two of the buildings on the left hand side, I used blue and black ink and drew with a fountain pen- so that I could draw the small details easily. First I drew the buildings and then went over them with blue and some parts with a darker blue. I thought they looked simple in comparison to what I have been doing. The light colours made parts of the building stand out which I thought was interesting as I could show different tones through the use of a fountain pen and ink. I thought the way I drew the structure of the buildings were clearer with ink as the smaller details could be seen.

On the second page I went through the same steps as my previous experiment but instead used a paint brush and a highlighter. Using a paint brush instead of a fountain pen was a challenge for me as I could not control the movements of my brush as easily with a fountain pen. To overcome this challenge, I decided to hold the mouth of the paint brush and squeeze tightly whilst drawing the buildings. I then went over the lines with a highlighter. I thought using this technique was different and more enjoyable to carry out. The highlighter made the drawing of the building stand out whilst the paint was shaded the building. I was not really surprised by the outcome as highlighters are made to stand out so accordingly the buildings stood out. The parts that did not work for me in this piece of work were the buildings and the materials used as it made the piece looked unfinished.

To improve this, I would change the materials I use for example I would make this more exiting by making it more expressive. In comparison to the artist Ansel Easton, I did not use any pictures even though his work is mainly focused on photography. Similarities to this artist were from the buildings that were drawn and how they were drawn to copy Ansel’s photography. The photographs that he takes are mostly neutral since it is in black and white. My buildings were drawn in ink instead of black and white which brings more life and emotion to this piece in contrast to the photographer.