Artist Research - Nick Coupland - Focusing on Artists who Prioritise Realism and Accuracy in Their Work
As part of my current project, maintaining a high level of realism is something I have tried to focus on throughout, as well as finding ways I can develop my process to create even better outcomes. Finding artists who use fine liner effectively is something that I have found challenging because many do not work in similar subject matter. This is why I have decided to look at illustrators and therefore widen my search for creatives who prioritise realism when drawing buildings. I have therefore decided to look at the work of Nick Coupland, a local artist who draws a range of structures, stadia, cranes and even iconic buildings. The range of different types of building and structure that Coupland draws in his style will aid my project because it will show the versatility of the fine liner pen as a medium, as well as a more illustrative method of drawing, which is something I haven’t covered in the project so far.
Coupland is an artist and freelance illustrator who depicts a variety of brutalist, modernist and other vertical structures using fine liner, as well as other drawing and painting mediums. Much of his
work focuses on one side of a building, almost flattening it to a pattern, showing its scale and details as the primary focus. I like Coupland’s work because of it’s flat nature, and how every detail is considered very carefully throughout. It’s flatness gives it that illustrative feel, while still keeping it very accurate and each building or structure has a strong likeness to it’s actual form. I chose Coupland’s work to focus on because of the high levels of detail, the very clean and tidy outcomes and also the choice of buildings. The sheer variety of buildings and structures in his portfolio shows his clear interest for architecture and his understanding of fine liner pen and its capabilities.
An example of this is shown here, the ‘Arts Tower, Sheffield’. This building has a very interesting composition, and is something you can look at and pick out all of the individual details and textures due to the sheer attention to detail. I think this shows how Coupland focus on trying to keep the drawing as lifelike as possible, while following this flattened, ‘straight on’ format that many of his drawings have. There is also an effort to use a range of mark making techniques in this piece, from very dark blocked out areas to dotted, or pebble dashed areas. There is a consideration of how to apply the medium to the paper and to alter the approach when required.
Although my approach to documenting buildings and structures is very different in comparison to the illustrative approach of Coupland, I think I can take a lot of inspiration from this work in terms of how to interpret the sheds I draw, the angle in which I draw them at, and the mark making techniques used to generate highly detailed outcomes. Coupland sometimes uses pencil and fine liner together to create a varied tonal range, and to aid the mark making process, something I also do in my work. I think combining mediums, even in drawings of this level of detail is often needed to produce an even stronger outcome.
Coupland’s work is also very accurate in terms of the straight lines, even gaps and scaling between
the windows and also in terms of the patterns he depicts. This is the illustrative side of this artist coming through because there is an emphasis on making if very clean, tidy and accurate in every aspect. Whereas in my work, due to my subject matter and my practice as a whole, I do not often use a ruler when working, nor focus solely on getting things architecturally straight. I like the piece to have elements of it that has that drawn, painterly or fluid approach that doesn’t leave the piece to restricted or ‘photograph like’. However, this is a clear difference between an artist and an illustrator, which is to be expected. I think, as an artist there needs to be a balance between the want for complete accuracy and for style and expression to be visible as well. I think I will always be trying to find the balance with this, but acknowledging that there has to be elements of both is important to my development in drawing. But, making a note of repeating patterns, textures and tones is something I want to include more of in my practice to improve my drawings even further.
Although I have only looked briefly at the work of Nick Coupland, I have found that the use of fine liner pen can be very useful as an Illustrator, as well as an artist. I would argue that an illustrator’s use for such a medium allows them to generate more pin-point detail within their chosen subject matter, whereas an artist would use it in connection with other mediums to create a balanced piece. I think that looking at a slightly different approach has been very beneficial to my project as a whole because it has shown me another way of using fine liner, and similar subject matter to that of my own. I do not often draw my sheds face on, like Coupland does with his buildings, which is something I could try in the future to add further diversity to my work. All in all, I have seen great benefit from looking at other creative forms and how they translate architectural subject matter in different ways to that of my own. I think I will take inspiration from this in upcoming works. Overall, I am pleased with this research and the insight it has given me.
SOURCE:
Coupland, N., 2021. Nick Coupland Illustration. [online] Nick Coupland Illustration. Available at: <https://www.nickcouplandillustration.com> [Accessed 20 August 2021].
Illustration, N., 2021. Modernism. [online] Nick Coupland Illustration. Available at: <https://nickcouplandillustration.bigcartel.com/category/modernism> [Accessed 20 August 2021].
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