Artists who exemplify detailed drawing

I find this an interesting research project as I have only recently begun to appreciate drawing properly as a finished work in its own right, rather than part of the process to a final painting, and to focus on finding artists who are dedicated practitioners of drawing proved to be rather a challenge. Certain names will inevitably spring to mind from the historical artists, for example da Vinci and Durer, as their scientific approach required great accuracy in recording each image, and more recently George Stubbs whose anatomical studies of the horse are still used by modern day vetenarians.

I chose to look at the work of Albrecht Durer as I know less of his body of work than I should do. Actually tracking down his drawings is difficult as his work is bound up with the amazingly beautiful engravings, however, these illustrate his mark-making abilities equally well. It is known that he was an adept draughtsman from an early age, as there are surviving drawings from his earlier years. His fascination with Italy at the start of the Renaissance, led him to travel and learn new techniques, which upon his return to Germany he disseminated through engravings and publications.

Of the drawings I have located, the most beautifully rendered (to me) is the study of hands with the sleeve of what appears to be a monk's robe.

Durer made many such studies in the course of developing larger works and alterpieces, but the sensitivity of tone in the drawing captures every imperfection of the model's skin in an amazingly lifelike way.

The need to find a contemporary artist proved to be the most difficult. I had it in mind to search for botanical artists initially, as detail is something one tends to associate with scientific work, but the specific technique of drawing rather than painting or print techniques proved elusive to track down, most of the search paths leading to watercolourists.

By chance, on a visit to St Ives, I saw some work by Jon Tremaine. He produces extremely detailed pen drawings of wild animals, whose outlines are are imaginatively filled with flora and fauna of their native habitat. I have seen his work periodically over the last couple of years but this time wrote his name down to pursue further. ( website here )

There is an interesting video here where Jon talks about his work and develops a new piece, while sitting in the window of the St Ives gallery currently representing him. His work is all the more remarkable for having been self taught, and illustrates a sound grip of tonal value as he selects which animal has the best overall tone to fill a particular shape in the drawing. Using the finest nib sizes, many areas of his drawings employ stippling and a work can take many months to complete. The video briefly touches on the reference material and how Jon uses a sketchbook although it would have been interesting to know more. I hope I can get to meet Jon at some point as he comes across as a lucid and interesting conversationalist.