Research Task 1.1 : Artist’s Sketchbooks

For this task I was asked to research 6 different artists’ sketchbooks and generate my own visual and written research. Below are my 6 chosen artists:

Leonardo Da Vinci
Grayson Perry
Guillermo Delo Toro
Danny Gregory
David Hockney
Ronald Searle

Leonardo Da Vinci:

Article from V&A discussing Leonardo’s Sketchbooks: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/leonardo-da-vincis-notebooks

Bullet point research notes:

He left us around 7200 pages of his notebooks.
Created ‘to-do lists’ – things that he wanted to figure out and understand including ‘how do people walk on ice’.
Mixture of art, science and maths.
Used Mont Blanc fountain pen ink.
He would do geometry problems but then start drawing mountains and streams.
He documented his life’s work in painstaking detail.
A very curious person.
He would normally work on separate sheets of paper but sometimes use smaller notebooks.
Born in Florence in 1452, little to no formal schooling, left handed, gay, vegetarian and illegitimate.
Started as an apprentice age 14 to an engineer and artist, which is where he flourished.
Stunningly inventive – made a portable bridge you can ‘pop-up’.
He used his sketchbook for ideas, notes, inventions, doodles, anatomy, painting ideas, design for stage settings and animals.
He taught himself anatomy through human dissection.

Video:

My Visual Response:

Grayson Perry:

Inside Grayson’s Sketchbook, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/feb/19/inside-grayson-perrys-sketchbook

Bullet point research notes:

Describes himself as: “a cross-dressing potter from Essex”.
Contemporary artist.
“I’m a quality control freak, I have to do it badly in the right way, your mistakes are your style”.
Best known for classical shaped vases.
Won the Turner prize in 2003 for contemporary art.
Born in 1960 in Chelmsford, 30 miles from London.
Tried a bit of everything at art college printmaking, filmmaking etc.
Squatted for 4 years in central London.
Attended a afternoon pottery class with his friend because his friend didn’t want to go along.
Never worries about being original.
Focusses on class and taste in his art.
Uses many different types of media. Uses a graphics tablet for newer art.
Likes lots of details and textures in his work.
He thinks that digital work has a deadness to it but tapestries and things you can feel have life to it.

Video:

My Visual Response:

Guillermo Delo Toro:

Ten best pages in Del Toro’s Sketchbook: https://alfalfastudio.com/2018/01/16/10-pages-guillermo-del-toros-sketchbook/

Bullet point research notes:

Mexican film maker
Sketchbooks resemble Leonardo Da Vinci Codex with his Mont Blanc fountain ink.
Dense notes in both Spanish & English surrounding the sketches.
Del Toro’s most well known monster creation was the ‘pale man’ from Pan’s Labyrinth, throughout the sketchbook you can see how the character develops over time. The character originated from when Del Toro lost weight and saw that his skin was saggy in the mirror.

Video:

My Visual Response:

Danny Gregory:

Sketchbook ‘Skool’ Danny Gregory’s Website including information regarding sketchbooks: https://sketchbookskool.com/our-instructors/danny-gregory/

Bullet point research notes:

He started drawing in his late 30’s.
Filled over 10 sketchbooks in around 20 years.
Didn’t know what to draw at first.
Busy life, kids, wife and job. Drew for a few minutes a day.
Didn’t want to “worry about whether I was drawing the right stuff”.
Drew things he saw around him daily.
Felt good when he drew. Energised & Relaxed.
He adds a mixture of writing and drawing in his sketchbooks.
He started simple at first with a black rollerball ben and “a simple sketchbook that could take abuse”.
He recorded everything he did in pictures.
After a few months he started adding other pens including a grey brush marker for shading then one other colour and then more and more media.

Video:

My Visual Response:

David Hockney:

David’s Sketchbook Images from his website: https://www.hockney.com/index.php/works/sketchbooks

Bullet point research notes:

From watching the video below the first thing I noticed was how thick his sketchbook was! There must be around 2000 pages?
The start of the sketchbook shows David using black ink pen, then as you go further into the book he starts to use what looks like tea from teabags to paint, then he uses watercolours and inks.
Some pages are very simplistic and doesn’t have much content, other pages are completely packed.
The sketchbook is a landscape A4 pad with thick paper as he uses a lot of different media.
It’s nice that David is showing us the sketchbook and it’s even more interesting that he doesn’t say a word throughout. This allowed me to really look at the sketchbook and take in the pictures rather than listening to someone. I find it really interesting that he stops for a longer period of time when he sees a drawing that he likes and quickly moves to the next page if there is one that he isn’t as happy with, I find this really resonates.

Video:

My Visual Response:

Ronald Searle:

Ronald’s War Drawings Article: https://illustrationchronicles.com/the-war-drawings-of-ronald-searle

Bullet point research notes:

Creator of St. Trinians
Cartoon & reportage illustrations.
Sold his first cartoon at the age of 15.
Uses Mont Blanc ink pens.
Has created illustrations for Punch magazine, Life & The Newyorker.
Illustrated 115 books.
America has given him 2 top cartoonist awards.
He was a prisoner of war, he was 21 when Singapore fell to the Japanese.
Tried to record everything that happened in the prison and the jungle as an unofficial war artist.
Used ‘odds and ends’ to create his work. Asked to borrow people’s pencils and used the blank page from books to illustrate on.
Exchanged cigarettes for paper.
Spend an month in court during the Nazi trials to draw for life magazine.
Loves champagne says that “the bubbles give me ideas'”.
I have actually seen Ronald Searle’s work in person – some of it is at the Cartoon Museum in London 🙂