Wildlife art and illustration: drawing in ink - some experiments in Auroville, India
M. Eric Ramanujam 1 & S. Joss
Brooks 2
1,2 Pitchandikulam Bioresource Centre / PitchandikulamForest Consultants, Auroville, Tamil Nadu 605101,
India
1 ericramanujamowl@yahoo.com (corresponding
author), 2 joss@auroville.org.in
Abstract: The various styles employed by some
artists at the Pitchandikulam studio in Auroville International Township are discussed and some
works analysed and commented upon. The basic history and applications of pen and ink drawing and black and
white illustration are touched upon and the various schools of thought
mentioned and discussed - from it simply being technically accurate and easily
printed, to the conundrums with which it is beset.
Keywords:Art, Black and white, conundrums, creativity, drawing,
illustration, imagery, pen and ink, realism, reproduction.
The
illustrations in this article are by Eric Ramanujamexcept when other illustrators are mentioned.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3717.5343-56
Editor: Stephen D. Nash, Conservation International,
Stony Brook, USA. Date
of publication: 26 January 2014 (online & print)
Manuscript details: Ms # o3717 | Received 21 July
2013 | Final received 07 November 2013 | Finally accepted 20 December 2013
Citation: Ramanujam, M.E. & S.J. Brooks (2014). Wildlife art and illustration: drawing in ink - some experiments in Auroville, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(1): 5343–5356; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3717.5343-56
Copyright: © Ramanujam& Brooks 2014.Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 UnportedLicense. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this
article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate
credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing Interest: The authors declare no
competing interests.
Author details: M. Eric Ramanujam has been a wildlife illustrator for over two decades and has a background
in the advertising industry. Since 1997 he has been involved in full time
conservation and has been part of a team whichundertook wildlife surveys in the Kaliveli region
near Puducherry, Eastern Ghats and Adyar wetland complex in Chennai. His main sphere of
interest is the natural history of the Indian Eagle Owl Bubo bengalensis.
S. Joss Brooks established Pitchandikulam, a forest
community in Auroville, and was one of the pioneers
of re-establishing the indigenous coastal vegetation of the region. He was the
lead consultant to the prestigious Government of Tamil Nadu’s Adyar Poonga wetland restoration
project in Chennai. He is the recipient of the Dr. Triloki Nath KhoshooAward in 2010 for his contribution to eco-restoration initiatives.
Author contribution: MER prepared the manuscript with inputs from SJB.
Acknowledgements: We are thankful to the
European Commission’s TDEF project and UBS’s tsunami project to manifest the
posters depicted here.
Monochrome imagery on parchment can be
traced back to ancient Egypt where, for example in the hieroglyphic scripts,
scribes used reed pens from the Sea Rush Juncas maritimus as long ago as 3,000BC (Fischer
2003). In fact monochrome imagery
could be older than the beginning of writing—hieroglyphs are considered
to be the earliest known form of writing and imagery played a fundamental role
in their development (Stevenson & Simpson 1998) and animal motifs were
intrinsic to them. Reed pens were
used until the end of the Middle Ages, around the 7th century, when they were replaced by quills. Quill pens existed until papyrus was
replaced as a writing surface by animal skins, vellum and parchment. These smoother surfaces allowed fine
rendering and, accordingly, soft metal nibs of gold, bronze, and more commonly,
silver came into being. By the time
of the early Renaissance metalpoint was a favourite
monochrome medium of Leonardo da Vinci, Durer, Michealangeloand Raphael. Later Rembrandt,
Cezanne, Degas, Goya, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso too experimented with pen
and ink. In fact the beginnings of
realistic wildlife ink drawing can be attributed to a period when two of the
‘old masters’ turned their hands to realistic portraiture of wild animal
subjects. Albrecht Durer
(1471–1528) showed a keen sense of observation with his water colour
rendering of a young hare but he also experimented with ink as can be seen from
his drawing of an Indian Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis. Although his drawing was not an accurate representation, the study
itself and the woodcut reproduction that followed, became very popular in
Europe and it has been said that “probably no animal picture has exerted such a
profound influence on the arts” (Clarke 1986) so much so that it even inspired
Salvador Dali’s 1956 sculpture Rhinoceronte vestido con puntillas(Rhinoceros dressed in lace). An
all time favourite is the drawing of a reclining Barbary Lion Panthera leo leo by the master draftsman of his time, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669), whose pen and wash
rendering, now in the Louvre, is a masterpiece—not only for its sense of
poise, proportion and exactitude, but more so for its spontaneity, speed of
execution and abject simplicity. In
fact, it is these two artists who can be credited with introducing the concept
of drawing wild animals in ink into the maelstrom of the art world at a time
when painters, sculptors and draftsmen were striving to define the essence of
realism.
Drawing in black ink on a white base is
perhaps the easiest and cheapest method of illustration for reproduction in the
print media to this day and is probably why Durer’s Rhinoceros study was so
widely circulated and influenced so many people at the time—sheer mass replicability, circulation and appeal. For many centuries thereafter, before
multicolour printing/reproduction was possible, drawing in pen and ink was the
only recourse for the science-based author/publisher. By the end of the 16thcentury naturalists and philosophers were questioning the way the world could
be understood—a new age of science and discovery was unfolding and this
required the dissemination of information which in turn needed imagery. Naturalists accompanied all major
scientific expeditions, and were themselves often accompanied by artists who
made accurate drawings in the field or from specimens collected from the lands
they visited. These
explorer-naturalists and artists, which included such
illustrious names like Joseph Banks, Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin and
Alfred Russel Wallace, depended upon draftsmen and
painters to illustrate their publications (e.g., Darwin 1839, 1851–1854;
Wallace 1869, 1876).
Today, with the vast improvement in print
technology, even more options are available in terms of both the stylus as well
as the drawing surfaces and these have made ink renderings even more precise
and easily reproduced. In India,
one simply has to peruse the publications of the Fauna of British India series
(e.g., Day 1889; Pocock 1939, 1941) in order to
comprehend the effectiveness of the medium. This is not only relevant to wildlife
biology / taxonomy, but also to botany and human anatomy. In fact, pen and ink drawings have been
used widely to represent botanical and human anatomical subjects long before
wildlife studies and there is strong proof that another of the greatest
Renaissance artists, Leornado da Vinci
(1452–1519), was adept at not only drawing human figures but also
botanical subjects in ink
<http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/leornado-da-vinci/stof-bethlehem-and-
other-plants>. In the veterinary
sphere too, animal anatomy has been systematically and thoroughly rendered in
ink (e.g., Goody 1997, 2006) and these studies can be rivaledonly by comparable illustrations of human anatomy. In actual fact, Gray’sAnatomy (1858) brought not only the author but also the illustrator, Henry
Vandyke Carter enduring fame and his work has remained the most widely perused
black and white imagery in ink for over a century and a half. This goes to show
that whatever the objective may be, and wherever scientific / biological /
medical disciplines are involved, and despite the vast technical advances in
photography, when clear detail is necessary there is no better medium than
black and white (B & W) pen and ink illustration - especially when
producing publications aimed at a mass audience.
Popular literature too made use of
illustrations in ink and many illustrators of repute were involved in works of
seminal importance—to name a few, Lois and Louis Darling in Silent
Spring (Carson 1962), Charles W. Schwartz in A Sand Country Almanac(Leopold 1949), Rachel S. Horne in Wild Heritage (Carrighar1965) and Christopher Reynolds himself in Creatures of the Bay (Reynolds
1975)—and there has been one contemporary artist, Ralph Thompson, who has
refined Rembrandt’s mix of ink and wash technique and his output has been very
prolific, engaging and hugely popular (e.g., Durrell 1954, 1958, 1964;
Anonymous 1970b; Thompson 2006). Publishers of popular reference books, though they relied primarily on
colour photography, commissioned a number of wildlife artists of repute (Barry
Driscoll, Harry Titcombe, Charles Pickard, Norman
Weaver and Lesley Marshall to name a few) to execute ink drawings, especially
when technical details were concerned, and some of them are considered
milestones and continue to be reader friendly even in this age of coffee table
books, colour spreads and close up/macro photography. Examples are, Reader’s
Digest’s Living World of Animals (Anonymous 1970a) and the Time-Life
Books’ nature library series (e.g., Anonymous 1965, 1980, 1984, 1985). Even magazines have made use of B &
W pen and ink drawings and these have contributed to their popularity, for
example la hulotte (Anonymous 1995).
Black and white drawings have for long
been considered to be the preliminary studies for the finished work—a
methodology followed by most of the ‘old masters’. This view is widely held even today and
B & W drawing is, in certain circles, considered to be the poor brother of
painting and not an end in itself. Even Gary Hodges was
turned down by many art and book publishers in the 1980s because “black
and white doesn’t sell” <http://www.wildscapemag.co.uk>. This mindsethas hindered the progress of B & W as an art form in its own right, but it
is encouraging to note that many contemporary artists like Teresa (Terry) Ann
Jackson, Mike Childress, Sam Lane, Joanne Sedgebeer,
Sarah Brown, Becci Crowe, Jim Hall and Andrew Simson, to name a few, are progressing in their chosen
media (whether it be ink, wash, graphite or crayon) and making a mark for
themselves. It is even more
encouraging to note that Hodges’ own success story
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Hodges> has inspired a whole
generation of wildlife artists to ‘stick to their ground’ and take B & W
drawing to the next level and get it the recognition and reputation it deserves.
Pitchandikulam, in Auroville International Township, has
experimented with a variety of media (Ramanujam &
Brooks 2011), most of which were designed for outdoor public spaces and
primarily meant to enhance landscape architecture. However, a few craftsmen have consciously
veered towards a more studio-based/scientific approach. One medium, among
others, being experimented with is ink drawing and some of the concepts,
methods and applications are discussed below.
Genres of B & W pen and ink
illustration
Simple naturalistic illustration (Image
1): The fundamental aim here is to simply be
as accurate as possible and not get criticized for superficial inaccuracies by
specialists—an all too common phenomenon since wildlife illustration aims
to bridge the gap between two empirical worlds that have completely different
philosophies (art fundamentally strives to be decorative while science stresses
accuracy). The source of a drawing
can be any sort of imagery, not necessarily just a photograph or internet image. But it does not simply involve copying / translating one medium to the
next but has to take into consideration a variety of different images—and
therein lies the risk of the concept getting complicated. For example, the foundations for the
design of the drawing of the King Cobra was a combination of quite a few
photographs, internet images and an earlier drawing by John Norris Wood
(Anonymous 1970). But nobody would
actually identify the source / sources as the final output does not resemble
any single image—the challenge was to give the drawing a ‘twist’ (pun
unintended).
Taxonomic/Technical illustration (Images
2–4): Here the onus is on exactitude and quite a
degree of technical knowledge is required—either by the artist himself or
by the supervisor/technical adviser. In the drawings of the carapace and
plastron of the Pond Terrapin every scale had to be represented faithfully
which necessitated accuracy in rendering both the morphology and depth in
detail (and please note that in nature nothing is absolutely symmetrical). In Fig. 4 of a captive specimen, even
the abnormalities (for example, the scales on the thickened forelimbs that
could not be withdrawn into the shell), had to be represented in detail.
Portraiture (Images 5–7): Contrary to the previous images which just tended to be correct visual
representations and could simply be viewed as museum representation, the onus
here is to not only capture a ‘living style’ of a close up as in the case of
the Indian Monitor, but also endeavor to depict
various moods and actions. For
example, the drawing of the Indian Chameleon shows the species in its
characteristic locomotive mode as well as capturing an insect and a close up of
its threat display (with eyes facing in different directions). Another challenge is to bring out
expression, especially of the eyes, when such charismatic creatures like owls
are the subjects.
Naturalistic surroundings (Images 8 &
9): Simply depicting animals by themselves is
limiting to an extent and artists have always endeavoredto show animals in their natural environs. Helmut Diller has had a strong influence on wildlife art, especially his
ability to depict environments in a detailed yet minimalistic sense without
detracting from the centerpiece. This type of imagery inspired the rendition
of the Star Tortoise which is depicted in its natural
dry land habitat with a backdrop of Cissus quadriangularis which is one of its basic foods. Natural surroundings may simply be part
of the composition or could take up the entire drawing space depending upon the
need and concept of the design. In the drawing of the four common species of
geckos of the Coromandel Coast it was necessary to show a brick wall as the
background and also the two strata (viz. wall and substrate) occupied by the
various species.
Action (Image 10): Guy Coheleach can probably be credited with
introducing a strong sense of ‘action’ to wildlife studies and this has
influenced almost every medium of wildlife art since the early 1970s—including
pen and ink. This representation of the Asiatic Cheetah in pursuit of a female
Blackbuck was actually a two-image combination—that is, the animals were
drawn separately and the final composition achieved by combining them both
together. As one can see,
especially in this instance, the medium is not actually suited to the concept
as ink, being very specifically a precise medium, cannot actually accommodate
the ‘blur’ of action and the final product can only be termed an approximation
of reality. Other illustrators too
have attempted to bridge the gap—for example, the time lapse drawing by
George Founds representing a Barn Owl Tytoalba catching a murid rodent in the dark
(Anonymous 1972)—but these have a sense of stiltedness and unnaturalness
that cannot be avoided when detail is the onus of the composition.
Cameos/Sketches (Image 11): Having said that pen and ink is not the ideal medium to depict action,
we are confronted with a conundrum—an example being Michael Ayrton’s drawing “Mijbil in a
glass tank” of a Smooth-coated Otter Lutrogale perspicillata chasing fish underwater (Maxwell
1960). This and other exceptions to
the rule were possible because the artists were spontaneous in their
observation/perspective/interpretation, did not bother about detail, and
concentrated on movement to bring out the fluid grace and other aspects of the
action. Such drawings may lack
detail but they fulfill a fundamental need that
time-consuming, studio based drawing cannot express. The same book has sketches
by Sir Peter Scott and the author himself who shows a keen eye for simplicity
of line and a basic feel for movement—and one is always reminded of Ralph
Thompson’s drawing of a young Mediterranean Tortoise Testudo graeca in the process of hatching out of an egg
(Durrell 1964). The drawings by Ayrton and Thompson influenced the rendering of an Indian
Eagle Owl in the process of capturing its prey.
Applications of B & W pen and ink
illustration
Illustrations for books and journal
articles (Images 12 & 13): As mentioned earlier,
the most fundamental use of B & W pen and ink drawings is for illustrative
purposes in the print media, especially in books. Pitchandikulamtoo has experimented with the application and the results were found to be more
than satisfactory. In addition to
commissions for popular literature (Wrey 2012), it
has also undertaken to illustrate journal articles, including some in this one
as well as a ‘sister publication’ (Ramanujam 2007,
2010).
Bookmarks and post cards (Images 14 &
15): Pitchandikulam has taken every opportunity to publicise the plight of the threatened
tropical dry evergreen forest, the indigenous forest type that is limited to
the coastal areas of the Coromandel. Among the various media involved, are bookmarks and postcards
which also carry informative text (in both Tamil and English because its
sphere of activity is rural Tamil Nadu) and a biodiversity conservation
message.
Biodiversity based poster (Image 16): Identification of human-impacted life forms was found to be crucial to
conservation education in the region—especially where little-understood
creatures were the focus of attention. This poster of the “Common Snakes of Tamil Nadu” put up in nearly every
school in this region, and enhanced by the efforts of the environment education
departments of Auroville, has had far-reaching
effects and has contributed a lot towards snakes being acknowledged and
tolerated as biological control agents—at least among the generation of
educated adults and youngsters.
Ecologically oriented posters (Image 17): As discussed earlier, the genre of poster art produced by Pitchandikulam is a combination of research and classroom
poster illustration (Ramanujam & Brooks
2011). This drawing of the fauna of
the tropical dry evergreen forest is augmented with informative text - again in
both the native language and English, since it should be user-friendly to rural
audiences.
Confluent posters (Image 18): This is one genre that is unique to the style produced here—viz.,
one poster continuing on to another and thereby producing a visually striking
combination of continuous images. This example is actually a set of three posters depicting a typical
wetland along the Coromandel Coast from freshwater, through estuarine (brackish
water) habitats to the point of confluence with the Bay of Bengal (and this
could actually progress into the marine realm in the near future). A wide variety of different creatures
are depicted (over 150 species) and the overriding graphic representation is
the ‘web of life’ with predation playing a prominent role.
However much one would like to believe in
the medium of pen and ink as a true art form, one has to confront the reality
that ink is a precise medium of reproduction and, even within the genre of B
& W illustration/art, it is a hardcorerepresentation relying on clarity of line. Though pointillism and hatching/cross hatching can give a sense of depth
and shade, they cannot actually replicate the delicacy, subtleties and
sensitivities of graphite and wash and great care has to be taken not to fudge
the divide between ‘preciseness’ and ‘likeness’. In this sense, B & W ink
illustration could be termed to be the most exacting form of science
based drawings. Also,
science based ink drawings have yet to come to terms with ‘creativity’. ‘Creativity’ is a term of significance
concerning the ‘arts’ and much bandied about by artists and art critics. Among the various genres of
animal-inspired drawings—for example, those of SciScott and Jon Tremaine whose conceptualizations border
on stylization and abstraction—there seems to be a fundamental yearning
to express oneself since there is a vast availability of inspiring imagery
concerning the natural world and nearly everyone can express oneself in a
personal way. But can these interpretations
be classed as wildlife art? The answer seems to be a resounding ‘no’ as a
fundamental goal of any science based image is to precisely capture
naturalistic proportion, form and detail. To the artistic community this may sound limiting and lacking in
‘creativity’ - but what exactly is ‘creativity’? Is it a contortion of natural
features? Is it a misrepresentation of proportion? Or is it simply a way to
shock the audience? To take refuge in Larry Provence’s theology: “Art always
manages to put together objects in perspectives that bring fascination. Authors take us places we have never been ……. Science has arranged its findings in a progressive
way, finding upon finding, discovery upon discovery, application upon
application, knowledge upon knowledge ……. Who has
discovered a new shape … a new sound … a new colour ….Do people really create? …………… Only God can create, Man just rearranges”
(Provence 1983). And we could add
‘contort’ and ‘misrepresent’ to round off the sermon.
But in the end we are again confronted
with another conundrum: is not Ernst Heinrich Haeckel’s work (1974) a true work
of creative art? Has it not crossed the fine divide between reality and the
abstract? In this regard, could we contemplate how the popular adage “art and science”
came into being? Could it not be because our predecessors saw some worth in
combining imagery with science? One has only to conjure early memories of one’s
school days to realize why science cannot exist without imagery, and vice
versa, the need for simple monochrome diagrammatic representations to enhance
our understanding of organisms. Whatever the reason may be, there is an innate compulsion encoded in our
genes to represent our thoughts and feelings visually - which is not surprising
since for thousands of years the human experience of the world was charted
using animal signs (Berger 1980) and even today wildlife imagery continues to
generate an appreciation for the natural world, and advance the concern of the
public for conservation in general and the conservation of wildlife in
particular.
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