Debra Keirce

The Engineering of Realism - 1. Defining the unit operations and system boundaries

What does a chemical engineer mean when they talk about defining the unit operations and system boundaries?

Well, it's figuring out what the whole project looks like, where it stops and ends, and then breaking it down into separate steps that you can evaluate and optimize, to make everything run more efficiently.

For me, when I approach a painting or drawing with this mindset, it looks like this:

1. What are my system boundaries? 

- subject

- narrative 

- focal point

- composition

If I am painting a landscape where the place that a stream meets the horizon is the subject of my story, I am going to put lots of contrast and highlights in the horizon line. This is very different from if I am painting a pet portrait, and I need to make sure all the fur is arranged just like the owner is used to seeing it in their dog (it's part of the likeness) but I also want the story to be about the playfulness of the pup, so I need to be sure the focal point is its eyes that are depicted in such a way that the "smile" with highlights and proportions just so.

Every artwork has its own set of system boundaries - things that determine how I make decisions as I create the piece, from beginning to end. These are non negotiable, and I lay them out at the start of every commission. I can't mess with them. They are the framework for the piece I am drawing or painting.

2. What are unit operations? They are the individual steps in my process. Each one can and will be optimized. Each one has a beginning, an end, and a duration length that can be improved upon. Each is essential to the end result. I think of it like a chain. Each of the links serves a purpose

- composition

- drawing

- undertones

- notan

- local color

- turning form

- details

Composition: This is determined in large part by the story I am trying to convey. I need to identify the focal point, the number of elements in the artwork, and whether I will be using bold or subdued color. Of course, much more goes into composing an artwork, but you get the idea. If I am working on a commission, this is where I check in with my collector for approval. If I am painting for a venue, I check in with myself and do a little role play, as if I am a collector. Either way, the goal is to solidify proportions, design and colors before I proceed.

Drawing: In my practice, I create a drawing with the sole intent of transferring it to my panel. I can make mistakes, changes, and even add or subtract things as I draw. Then, once I feel I have a good representation of the composition, I transfer just two things to my panel from the drawing. 1. Contours and 2. dashed outlines of the notan. In this way, I transfer what some call a "cartoon" to my panel. It gives me all of the proportions and important transition points I will need to paint or draw.

Undertones: These are the colors that are underneath the colors you first identify when you look at an object. Without them, nothing looks real. It looks like a Pixar animation. So for example, a banana is yellow. That is the local color. The undertones are the browns and greens that are hiding under the yellow. We see them, but we don't usually say them when asked what color we are looking at. I identify the undertones, and often I will lay them down in an exaggerated fashion, to make sure they don't get lost as more layers of paint are applied. 

Notan: This is a Japanese term that means black and white. It is the dark side and the light side, the parts of every form on either side of the terminator. Nothing on the light side is ever darker than anything on the dark side. Photographs don't live by this rule. But when we "simplify" our notan, and stick to the lit side/dark side unit operation, everything looks so much more realistic. The more we can create masses of light and dark in our work, the more realism we achieve. This is the whole concept behind chiaroscuro.

Local Color: This is the flat, single value color layer that I apply on top of the previous unit operations. In this step, I am acknowledging the yellow of the banana, the flesh color of a human, the green of a landscape. I think of this like a paint by number. Each shape has a color associated with it. 

Turning Form: Here's where the fun begins. This is where things start to look real. In this unit op, I begin to turn form in two ways. First, I use value. This doesn't mean I just add black to darken things. In fact, burnt umber is my darkening agent of choice, because it has warm and cool pigments in it. You have to think about whether your shadows should be cool or warm, to deliver the highest level of realism. Secondly, I turn form with color. Every round object on the planet displays alternating warm and cool hues, as you travel along the curves in its form. A white sheet on a laundry line on a sunny day has pinks, blues, yellows and purples in its folds.

Details: Finally, and this can be several layers of paint, I work on the details. This is where I add specular highlights, I make sure transitions of value and color are smooth, with no breaks. I evaluate edges to be sure they are appropriately sharp or soft. I actually work under a 10x magnifying glass. For me personally, I am NOT trying to eliminate topography and create art that looks like a photo. I actually want my art to look better than any photo I could ever take. So I use every tool, including texture, exaggerated chroma, value and hue, contrast, etc. to achieve my goal of the most realism possible.

Many artists use these same system boundaries and unit operations, even if they don't call it that, or think of them the way I do. Most of us do not employ them the same way. Some of us use bold color and some some stick to pastels. Some of us use the full value scale, and some compress it. We all have our own way of doing things.

But, by approaching each artwork I create in this manner, I have the foundation for the next steps I will discuss as I embark on my monthly blogs about engineering realism in my art journey.

Thank you for joining me on this adventure!