Mehretu didn’t just paint abstract shapes; she mapped the energy of human history, geography, and social movement. In a world that tries to categorize everything into neat little boxes, Mehretu's work stands as a timeless reminder that our lives are beautifully complex, deeply layered, and constantly in motion.
🌌 The Life Behind the Lens
Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Julie Mehretu moved to the United States as a child, an experience of migration that deeply influenced how she views maps, borders, and spaces. Her massive paintings are created through an intense, physical process involving teams of assistants, layers of transparent acrylic gel, and thousands of hand-drawn marks.
It was through observing the constant changes in global cities, protest movements, and architectural history that she found her unique visual language. Treating her canvases like abstract archaeological sites, she sands down older layers of paint to expose the history beneath. Her art is a human-first exploration of how past events leave permanent marks on our present world.
🎨 Techniques: Architectural Underlays & Mark-Making Explosion
Mehretu’s style is a masterclass in spatial depth and chaotic energy. Here is what made her work so distinct:
The Layered Resin Glaze: She builds her paintings by layering ink drawings on top of architectural plans, then sealing them under a clear acrylic gel before painting another layer on top. This creates a mesmerizing 3D depth where lines float at different levels.
The "Social Matrix" Grids: Deep within her paintings lie the literal bones of city plans, stadium blueprints, and airport maps. These structured lines represent the systems that humans build to organize society.
The Calligraphic Storm: On top of her rigid geometric structures, she unleashes an explosion of freehand, calligraphic marks, brush strokes, and spray-painted bursts. These marks represent individual human energy, rebellion, and emotion breaking free from societal constraints.
✨ How to "Mehretu" Your Own Art (Beginner Tips)
You don’t need a massive warehouse studio to use Mehretu’s incredible layering techniques in your digital or traditional work. Here’s how to start:
Layer Your Personal History: Next time you start an artwork, begin by sketching a simplified map of your childhood neighborhood or the blueprint of your bedroom on the very bottom layer. Then, turn the opacity down until it's a ghost image, and paint your main abstract thoughts directly over it.
Create a "Sand Down" Effect: In your digital program, use a low-opacity eraser with a textured edge to gently scratch away parts of your top layer. Revealing hints of the colors and lines buried beneath isn't "ruining" the piece—it's a powerful storytelling choice that shows your artwork has a rich history.
Contrast Order and Chaos: Spend 10 minutes drawing rigid, clean geometric shapes using a technical pen tool. Then, switch to a wild, loose paint brush tool and violently splash vibrant colors across the lines to watch the structure and chaos collide.
📚 Resources for Your Journey
Virtual Visit: Look through the online collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art to explore her massive, multi-panel retrospectives in high resolution.
Watch: Art21 featured documentaries tracking Julie Mehretu’s studio process to see exactly how she uses projection, masking tape, and sanding machines to build her pieces.
Tools: Look for "Drafting Blueprint" or "Technical Ink" brush packs for Procreate to give your initial layout layers a sharp, industrial feel.
📝 Artist Reminder: Mehretu’s work proves that we don't need to simplify our thoughts or emotions to make them understandable to the world. Let your art be as loud, layered, and magnificently complex as you are.
Kiah Kiean didn’t just document a location; he captured the rhythm and heartbeat of urban spaces. In a fast-paced world that relies on sterile digital photographs, Kiah Kiean's work stands as a timeless reminder that our shaky, imperfect lines hold far more life than a perfect lens.
🖋️ The Life Behind the Lens
Based in Penang, Malaysia, Ch'ng Kiah Kiean trained as an architect before completely transforming his relationship with lines. Realizing that rigid, structured architectural blueprints lacked the emotional soul of the streets, he pivoted fully into the world of urban sketching and fine art.
It was during his exploration of Penang's historic, weathered streets that he abandoned traditional steel nib pens altogether. By crafting his own drawing tools out of ordinary backyard twigs, he unlocked a highly expressive survival mechanism for capturing disappearing heritage spaces. His art became a human-first movement to preserve the spirit of changing neighborhoods through intuitive, raw observation.
🎨 Techniques: Twig Sketching & Controlled Splatters
Kiah Kiean’s style is a masterclass in dynamic line variation and balanced negative space. Here is what made his work so distinct:
The Unpredictable Twig Line: By using dry twigs dipped in Chinese ink, his lines naturally skip, puddle, and split. This ensures that no two marks are ever identical, creating a highly energetic visual texture.
The Harmony of Incomplete Shapes: He rarely closes his architectural shapes completely. A wall or a roofline is often left open to bleed into the empty paper, inviting the viewer's imagination to complete the structure.
Atmospheric Ink Splatters: He intentionally shakes his ink-soaked twigs over the paper to create random splatters and spots. This technique introduces an element of controlled chaos, mimicking the dust, movement, and natural grime of a living city street.
✨ How to "Kiah Kiean" Your Own Art (Beginner Tips)
You don’t need to be an expert illustrator to bring expressive motion into your digital or traditional work. Here’s how to start:
Embrace the Shaky Mark: Next time you sketch a building or a room, deliberately lose the ruler. Let your hand shake slightly and celebrate the wobbly lines. Allowing your linework to stay loose isn't "messy"—it's a powerful storytelling choice that gives a drawing immediate character and warmth.
Let the White Space Breathe: Don't fill every corner of your canvas. Leave large areas of the background completely blank, allowing your central sketch to simply fade out into nothingness at the edges.
Switch Your Grip: Hold your pen or Apple Pencil much further back—near the top instead of the tip. This forces you to lose total control over the fine details, naturally creating looser, more poetic marks.
📚 Resources for Your Journey
Virtual Visit: Explore his official portfolios online to study how he balances complex electrical wires and old shopfront architecture in his Penang series.
Watch: Urban Sketchers documentary clips showing Kiah Kiean actively whittling twigs and dipping them directly into ink bottles on location.
Tools: Look for "Splatter Paint" or "Rough Ink" brush packs for Procreate to experiment with building unpredictable ink blots on a digital screen.
📝 Artist Reminder: Kiah Kiean’s work reminds us that we don't need expensive, high-tech art supplies to make something extraordinary. Sometimes, the most beautiful stories are told with a broken stick and a bottle of ink.
If you did this tutorial let me see your work ! Tag me @byzahraartz or @diyvinci to your work we would love to share !
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Hi, I’m working on my old painting right now. I made it long ago. Now I am adding metallic colours in it. Bronze soil, golden sunshine and using lavender foil in lavender.
