Ian Murphy

Posted on by art_teacher_mcr

Artist Ian Murphy creates drawings, paintings, prints and mixed-media pieces inspired by architecture and different textures. As well as using his sketchbook to draw and think about his ideas, he makes large-scale work and uses lots of materials to create distressed surfaces that he paints and draws over the top of.

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Ian Murphy Drawing - Venetian Scroll - Mixed Media
Venetian Scroll. Oil paint, mixed media & Graphite on paper
75cm x 75cm
Ian Murphy Painting - Heading East - Mixed Media
Heading East. Oil and mixed media on paper
41cm x 41cm

Ian Murphy is a British artist who travels the world to capture exquisite vistas and explore different architectural styles. After studying Fine Art and Art & Design at A-Level, Ian Murphy studied at university in Sheffield and gained his degree in Fine Art, Painting and Printmaking.

Ian Murphy often uses different types of papers to create layers in his backgrounds. What papers can you see in the pieces above? Why do you think this is? What effect do the layers of paper in the background have on the work?

If you’d like some help writing your annotations in Art or Photography, look no further.

THE ART TEACHER

GCSE Art Annotation Assistant

Build your own analysis step by step. Use the prompts to make links between what you see, how the artist worked, the mood created and your own ideas.

What are you analysing?

Analyse an artwork using the questions below.

Teachers: share this assistant with your class
STEP 01

Content

Look closely at the artwork and describe what is visible before thinking about its meaning.

Describe visible details such as people, objects, setting, colours, shapes and actions. Focus on what you can actually see; save ideas about meaning for later.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Can you be more precise? What details tell you this?

Think about the focal point, scale, unusual details and where your eye travels.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Where does your eye move next? How has the artist guided it?

STEP 02

Form

Explore the visual language: line, shape, colour, tone, texture, pattern, space, form and composition.

Choose the elements you can support with visible evidence.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Can you name a specific area of the artwork as evidence?

Look at the overall palette. Consider whether it is warm, cool, limited, complementary, analogous, contrasting, muted or vibrant, and notice where colours appear.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

How would you describe the overall palette? Which colours work together or contrast? Is the scheme warm, cool, limited, muted or vibrant, and how does it affect the artwork?

Connect two or more choices, such as colour and mood, line and movement, or tone and depth.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Does the colour strengthen the mood, or does another element change the effect?

STEP 03

Process

Think about materials, methods and visible evidence of how the artwork may have been made.

Use visible clues such as marks, layering, edges, surface and finish.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

What visual evidence supports your idea? Could the mark have been made another way?

Choose a process you could test in your own sketchbook, rather than simply copy the finished image.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

What would you change about the technique to make it your own?

STEP 04

Mood

Explain the feeling or atmosphere and link it to visible choices. Avoid treating one colour as having only one meaning.

Choose precise words, such as tense, calm, energetic, uneasy, playful or lonely.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Could another viewer feel differently? Which details support your interpretation?

Look at the whole palette and connect it with tone, composition, subject and marks.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Which parts of the colour scheme help create this mood? Are other features—such as tone, line, texture, shape or composition—also contributing? Could the same palette create a different mood in another artwork?

STEP 05

Your Response

Make clear links between what you noticed and what you plan to do next.

Think about an approach, not copying the artist’s exact image.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

How could you combine this with an idea, material or subject from your own project?

Make your next step specific and practical.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

How will you judge whether the experiment worked? What could you change if it does not?

STEP 01

Content

Look closely at the photograph. Describe what is visible before interpreting its meaning.

Describe the subject, setting, objects, people, gestures and details actually visible in the photograph.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

What small detail might another viewer overlook?

Identify the focal point and consider framing, viewpoint, foreground and background.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

How might a different crop or viewpoint change what you notice?

STEP 02

Composition and Light

Examine framing, camera angle, focus, depth of field, exposure, contrast, light and colour or monochrome.

Consider the crop, rule of thirds, leading lines, symmetry, viewpoint, negative space and the relationship between foreground and background.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

What would change if the camera were moved higher, lower or closer?

Look at the direction and quality of light, highlights, shadows, contrast and the palette. Black-and-white photographs can be analysed through tonal range.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Could the lighting be natural, artificial or mixed? What evidence supports your answer?

Consider focus, depth of field, motion blur, shutter speed and how these direct attention. Do not assume the camera settings are known.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

How would a wider depth of field or a faster shutter speed change the image?

STEP 03

Photographic Process

Investigate how the image might have been captured and produced. Consider digital editing, analogue darkroom techniques and physical alterations made by hand to photographic prints.

Use evidence to discuss lens choice, camera position, exposure, shutter speed, aperture, film grain, digital noise or editing. Only claim a method when it is known.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Could this effect have been created in-camera, through digital editing, in the darkroom or by physically altering a print? What evidence can you see?

Consider digital adjustments and retouching; analogue darkroom methods such as dodging, burning and photograms; and physical editing by hand, such as cutting, tearing, folding, stitching, scratching, collage, drawing, painting or layering onto a printed photograph. Only describe methods as facts when you have evidence.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Compare digital editing, darkroom manipulation and editing a print by hand. How might stitching, collage, scratching or painting onto the photograph change its meaning or mood?

STEP 04

Mood and Meaning

Interpret the photograph, supporting your ideas with visible evidence rather than assumptions.

Use precise language and connect it to light, tone, framing, focus and subject matter.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

Could a different viewer interpret the same image differently? Why?

Consider context, storytelling, documentary or staged approaches, and what is included or excluded by the frame. Distinguish observation from interpretation.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

What might be happening outside the frame? How does that affect your interpretation?

STEP 05

Your Photographic Response

Turn your analysis into a practical experiment for your own photography.

Choose a compositional or technical approach to explore, rather than copying the photograph.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

How could you achieve a similar effect with either a digital camera or analogue film?

Plan your subject, location, framing and light, then decide whether to edit digitally, experiment in the darkroom or alter a physical print by hand. Explain how you will compare results.

Sentence starter:

Challenge question

How could you develop one photograph further through digital editing, darkroom techniques or cutting, stitching, collage or drawing on a print?

STEP 06

Your annotation

Read, edit and connect your ideas. This is a draft, so make sure it reflects what you actually observed and thought.

Spelling support applies common corrections across answer boxes and the final draft, alongside your browser’s English spell checker. Always check suggested changes. Feedback helps you develop your own ideas; it does not grade your work.

Cascade of Light. Oil paint, mixed media on canvas
92cm x 92cm

If you look very carefully at Ian Murphy’s paintings, you will notice a lot of subtle, pastel colours on top of rich layers of textures. The use of a rough surface adds to the ‘aged’ effect, and gives us an impression of the location that inspired the artwork. It is very clear what the subject is, but sometimes Ian Murphy’s use of colour could be described as abstract. Although the colours have been exaggerated, the paintings still look realistic because of the artist’s use of tone. The very dark shadows next to the very light areas help to make the paintings look 3D.

What do you think Ian Murphy has used in the background of his paintings above? What materials, apart from the paint, have created the textures?

Ian Murphy - Wuzhan the fading light - mixed media drawing
Wuzhen, The Fading Light. Graphite and collage on paper

I have shared lessons and plans for a GCSE Art Landscape Project here – enjoy!

In his drawings, artist Ian Murphy is trying to capture a mood or atmosphere with his use of dark tones and gestural mark-making techniques. The soft, light grey tones in the water above have been created by rubbing into the graphite and removing it from the paper. This ‘fading’ reflects the title of the work. What other mark-making techniques can you see in his drawings?

Teaching Ian Murphy? This free interactive artist research quiz helps art students explore Ian Murphy’s collage and drawing techniques through knowledge questions, close looking, artwork comparisons and a creative drawing activity. Suitable for art lessons or independent study.

📚 Share this quiz with your classes

Set this artist quiz as a classroom activity, artist research task or homework. Students explore the artist, answer questions and upload their own drawing.

  • See who has completed the task: Check students' names, class groups, answers and scores.
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Each artist quiz has its own sharing link. Reuse that same artist link with as many classes as you like. Pupils enter their class name to keep results organised. Verify your email once to share; no teacher account or separate class links needed.

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Ian Murphy

Art Detective Quiz

Explore the artwork, follow the clues and make something of your own.

Your research sessionThe minimum 15-minute study period starts when you reach the quiz or press Start.
Take your time! Look carefully at the artist's work, think about your answers and develop your own drawing. Spend at least 15 minutes on this challenge, but there's no rush — you can take as long as you need.
01

Artist detective: knowledge check

Find correct answers and clues by looking carefully at the artist's work and reading the information on this page. Some questions have several correct answers.

1. Which themes are explored in this artist’s work?

Think about the ideas behind the artworks, not just the materials.

This artist page does not give enough evidence for an automatically marked answer. Explain your ideas instead.

2. What materials does this artist use to create their work?

Examine the artwork closely and read the article. Select every material supported by what you find.

Select all that apply. Include evidence in your written answers below.
3. Which techniques or artistic approaches can you identify?

Look for evidence of the artist’s process and how the work is made.

Select all that apply. Include evidence in your written answers below.
4. Which subjects appear in or are described as part of the artist’s work?

Consider the images as well as the artist profile.

Select all that apply. Include evidence in your written answers below.
5. Which formal elements are specifically discussed or emphasised?

Look for line, tone, colour, pattern, space, shape, form and texture in the artist’s work.

Select all that apply. Include evidence in your written answers below.
6. Which subject best completes this sentence about Ian Murphy?

Look for what the artist depicts in their work.

Complete the idea from the artist's article

Artist Ian Murphy creates drawings, paintings, prints and mixed-media pieces inspired by ________ and different textures.
Select one answer. Look for a word or phrase with the closest meaning.
7. Which technique best completes this sentence about Ian Murphy?

Look for how the artist makes their work.

Complete the idea from the artist's article

If you look very carefully at Ian Murphy's paintings, you will notice a lot of subtle, pastel colours on top of rich ________ of textures.
Select one answer. Look for a word or phrase with the closest meaning.

Take the time you need to finish every mission. You can submit after at least 15 minutes, but it is fine to take longer. Bronze starts at 60%, Silver at 75% and Gold at 90% in the automatically marked rounds.

What materials will you need to make artwork like Ian Murphy?

Here are the materials I recommend to make artwork like Ian Murphy. I generally suggest paying for quality products which will last longer and give you a better finish. Particularly with oil paints and brushes.

Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Paint Set

Hog Bristles Professional Paint Brush Set

Soft Chalk Pastel Set

Ian Murphy - Emperor's Dragon II - Graphite - Drawing
The Emperor’s Dragon II. Graphite, mixed media on paper
114 x 58 cm approx
Ian Murphy - Vigilant and Proud - mixed media drawing
Vigilant and Proud. Graphite & mixed media on paper
110cm x 94cm
Ian Murphy - Three Kings in the Chasm - drawing graphite
Three Kings in the Chasm. Graphite & collage on paper
160 x 110cm approx

Click here if you would like to see different landscape artists!

Ian Murphy has recently started to put excellent tutorial videos on his YouTube channel, I’ve found them really useful in lessons.

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What do you think of Ian Murphy’s artwork? How could you describe it? Let me know in the comments! If you have found any of these resources useful please share this site on your networks / socials – thanks! 🙂

DOWNLOAD an Ian Murphy Artist Research handout to use in your lesson. It includes all of the facts and images, and has lesson tasks for students to complete. The resources is available to anyone who is a member of the Art Teacher Club.

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6 thoughts on “Ian Murphy”

  1. His pieces “Three Kings In The Chasm” and “Heading East” are powerful!!! Great use of atmospheric perspective and strong focal point! Powerful!!!

    Reply

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Published by art_teacher_mcr

Making and teaching art. Based in Manchester.