This Russian duo produced very detailed and evocative etchings that look a few hundred years old (in fact they're from only about 20-30 years ago). The best collection of images I could find is at this website where you can read a bit of background too if you're interested.
Most of the designs are entirely imaginary but wonderfully communicative, like memorable drawings in really great children's books. You can feel what it's like to teeter at the edge of a deep chasm, to be in a dark grotto, or to be in a castle made of brittle and transparent glass. You can also sense the difference in mood between a lonely structure in a vast expanse, and a structure among a large clutter of similar structures. In almost all cases, Brodsky and Utkin use sections to convey the feel of these imaginary places.
Although these etchings are obviously far more intense than the sections you have been asked to draw, it's worth noting:
- the difference between above-ground spaces and below-ground spaces, and the effect of changing the direction and intensity of light;
- the investigation of strict geometry versus 'randomness';
- that although imaginary, we have a very good idea of the texture and materiality of these spaces, and how thick / solid / fragile / flimsy some elements are. But this doesn't mean that most of this stuff can be built;
- that the sections have information about what is beyond the section cut (i.e., what is in the background, or at the back of the 'room' that we are looking into); and
- that the artists here are also restricted to representing their ideas with black and white lines.
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