Lisa Honeywood
Matt Moseley
Word count: 630
My skulls drawings
Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Study of Anatomy”
In this essay I will be discussing an artist that has influenced my ideas and work. I will explain why the artist’s work interests me and what I believe are the ideas behind his work and how he expresses them through visual means.
I have chosen my skull drawings, which have been influenced and reflect the work of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Study of Anatomy”. The ideas behind his work were simply to record the scientific observations that he had discovered while studying the human anatomy and he was communicating these findings through visual means. This was part of his formal training which began with his apprenticeship to Andrea Del Verrocchio, his teacher insisting that all his pupils studied anatomy. This led to a passion for understanding the make up of the human body which he felt would improve his drawings. Later on therefore, he was given permission to dissect human corpses at the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. He also had the opportunity of looking at animal forms.
Da Vinci’s work interests me because of the way he was not only an artist, but he was also a sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician and more and used all these skills in his artwork and that he was open to new experiences. This is shown in his art, with accurate drawings of different studies and records. I also have an interest in his work because it seems in all his studies he has approached them sensitively and with a lot of expression. The material he used to create his studies is pencil, which give his drawings a detailed and specific look, making shadowing easier to create and making smaller details easier to sketch. The techniques that Da Vinci has used on his drawings include cross hatching on big shadowed areas giving the picture a more realistic depth to it. He also uses interesting angles when drawing his skulls, not missing any part of the anatomy.
The skull drawings I have created are influenced by Da Vinci’s work. I have an interest in drawing skulls, because of their composition and form. I also wanted to draw skulls as many artists use this traditional object in their artwork including Picasso’s “Goat’s skull, Bottle and Candle”, Paul Cezanne’s “Pyramid of Skulls” and Damien Hurst’s “For the Love of God” and I felt it would improve my artwork and therefore wanted to create my own original drawings of skulls. Skulls have intriguing shapes and angles on them and they also seem to give the sense of age. I also believe they have an eerie feel to them giving you a sense of wonder of what their life was like, and how they died. I have tried to create them as observational studies, trying to exaggerate the positions in which I could draw them. I used simple materials as Da Vinci did, including watercolours, pen and pencil which I think give the most realistic feel to them. I tried adding texture to my work as Da Vinci has created in his studies which give his work a personal “trademark”. Although his work is very scientific, I believe it still has great depth to it. It feels as though he has tried to add an artistic touch; he seems to have real enthusiasm in his work and created several thousand sketches for each study he had produced. This shows his real commitment to his subject.
In conclusion studying Da Vinci’s work has been an inspiration to my own. I will be using his influence in more of my work, particularly the in depth observational drawings. I will also apply other skills and knowledge in areas other than art into my work.
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