Learning From the Master Leonardo

I recently saw a documentary on our local PBS station about one of my favorite artists of all time, Leonardo da Vinci. One of my favorite artists of all time, and especially of the Renaissance, da Vinci was the true Renaissance man---artist, inventor, mathematician, scientist.  He is credited with being the first person to study the biology of the human body by dissecting cadavers, his notebooks filled with detailed figure drawings from those dissections.  He also studied how water moved, he even drew designs for the first flying machines

One of Leonardo's painting trademarks was the use of sfumato, which is a style that eliminates the use of contour lines and creates outlines with the use of color only. It gives the art a 'smoky' effect, which can add drama and realism to the painting.  One of his most famous examples is the portrait he painted known as Mona Lisa.

I have always been a fan of the sfumato technique, and often incorporate a version of it in my drawings.  Below is an example of my "Renaissance" style, an art class project I did, in which I borrowed heavily from the master of both technique and subject matter.  This Madonna and Child was drawn with charcoal pencil on charcoal paper, it was the preliminary drawing for a painting.  I tried to use the 'smoky' technique in the folds of Our Lady's gown, the background, and the skin folds.

In this drawing of  Playboy's very first Cyber Girl of the Year, Alicia Burley, I tried to use the shading to distinguish the various body parts from each other.  Alicia has such lovely curves, and this art seemed to lend itself to using a variation of the sfumato technique.

In my progression as an artist, it's important not to stagnate.  After watching this special on da Vinci, I have decided to try to incorporate the <b>shading sfumato</b> again in my art.  I hope you'll like it.

From Photo to Art--Alicia Burley

One of my all time favorite Playboy style drawings is of Playboy Model Alicia Burley.  Alicia progressed from Cyber Girl of the Week to 2004 Cyber Girl of the Year.  She is a beautiful, curvy woman, who smoldered with such raw sex appeal in each of her photos, without even trying.  This is one of those models that I "had to draw!"

I chose a photo from Alicia's Cyber Girl of the Month photo set, which was an outstanding series of photos.  Alicia has a very curvy, almost voluptuous figure, and and exotic look that I thought would lend well to a portrait.

I chose a 20" x 30" heavy Crescent Illustration board, with a lot of 'tooth' (very grainy).  While this type of board works well on larger pieces, it can be tough to get the exacting detail I strive for in some areas.  On the other hand, it really helps me 'rub' in the shading that I like to do, particularly around a woman's curves.

One challenge was the full front lighting that was used on Alicia---while it was easy to distinguish her body from the background, it really made it difficult to distinguish her hair.  I had to go over the reference pics over and over to make sure I captured it properly, and I'm still not sure if I did.

However, I am very pleased with how her figure came out.  As I said, Alicia smolders with a very erotic pose and gaze, and I wanted that in the drawing.

As for the finished art, my wife liked it so much that she had it matted and framed and it hangs in our rec room.  While I have created other nude  Playboy style drawings, this is the only nude that she has hung.

You can see a larger version of Alicia at my Fine Art America site.  I'd love to hear your comments on this piece.