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.