The Lessons of Leonardo da Vinci

Take Ideas from a Master Artist to Improve your Art

© Alina Bradford

Mar 14, 2006

Let Leo Inspire!, stock.exchange.com

Need inspiration? Leonardo da Vinci's work can spur hundreds of ideas.

Many artists, myself included, complain that they have nothing to draw, that their muse has left them high and dry. On days like this I try to look towards the masters for inspiration.

One day in particular I came across the sketchbook entries of Leonardo da Vinci. These were not the usual sketchbook musings that an artist is used to seeing. Included in this collection were sketches of the womb, a skull, and of course, the Vitruvian Man. Leonardo loved to sketch in a scientific way, taking apart the body, diagramming it, measuring the parts.

No doubt this is one of the reasons he became such a great artist. To draw or paint something well, you must dissect it and learn every aspect of its form. What we may think of as scientific mumbo-jumbo can actually make us better artists.

How can we let science be our muse?

  • Pick up a science-based magazine like Scientific American and try to draw a diagram like one found in the magazine.
  • Like to draw flowers? Find a book that describes the different parts of a flower, then try to draw them.
  • If you like to draw people, take a long look at Leonardo's Vitruvian Man and draw your own version. Also try making diagrams for babies and children. Don't forget to try your hand at drawing the bones themselves.
  • Draw all the life stages of an object. For example: draw an apple seed, a sprout, an apple tree, an apple, an apple sliced, and finally, an apple core or a withered, brown apple.
  • Take apart something mechanical like an old VHS tape, a broken radio, or a retractable pen and draw the pieces.
  • Find simple machines and draw them. Remember to diagram the different parts.

    • The copyright of the article The Lessons of Leonardo da Vinci in Painting/Drawing is owned by Alina Bradford. Permission to republish The Lessons of Leonardo da Vinci must be granted by the author in writing.



    Comments
    Apr 29, 2008 9:38 AM
    Guest :
    How do you draw vitruvian man
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