Lessons from the old Master

primarily renowned as a painter, he was also a polymath whose other areas of interest included being a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, caricaturist, scientist, mathematician, engineer, fine artist, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer.
Leonardo is famed for his outstanding technical aptitude and his ability to create or conceptualise products that were way ahead of his time.
He toyed with the idea to make a helicopter, and a tank, and he concentrated solar power. He also developed designs for a calculator, the double hull and outlined a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics.
Though his findings had no direct influence on later science, da Vinci made important discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics.
His most famous works include the iconic Mona Lisa painting. He also painted The Last Supper, perhaps most reproduced religious painting of all time.
Leonardo’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man, his various caricatures and cross-hatching techniques on ink drawings are widely considered to be his primary inventions.
It is highly unlikely that any Zimbabwean artist can match the versatility of the great Italian inventor.
But what is clear from his career is that it is possible for one to specialise in more than one form of art.
The elements of art and design are basically the same therefore there is no reason for any artist to experiment with other forms of creativity outside their areas of specialty.
The seven elements of design are line, shape, direction, size, texture, colour and value.
Line is the linear mark created by a drawing tool or that, which is created when two objects meet.
Line is widely used in two-dimensional artistic impressions and if one is a fine artist specialising in life-like depictions of subjects, he or she may use the same lines to create images from imagination that may be used in many different ways.
A shape may be described as a self contained defined area of geometric or organic form. A positive shape in a painting automatically creates a negative shape around it.
Similarly, in photography, positive and negative spaces are delineated by shapes. Knowledge of such spaces may help a prospective sculptor to create pieces that shows contrasts in textures as a way to communicate a particular message to the audience.
All lines in any composition have direction, namely horizontal, vertical or oblique.
Horizontal suggests calmness, stability and tranquility. Vertical gives a feeling of balance, formality and alertness while oblique suggests movement and action.
Direction may be manipulated in photography to emphasise or heighten meaning, so too in fashion design drawings, so as to stress movement.
Size is simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape in relation to that of another.
Editorial cartoonists frequently exaggerate size to highlight disparities in power, magnitude or significance. If one can exaggerate, so too can he or she take photographs from particular angles to emphasise disparities between one object or the other.
Texture is the surface quality of a shape. A surface may be rough, smooth, soft, hard glossy among other surface qualities. Texture may be physical or visual.
Most detailed two-dimensional artworks and any three-dimensional compositions have well defined textures and an artist with a good understanding of it may move back and fourth within the art disciplines producing a variety of works.
Colour and value relate to the type and intensity of a shade. Various combinations are available in all forms of art and one may find it easily relatable to shift from one discipline to another. Studies of Leonardo da Vinci’s work shows that his drawing, painting and sculpturing techniques were closely related and thus epitomized the Renaissance art movement that also has his contemporary, Michelangelo as a significant contributor. The Renaissance art movement lasted from 1400 to about 1520.
Da Vinci’s paintings and drawings were characterised by emphasis on lighting, linear and atmospheric perspective, anatomy, foreshortening and development of distinct characterisation. What made Leonardo’s work unique were the innovative techniques that he used in preparing paint and fresh was of applying it onto the canvass.
His exhaustive knowledge of human and animal figure, light, botany and geology, his interest in physiognomy made his work stand out. He studied how humans expressed emotion in expression and gesture, and during his most productive period he actively sought people with deformities to use as models.
His sculptures were not that different. They exhibited distinct awareness of anatomy and proportions, an extension of his drawing style.
Simply put, he was a master at understanding the human body, how it moved and the direction and degree of moving components.
What I find most fascinating about da Vinci’s work is his caricatures. Though eminent artist and principal da Vinci biographer Giorgio Vasari states that if Leonardo saw a person with an interesting face he would follow them around all day observing them, the drawings look too exaggerated to ever be considered as portraits.
Later-day artists such as Impressionist Claude Monet and French caricaturist Honoré Daumier may be famed for popularising the cartoon genre but it was da Vinci centuries before who started experimenting with such drawings. What Leonardo’s caricatures show is that the old master may have been preoccupied with perfection, beauty and attention to detail; he found time to experiment with exaggerations and distortion.
One may be a sculptor, but that does not mean he/she should be boxed into that discipline alone.
Trying out drawing for example may yield interesting results. If one can appreciate a great painted or drawn composition, can the same person not click the button when seeing a masterpiece through the lens?
Art is the dominant field, and one may specialise in one discipline or the other but a competent is capable of finding his or her way through any field. Perhaps the biggest impediment for ‘mono discipline’ artists is fear. Fear of venturing outside the safe zone and entering the unknown.
But every artwork is a product of creativity, and sure enough, one has to be acquainted with the technical aspects of any genre, but a different perspective, or approach or a style can inspire and shape whole new ways of creating. Certainly, everyone may be a specialist in one genre or field, but knowing and understanding the processes related to other art forms provides the visual artists a fresh way to view the world, and communicate and connect better with their audience.
l Knowledge Mushohwe is The Herald’s graphic designer and the editorial cartoonist for H-Metro.