Leonardo da Vinci
Choosing Leonardo da Vinci for my fan art poster was easy. I have favourite films and music but da Vinci is someone who I have always had huge respect for and one of the people who most inspires me. He's obviously considered a genius and admired by everyone for his talent but I also have a personal, life long obsession with his drawings and his desire to know as much as he could to understand about the world.
After a slightly dodgy start we managed to produce some prints that turned out really well and were what I had hoped.
Alternative interpretation, not a facsimile
I thought it would be a good idea to simply copy a few of his drawings and paintings to get a feel for which areas of his work I wanted to use. Quickly it was clear that copying his drawings is difficult in itself as they are technically some of the best drawings ever so I needed to use a different method.
I also wanted the poster to be a modern interpretation of his work rather than an ineffectual copy.
Why da Vinci? What about him do I admire most?
I thought about what works of da Vinci's most people think of and there were the obvious ones such as Mona Lisa so I tried to create a modern vision of her using reference photos/found images. A more graphic style make it feel more contemporary but I thought hard again about what aspects I personally like but his paintings aren't the main reason I'm a fan of his. I needed to celebrate his drawings without copying them badly somehow.
The two sketchbook pages above are exploring the famous images often associated with da Vinci.
Such an iconic image has been reimagined thousands of times. Maybe another version is a cliche in itself.
I looked at the anatomical drawings which I find both technically and aesthetically incredible. I copied a few of the drawings and gradually tried to isolate and simplify the complexity of his drawing style.
I find when I draw from references in a fluid, non exact way, that the most important shapes and tones are brought to attention and any other details are lost. I focused on the light and darks and wanted a simple graphic representation.
Collage and black ink worked together as a striking and vivid version of his anatomical drawings of the muscles in the human body. The Dover book had some perfect images as the old etchings were from a period when realism was required and they reminded me of the renaissance paintings but also Leonardo's anatomical drawings and studies he did for paintings.
Another thing about da Vinci was that he never finished many of his projects. I seem to have a soft spot for unfinished works of any artist, and illustrators whose work is selective and seemingly abandoned and da Vinci often felt he could never truly represent the beauty of something and only ever make an inferior version. So cutting out a section of the complete etchings gives a them new meaning, and immediately focuses attention on the anatomical structure as well as a non final piece of artwork.
I was really happy with the positives after applying the ink. It had the modern feel I wanted and a bold, solid aesthetic which i knew would work on screen print. The limbs remind me of renaissance paintings and the black ink adds the anatomical muscles.
Less is more
The problem I've been having most on the course is probably managing my time for each project. Either rushing near the end or not spending enough time playing with ideas. But because my screen print partner could only do the following Monday my time was halved which helped me focus and produce one of the better pieces of work I've done in probably the shortest time.
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