Sketching is a way of awakening and sharpening our awareness
Walt Stanchfield, Drawn to Life
I recently read a book named Leonardo’s Notebooks. It contains Leonardo Da Vinci's advice on drawing and the discoveries he made in his sketchbook nearly
600 years ago -- and yet the notes are truly timeless because they resonate with what teachers at CalArts recommend their students focus on.
I loved the
notes, so I have decided to write out a few of the things I took from the book:
1. Study muscles and how they work. Then you’ll be able to understand the body and the cause of each movement in all the positions and actions.
2. Don’t copy when you draw. Then you’ll simply act as a mirror, unconscious of the existence of the form you are drawing. Analyze what you’re drawing.
3. Observe people out in real life and take note of their behavior. Then sketch them out in a “little book which you should always carry with you.”[1]
4. Don’t draw from previous masters and artists to understand design and drawing. Study natural objects.
5. Draw passionately and understand/feel what you are drawing -- “that figure is most admirable which by its actions best expresses the passion that animates it.”[2]
6. Draw what your character is thinking by means of attitudes and gestures; be clear.
7. When trying to “invent” an animal/monster, make the parts resemble those of some other natural being.
8. When you want to memorize a thing you have studied, draw it multiple times. Then draw it without the model. Compare your drawing to the model and note where you have gone wrong. Then return to the model and draw what you got wrong again and again till you have it well in your mind.
9. Study variations in faces so that when you are out sketching from real-life, you can easily recognize which type of nose, say, you are observing.
10. Draw together with others. You’ll see where you lack in skill and this realization will lead you to careful study. Also, you’ll want to be among those who are more praised than you and this praise from others will spur you on. Furthermore, you can learn from the drawings of others who do better than yourself.
11. Ask other people for feedback about your drawings. It doesn’t matter whether they are artists themselves or not. Consider the feedback you get and decide whether you agree or not.
12. To really learn how to draw, you have to want to learn it – you have to see the beauty in what you’re drawing. As Da Vinci writes, “Just as eating contrary to the inclination is injurious to the health, so study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.”[3]
13. Knowledge, in all its forms, is good. Even when you discover you don´t like a particular subject matter or approach to drawing, it is better than being ignorant of the thing you study. Studying and finding your artistic likes and dislikes helps make you become a better artist.
I find these notes very inspiring -- not
only because of Da Vinci's insights and advice, but also because of the nature
of how he gathered all this information. He didn't have any "how to" books to study from. He
didn't have the internet to do a wealth of research for composing his
paintings. Yet he was able to discover so many things about what makes an
artist great. He went out and studied the world and experimented with what he
had. I think that's part of what has made him so legendary. The art of the
Renaissance continues to amaze me and, I think, everyone because of artists
like Da Vinci who studied the real world and conveyed their unique image of it through careful
observation.
Above all, this kind of unique vision and understanding of the world is what CalArts is about -- the students there are encouraged to find their own solutions and experiment with methods of drawing. One way to do that is by having a sketchbook and making observations.
So if I could take only one thing away
from this book, I'd say I have been inspired to continue to go out and make observations about the
real world in my sketchbook -- just like I did for my CalArts application.
-Christine-
[1] H.
Anna Suh, edit., Leonardo’s Notebooks (New York: Black
Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 2005), 21.
[2] Ibid., 40.
[3] Ibid.,
302.