Historic inspiration for drawing Fabric- Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was a man of many talents. He was an Italian painter, sculptor, architect and much more. He was one of the leading artists of the High Renaissance. Most of his paintings are on panels. I have used this artist for his drapery drawings which are thought to be preparations for later paintings. Most of these fabric studies have been drawn on "teal di Lino" or Linen Canvas and there are 16 known sketches altogether. This study shown below was completed around 1470 in grey tempera (an egg-based paint) and painted with a brush. This drapery study is one of the most famous of fabric falling on a seated figure.

Like the artist Alison Watt, Da Vinci also draws the fabric in the absence of the figure. This gives the fabric a greater presence and fills the entire picture which gives it movement. Da Vinci's works have inspired my own due to their photo realistic effect. His drawings look as if the fabric has been placed in front of the viewer. His works are examples of fine art. I am intrigued by his usage of light and dark. It is very easy to distinguish where the source of the light is. This is an incredible strength of Da Vinci's work and is part of the reason why his drawings are so realistic. 

Da Vinci has drawn fabric in different compositions. The image above shows the fabric falling around a figure. The image below shows the fabric sweeping across the floor:

And the image below this one shows a section of fabric in a position which is hard to define:

However, in each of his drawings it should be noted that his colour pallet is very monotone. Da Vinci uses black and white with a range of grey tones in between. By using these colours, shadow is beautifully created and the folds within the fabric are beautifully crafted. White is used to uplift the fabric and create a weightlessness effect whereas black is used to add depth and heaviness to the fabric and grey is used to blend these two colours together.

As stated previously, it is thought that these drapery studies completed by Da Vinci were in preparation for future paintings, and therefore they have been painted with a brush. By using this artist as inspiration for my own work, I would use Da Vinci's technique of light and dark. I would take inspiration from his colour pallet and also take inspiration from the paper in which he chooses to paint on. Da Vinci paints of canvases which are often grey or various shades of brown. This is an unusual choice of colour, however forces the painting to reveal itself from its background. The lightness of the background causes a dim light to be reflected upon the fabric which adds to Da Vinci's strength when using light and dark as it creates a dim glow surrounding the fabric. Another strength to Da Vinci's work is his allowance for the background colour to shine through. Not all of the fabric is coloured in. Therefore by using a complementary, dim background colour such as a light brown or light grey (as shown in the images above), the background morphs into the drawing being created and becomes a part of the painting and so the whole structure of the canvas, background and drawing are unified and becomes one. This is a beautiful aspect of Da Vinci's drawings which I wish to display in my own. 

Furthermore, Da Vinci often has a large amount of negative space which surrounds the fabric. This allows the drapery to spread out and find its own natural position. Da Vinci styles the fabric he draws to be natural. He allows the fabric to find its own length and for it to hang in its own way. I feel this is an important concept when drawing fabric and I hope to reveal this in my own drawings. 

The image above is of my artist research page in the style of Leonardo Da Vinci. This page is bigger than A1 and shows hanging fabric. I have drawn this fabric using coffee and watercolour. I have also researched Da Vinci's style of writing and this has inspired my title. I have added pictures of Da Vinci's work and annotated around the page. 

Since researching this artist, I have created a response. By using both Alison Watt and Alasdair Thompson, I have produced plastered pieces of fabric which can be seen in my previous post. I have therefore developed this idea further and have drawn from the pieces which i have plastered. 

I chose to draw this specific plastered fabric piece as this was created in the style of Leonardo Da Vinci. I focused on the way in which the fabric would hang if it was nailed in two positions to the wall. I focused on the folds and height within the fabric. Therefore I decided that this would be a very interesting piece to draw. I drew this drapery piece on brown paper, which I chose because it was a dim colour and would complement the black and white monotone that I would use to colour in the fabric. Furthermore, it would be easier to allow this background colour to shine through. I drew the outline in graphite pencil and took photographs step by step as I developed the drawing. 

Unlike Da Vinci, who paints his drapery pieces, i have created my own piece using black, white and grey shades of chalk. This was a time consuming piece and took around a week to complete. I have mounted the piece on white and black paper to complement the colour in the drawing. My drapery piece is currently being displayed in the school and it looks brilliant on the wall as it looks like it has been nailed to the wall and left to hang. 

I enjoyed creating this drapery piece and i would like to draw something like this for my final piece, perhaps more personal like Alasdair Thompson but in the style of Da Vinci. To improve this drawing i could perhaps create more areas of dark as it is unclear as to where the source of light is coming from. This is because when i drew this observational piece, the light was facing towards the fabric piece and therefore spread amongst the folds rather than on one particular side.