examining styles and techniques - amazon s3 · examining . styles and techniques . ... classical...

Examining SSttyy ll ee ss aanndd TTeecchhnniiqquueess

Brenda Hoddinott

Z-02 ADVANCED: DRAWING ON THE MASTERS This heavily illustrated article serves to define and compare technique and style, and discusses their relevance to drawings rendered between 1480 and 1600, and to students of today who study classical drawings. To enhance comprehension, a brief background of medieval drawing materials, tools, and techniques is provided.

The reverence that contemporary society places on the high renaissance is based on the innovative styles and techniques that were conceived and explored by artists who were true to themselves and not highly influenced or governed by others. Students of drawing during the high renaissance incorporated the techniques of their masters with their own personal styles.

This article is divided into the following sections:

MEDIEVAL DRAWING MATERIALS AND TOOLS: I discuss the medieval materials that would have most likely been used in the rendering of drawings during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

ANALYSIS OF TECHNIQUE AND STYLE: An illustrated discussion compares the styles and techniques of drawings by the masters with my own.

This article is recommended for all artists, as well as home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators of advanced students.

11 PAGES – 18 ILLUSTRATIONS Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada - 2006

Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott.

E-mail [email protected] Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com

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Introduction This article provides a greater understanding of the drawing techniques of the masters of the renaissance, and invites readers to compare masters’ drawings to mine to examine commonalities specific to hatching and crosshatching techniques.

The term renaissance, derived from the French word rebirth, refers to the diverse changes that occurred within European culture from the early 1300’s to the late 1500’s. Between 1480 and 1527, during the period known as the high renaissance, many of history’s most renowned artists created the greatest masterpieces in the history of art. During this short period in history, visual art developed more than at any other time since the beginning of mankind. Today, this rebirth, also referred to as new birth, continues its growth with a resurgence of the learning and teaching of classical drawing techniques in home schooling, recreational, and academic learning environments.

The masters of the renaissance are no longer living, but many of their works survive and serve as extraordinary teachers of classical styles and techniques. Yet, as we study the drawings of the masters, we must be careful to constantly differentiate the terms style and technique.

In simple terms, style refers to an artist’s individual approach to his/her own art. An artist’s style epitomizes and is an accumulation of her/his inherent preferences, life experiences, artistic philosophy, personal goals, and academic background. When an artist’s personal style is critiqued and/or examined by others, the resulting label may focus more so on a particular historical period or artistic movement than the artist’s true style. In other words, labels should not become more important to an artist than staying true to the style with which he/she feels most comfortable.

Technique, on the other hand, refers to a well-defined procedure, such as hatching or crosshatching, which is used to accomplish a specific activity or task. Quite often, more than one technique is suitable for accomplishing a specific drawing; hence, the artist’s selection of a specific technique is generally based on individual preferences and personal style.

The reverence that contemporary society places on the high renaissance is based on the innovative styles and techniques that were conceived and explored by artists who were true to themselves and not highly influenced or governed by others. Students of drawing during the high renaissance incorporated the techniques of the masters with their own personal styles.

I begin this article by discussing a few medieval drawing materials and tools used during the Renaissance. Following an inquiry into compositional challenges, a heavily illustrated discussion compares the styles of medieval and contemporary drawings rendered with contour lines, hatching and crosshatching, and chiaroscuro.

You’ll need no drawing materials for this lesson; simply sit back in your favorite chair, and enjoy a short trip back in time!

mailto:[email protected]�

http://www.finearteducation.com/�

http://www.drawspace.com/�



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Medieval Drawing Materials and Tools The more I research the primitive drawing materials and tools of medieval artists, the more I sit in total awe and admiration of their drawings. In this section, I discuss the medieval materials that would have most likely been used in the rendering of drawings during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Media A few of the media used for drawing and sketching during the latter years of the renaissance included graphite, brown and black inks, and white chalk.

Graphite: is a carbon based medium that first appeared in England around 1560. During the renaissance, graphite was used as a lump or sharpened point set into a metal holder for drawing. Graphite is generally grayer and smoother than black chalk or charcoal, and produces a warm-toned gray line that looks very similar to lead point; hence, the two media were often confused. Even to this day, the term lead pencil is incorrectly used to describe our common day graphite pencils that are actually made of made of graphite and clay, not lead.

Brown inks: that were associated with the masters’ drawings, were made by boiling or soaking wood soot in water to extract the soluble tars. This liquid was then filtered, resulting in a transparent and luminous ink, the exact tone of which depended on the kind of wood used. During the early fifteenth century, the term sepia actually referred to the brown tone of the masters’ drawings, rather than a genuine sepia ink, which was later made from the secretions of cuttlefish.

Black inks: used during the sixteenth century, were made from fine particles of soot, charcoal, charred wood, or burnt lamp oil that were added to water and then mixed with a binding agent, such as gum arabic. Gum arabic is the natural secretion of the acacia tree, and was used to improve the bonding properties of inks and paints, and help hold pigment particles in suspension.

White chalk: refers to a medieval drawing media generally made from either calcite (or calcium carbonate) or soapstone. Calcite was soft and produced a fairly brilliant white, and soapstone was slightly harder and created a bluish white. White chalk was applied to drawings to lighten sections and/or accentuate highlights (a technique called heightening) so as to emphasize form, mass, and volume.

Papers During the fifteenth century, paper became a popular drawing surface; diverse papers were handmade by breaking down or chopping up source materials such as plants, vegetable matter, rags, or sailcloth, into individual cellulose fibers. These fibers were mixed with water to form a soupy pulp, and were then scooped up with a wire screen set into a wooden mold. The pulp was leveled flat with a shake, and once the water had drained through the screen, an even deposit of matted fibers remained on the screen's surface.






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This matted deposit was then turned out onto a heavy woolen cloth or felt. Another felt was placed on top of the thin sheet of pulp, and stacks of pulp sheets and felts were then pressed to extract as much of the moisture left in the pulp as possible. The sheets were then hung to dry. At this stage, the paper was still like blotting paper. To harden the surface of the sheet and prevent ink bleeding into the sheet, the paper was sized, or coated with a hard gelatin layer. Prepared paper is a sheet of paper that has been prepared either with multiple coatings of white lead and ground bone, usually tinted with a pigment, and tempered with glue size.

Pens Many of the old masters’ pen and ink drawings were rendered with a quill pen, an instrument made from the scraped and cut feathers of birds. Quills are very flexible and versatile when used as either writing or drawing tools, and produce free and energetic lines often characterized by sweeping, almost dancing flourishes and great variations in width.

Quills from the pinion feathers of the goose, swan, raven and crow were highly esteemed, producing responsive lines that glided across the textured surface of handmade prepared papers. The goose quill was the most commonly used, and those of the raven or crow were considered to produce the finest and most delicate strokes.

Styluses A stylus (sometimes called metal-point) was a drawing tool made from a relatively soft metal, such as silver, gold, or copper; it was commonly used on a sheet of prepared paper, for either creating beautifully intricate drawings, or for rendering preliminary under-drawings and sketches in preparation for a more refined and detailed drawing. So as to provide artists with the creative freedom to vary the width of their lines as they worked, it was most often cast with a fine point at one end and a blunter point at the opposite end.

A stylus works by leaving a thin deposit of the metal on the surface of the paper, producing a very fine gray line. Silver-point was very popular with renaissance artists because it eventually tarnished, and took on a beautiful luminous brown tonality.

Lead-point, made from lead or a lead alloy, is considered the ancestor of the modern day pencil. Lead-point was the only metal that could leave a mark on unprepared paper; it rendered a very faint line that could easily be erased. On the down side, its points became blunt very quickly.

Analysis of Technique and Style Throughout this section, I compare the styles and techniques of drawings by the masters with my own; the techniques are the same, but the styles are very different. I define and provide examples of contour drawings, the shading styles of hatching and crosshatching, as well as chiaroscuro. Other than variations in personal style, other noteworthy differences between the masters’ drawings and mine are that the masters’ drawings are far superior to mine, and their subjects are specific to medieval times.






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Overall, the masters’ personal drawing styles were loosely rendered, and demonstrated the confidence and precision of many years of experience working from life. In contrast, my drawing style is illustrative and the shading is more tightly rendered; many of my drawings have been created from photographic references.

The roles of drawings in medieval art were as varied as the artists who rendered them. Many drawings, such as studies and sketches, were simply a stage in either the pursuit of knowledge or the creation of another artwork in a different medium. For the most part, drawings that were rendered as studies, revealed very little forethought for composition.

As an aside, I suspect that paper was quite precious during these times; hence, artists attempted to fill the entire surface with as many drawings (and notes) as possible so paper wasn’t wasted.

Figure 01: Studies of embryos, Leonardo da Vinci, 1509-14, Black and red chalk, pen and ink wash

Contour drawings The style of the contour lines rendered by the masters, especially those done with a pen or brush, are wide in some places and thin in others; in comparison, the lines in my drawings are done in graphite and are more uniform in width. Yet, the contour drawing techniques are similar in both.

Figure 02: Two contour drawings of a young boy playing, Brenda Hoddinott, 2004, graphite

Cons id e r w i th th e g r ea t e s t c a r e t h e f o rm o f the ou t l i ne s o f

ev e r y ob j e c t , and the cha ra c t e r o f th e i r undu la t i ons . And t h e s e undu la t ion s must b e s epa ra t e l y s tud i ed , a s t o

whe the r th e curv e s a r e c ompos ed o f a r ch ed c onvex i t i e s

o r angu la r c oncav i t i e s . ( Leon a rd o d a Vin c i )






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Figure 03: Contour drawings of horses, Leonardo da Vinci, 1482, Metal point, pen and brown ink, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

I have be en impr e s sed w i th th e u rg ency o f do ing .

Knowing i s no t enough ; we mus t app l y . Be ing w i l l i ng i s no t enough ; we must do .

( L e o n a r d o d a V i n c i )

Shading wi th hatching Many of the masters’ drawings combine contour lines with hatching.

Figure 04: Example of a combination of contour lines and hatching, Study of a horse, Brenda Hoddinott, 2006, graphite

Even though my personal style has taken on its own characteristics over the past 20 years, my drawings still revel that I have unknowingly been a student of the masters for most of my life. For example, Leonardo da Vinci often did a preliminary sketch with metal-point before adding details, such as contour lines and hatching. My graphite sketch of a horse’s head (Figure 04) demonstrates my technique of lightly rendering proportions before adding details.

To get a better sense of the hatching style of Leonardo, I used graphite to copy a section of one of his drawings (Figures 05 and 06).

Figures 05 and 06: Comparison of the drawing styles and hatching techniques of Detail of Grotesque Profile, Leonardo da Vinci, 1487-90, pen and ink; and Study of diagonal hatching lines, Brenda Hoddinott, 2006, graphite






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This little exercise has proven extremely valuable in that I picked up on a small detail I have not yet come across in my research on Leonardo da Vinci. Based on his overall style of drawing and a few little technical idiosyncrasies, such as his meticulous rendering of diagonal hatching lines at an angle of around 45 degrees, I believe that he was left-handed.

The natural hand movement of most right-handed individuals is from the lower left to the upper right, or from the upper right to the lower left. I’m right-handed; compare my hatching lines (Figures 04) with those of Leonardo (Figure 05). Leonardo’s diagonal hatching lines are drawn from the upper left to lower right, and from the lower right to the upper left. I discovered that by turning my drawing paper sideways as I worked, I could imitate his drawing style fairly well.

Every artist is unique, and as such, brings subtle nuances in style into his/her drawings, even when using the exact same techniques as other artists. The following drawings compare the contour hatching styles of Albrecht Dürer and me.

Figures 07 and 08: Comparison of the contour hatching styles used for the feathers of The Stork, Albrecht Dürer, 1515, pen and ink; and The Owl, Brenda Hoddinott, 2005, graphite.

Yet, no matter how well students of art imitate the masters’ rendering of techniques; their individuality will inadvertently be expressed within their drawings. Otherwise art itself would become boring as artists become mere clones of their teachers.

Even if I was actually privy to the in-person teachings of the masters, my personal style would still no doubt be recognizable to a discerning eye; in other words, I remain aware of the importance of allowing my intrinsic style to come through while expanding my skills with techniques and media. I do this by taking what I like from the skill sets of my teachers and discarding those I don’t like.






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Let p ropo r t i on b e found no t on l y i n numbers and mea su r e s , bu t a l s o i n s ounds , we i gh ts , t imes , and po s i t i on s , and what ev e r f o r ce th e r e i s .

( L e o n a r d o d a V i n c i )

Figures 09 and 10: Comparison of the hatching styles of Grotesque Profile, Leonardo da Vinci, 1487-90, pen and ink; and Profile of Infant, Brenda Hoddinott, 2004, graphite

S hading wi th crosshatching Many drawings by renaissance artists combine contour lines with hatching and crosshatching. The following drawings compare the crosshatching techniques of Albrecht Dürer with mine.

Figures 11 and 12: Comparison of the crosshatching styles of Head of the Twelve Year Old Christ, Albrecht Dürer, 1506, brush and ink; and Detail of Female Eye, Brenda Hoddinott, 2005, graphite






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You can l e a rn f r om the d rawing s o f o th e r s who do be t t e r than you r s e l f ; an d i f you a r e b e t t e r than th ey , y ou can p rof i t by you r con t empt fo r th e i r

d e f e c t s , wh i l e th e p ra i s e o f o th e r s wi l l in c i t e you t o f a r the r mer i t s . ( L e o n a r d o d a V i n c i )

Crosshatching is an ideal technique for shading smooth and shiny textures, as demonstrated in

these highly realistic drawings of objects

made of metal.

Figures 13 and 14: Comparison of the crosshatching styles used for shading metal in Side, Front, and Back View of a Helmet, Albrecht Dürer, 1503, pen and ink; and Replica of Medieval Dagger, Brenda Hoddinott, 2006, graphite

Chiaroscuro In simple terms and specific to drawing, chiaroscuro refers to the technique of balancing contrasts of light and dark values, so as to create the illusion of a three dimensional reality on a flat surface. Chiaroscuro was first introduced during the Renaissance and the word itself is derived from the Italian words for light (chiaro) and dark (oscuro). Chiaroscuro often employed a process of applying a light value over a dark, such as using white chalk or gouache over colored paper.

During the renaissance, drawing papers were often colored, either because the raw materials used in their manufacture was colored, or because of the addition of pigments during the preparation of the finish. Hence, white highlights often needed to be applied with an independent medium, such as white chalk or gouache, to bring out the highlights.

As demonstrated in the following medieval and contemporary drawings Chiaroscuro was and still is highly effective for creating an illusion of depth and space.






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Figure 15: Grape, Brenda Hoddinott, 2006, graphite

Figure 16: Study of the Christ Child, Albrecht Dürer, 1495, pen and ink

Figure 17: Study of Trees in Winter, Brenda Hoddinott, 2003, charcoal

Figure 18: Green Passion: Christ before Caiaphas, Albrecht Dürer, 1504, Pen on green primed paper.

My research has taught me well. First of all, I’m feeling relieved that many of the drawing techniques utilized by the masters’ are already in my repertoire of skills; hence; I need only expand my current skills, and learn how to make and use period tools and materials in order to bring my work closer to authentic medieval renderings. In addition, I have learned that with each new skill, technique or snippet of information I learn, there is an infinite amount of knowledge still to be learned.

The e y e , wh i ch i s ca l l ed th e w indow of th e sou l , i s t h e p r in c ipa l means by wh i ch the c en t ra l s en se c an mos t c omp l e t e l y and abundant l y app r ec i a t e the

i n f in i t e work s o f na tur e . ( L e o n a r d o d a V i n c i )






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BRENDA HODDINOTT - BIOGRAPHY As a self-educated teacher, visual artist, portraitist, forensic artist, and illustrator, Brenda utilizes diverse art media including graphite, technical pen, colored pencil, chalk pastel, charcoal, conté crayon, and oil paints.

My ph i l o s ophy on t ea ch ing a r t i s to f o cus p r imar i l y on th e en j oyment a s p e c t s wh i l e g en t ly in t r oduc ing th e t e chn i ca l and academic . Hence , i n c r ea t ing a pa ss i on f o r th e sub j e c t mat t e r , t he que s t f o r knowl edge a l s o

b e comes en j oyab l e . ( B r e n d a H o d d i n o t t )

Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook. She developed strong technical competencies with a personal commitment to self directed learning, and the aid of assorted “Learn to Draw” books. During Brenda’s twenty-five year career as a self-educated civilian forensic artist, numerous criminal investigation departments have employed Brenda’s skills, including Royal Canadian Mounted Police and municipal police departments. In 1992, Brenda was honored with a commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and in 1994, she was awarded a Certificate of Membership from “Forensic Artists International”.

Her home-based art career included graphic design, and teaching recreational drawing and painting classes. As supervisor of her community’s recreational art department, Brenda hired and trained teachers, and designed curriculum for several children’s art programs. In 1998, Brenda chose to end her eighteen-year career as an art educator in order to devote more time to writing, drawing, painting, and developing her websites.

Drawspace http://www.drawspace.com incorporates her unique style and innovative approach to curriculum development. This site offers downloadable and printable drawing classes for students of all abilities from the age of eight through adult. Students of all ages, levels and abilities have praised the simple step-by-step instructional approach. This site is respected as a resource for fine art educators, home schooling programs, and educational facilities throughout the world.

LEARN-TO-DRAW BOOKS BY BRENDA HODDINOTT Drawing for Dummies: Wiley Publishing, Inc., New, York, NY, this 336 page

book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Drawing People: Winner of the Alpha-Penguin Book of the Year Award 2004, Alpha - Pearson Education – Macmillan, Indianapolis, IN, this 360 page book is available on various websites and in major bookstores internationally.





examining styles and techniques - amazon s3 · examining . styles and techniques . ... classical...

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