My Own Artistic Style

Art has always been a part of my life. I have loved art even as a child. I started drawing when I was four years old. Just like other children of my age, my early forms of art were pictures of houses and people around me. When I was six years old, I started watching anime on the television. I was amazed by the different colors, effects and designs of the characters. This became my favorite style of art and since then, I have drawn numerous illustrations of anime characters. I still continue to draw whenever I have the time and in doing so, it has helped me improve my drawing skills.

As I got older, I was exposed to other kinds of art like photography, music, and films. These helped me to further expand my artistic style. I became a fan of visual effects as filmmakers were able to produce movies with realistic environments. Another aspect that has made a huge impact in my artistic preferences is 3D animation. I was constantly fascinated by how they were able to generate movements and make them look as if they were real. When listening to music, I get concepts and inspiration for my artworks through the lyrics and melody. Music videos are another form of art that introduced me to a different angle of creative thinking. I also admire photography, because it conveys emotions, stories and perspectives through still images.

Through all of these experiences with art, I can say I have improved a lot and the designs for my artworks keep on changing and evolving. As for now, I have no definite style. Although I have to keep myself updated with current trends, I believe that making designs and artworks depends a lot on the individual’s taste and the kind of message he/she wants to convey. Nowadays, I use grunge and dark colors in my artworks. My artistic style at present may be considered as unorthodox but I always try to be more versatile as an artist. This is due to the fact that I am still growing and learning in my craft. I also get inspiration from other well-known artists such as Tetsuya Nomura, Masashi Kishimoto, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, etc. In the future, I hope to become a successful artist with my own distinct style.

Image from:

freestockphotos.name

Mona Lisa: Da Vinci's Masterpiece

 

              

  

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath born on April 15, 1942. A polymath is a person whose expertise varies in several fields of study. Da Vinci is a scientist, sculptor, architect, mathematician, draftsman, engineer, inventor, musician, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. However, he was most renowned mainly as a painter. Among his greatest works are: The Last Supper, which is perhaps the most reproduced religious painting of all time, and the Mona Lisa, arguably the most famous painting in the world. Mona Lisa is also called the “La Gioconda” by the Italians meaning “a light-hearted woman”, but the French refer to it as “La Joconde”. The Mona Lisa is an oil painting done by Da Vinci on a poplar wood panel sometime between 1503 and 1506, when he was living in Florence, Italy, and it now hangs in the Louvre, in Paris. The painting presents a woman with an iconic smile in half-body portrait, which has a landscape background. The reason behind the fame of the Mona Lisa is the mysterious smile on the woman’s face, in which the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. Da Vinci managed to capture so many different emotions and character-traits in one painting that whenever one looks at Mona Lisa; one sees something different depending on which direction the painting is looked at. He continuously worked on the Mona Lisa, completing it technically in 1507, but his death in 1519 finally ended his work on it.

Da Vinci may have been the greatest portraitist of all time. The Mona Lisa painting was among the first portraits to illustrate the sitter before an imaginary landscape and he was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective to create the illusion of depth. Leonardo was a scientist and from his study of the human anatomy, he applied what he knew to give the Mona Lisa realism. He effectively created a visual impression of distance between a seated female figure and the observer. The woman sits upright with her arms folded and her gaze is fixed on the observer. The armrest of the chair functions as a dividing element between Mona Lisa and the viewer. Behind her is a vast landscape of mountains, valleys and rivers. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting reflects the idea of a link that connects humanity and nature. Leonardo da Vinci created the dark mood and smoky colors that added to Mona Lisa’s charm. He had applied techniques and elements new to the era. Da Vinci perfected the technique known as sfumato, which comes from the Italian word “sfumare”, meaning “to tone down” or “to evaporate like smoke”. His painting technique used mostly earthy browns, greens and blues in muted intensity that unites the elements in the painting.

Leonardo da Vinci usually painted with oil paint that he made by hand from ground pigments; and later in his career, he worked with tempera made from egg whites. He would first start covering his canvass with a detailed underpainting in a neutral gray or brown color and apply dark transparent glazes on top to add a depth that could not be achieved otherwise. Some of the underpainting would show through the layers subtly helping to create form. He did not use bold colors or tints in contrasting colors which explains why the Mona Lisa’s lips and eyes are so pale. The use of sfumato in the Mona Lisa gave the painting an illusion of somberness and mystery. Da Vinci’s soft gentle lighting was essential to his paintings. Facial features were not strongly defined but conveyed by soft, blended variations in tone and color. He has created vague transitions between light and shade and sometimes between colors, his brush strokes so faint as to be invisible to the naked eye. The gauzy veil, Mona Lisa’s hair, and the luminous glow of her skin, are all created with layers of transparent color, giving the painting an ethereal, almost magical quality.

Leonardo da Vinci has only about a dozen or so paintings in existence today, because of his revolutionary techniques. However, from the surviving da Vinci paintings we are able to understand a little more about his painting style. Few paintings are so well known as da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and her popularity and status as a reputable work of art continues to intrigue people. Because it’s difficult to view all the portrayed emotions and aspects of Mona Lisa’s personality in one glance, one is left with a sense of mystery. “Giorgio Vasari, for example, wrote in his early biography of da Vinci, Lives of the Painters: “As art may imitate nature, she does not appear to be painted, but truly of flesh and blood. On looking closely at the pit of her throat, one could swear that the pulses were beating.” We may never know who sat for the portrait of Mona Lisa or what she’s smiling about but the Mona Lisa looks so natural, and so familiar, that we forget how ingenious the painting was because it went against all the trends of the time. Although the painting is a perfect example of how Leonardo never followed traditions, the Mona Lisa has set the standard for all future portraits and became an enduring record of Leonardo’s vision.

References:

Polymath. (n.d.).  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath

Leonardo da Vinci. (n.d.). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

Mona Lisa. (n.d.). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa

Sfumato. (n.d.). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfumato

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. (2014, August 22). Mona Lisa. Britannica.com. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/388735/Mona-Lisa

Mona Lisa. (n.d.). lairweb.org. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://www.lairweb.org.nz/leonardo/mona.html

Evans, M. B. (n.d.). “The Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci. painting.about.com. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://painting.about.com/od/famouspainters/ig/famous-paintings/Leonardo-Mona-Lisa.htm

Lively, A. (n.d.). The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci: History, Facts & Location. education-portal.com. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/the-mona-lisa-by-leonardo-da-vinci-history-facts-location.html#lesson

Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. (n.d.). leonardo-da-vinci.paintings.name. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://leonardo-da-vinci.paintings.name/

Evans, M. B. (n.d.). Palettes and Techniques of the Old Masters: Leonardo da Vinci. painting.about.com. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://painting.about.com/od/oldmastertechniques/a/LeonardodaVinci.htm

…Leonardo’s masterful technique. (n.d.). pbs.org. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/mona_lisa/mlevel_1/m3technique.html

Grey, L. (n.d.). Leonardo Da Vinci’s Life. davincilife.com. Retrieved November 23, 2014 from http://www.davincilife.com/article4-davinci-painting-technique.html

Images from:

en.wikipedia.org

leonardodavinci.net

The connection between art and history

Art has always been a part of our history. The first tangible artifacts of human art are found from the Stone Age (Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic). During the Paleolithic (25 000-8000 BCE), man practiced hunting and lived in caves, where cave painting was developed. That method was also believed to be a form of communication. Art continued to change and evolve as time progressed. Early civilizations such as the Ancient Egyptians, the Ancient Chinese and the Mayans introduced a whole new world of art that changed history. For example, the Ancient Egyptians arose as one of the first great civilizations, with elaborate and complex works of art, which assume the professional specialization of the artist/craftsman. Its art was intensely religious and symbolic, with a highly centralized power structure and hierarchy, giving great importance to the religious concept of immortality, especially of the pharaoh, for whom were built great monuments. Other civilizations contributed into the evolution of art as well. They paved the way for the development of different branches of art such as music, literature and architecture that established different cultures.

Art has changed and transformed throughout the years. In modern times, art has expanded further into different forms including music, dance and visual arts. Music is the vocal or instrumental sounds combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Today, music is divided into various genres like pop, rock, classical, R&B and hip-hop. Dancing is the rhythmical movement to music, using steps and gestures. Early forms of dancing were used for religious offerings, celebrations, rituals. Today, dancing is mostly used for entertainment purposes which lead to the creation of different types of dance e.g. ballet, disco, street dance. Visual arts are produced mainly for visual perception and enjoyment as well as for intellectual purposes. It applies to both the fine arts (painting, sculpture, photography, etc.) and the applied arts (industrial, graphic, interior and fashion designs). As we can see, the concept of art is no longer traditional and it continues to change as people find new discoveries and meanings about art.

               

Art is closely connected with history because it helped shape the traditional roots of our cultures and gave them a distinct identity. In the future, I think art will be a lot different from what is now. It will be transformed into digital form. Everyone will be able to view and create art with the use of advanced technologies like those in science fiction movies. Art has no boundaries; it is only limited by our imaginations. I’m really looking forward to the time when mankind will bring forth a new kind of art. I would also like to thank our ancestors, whom without; we would not have known the wonderful gift that is “Art”. 

References:

Perez, V. History/timeline of dance 1900 – 2012. (2012, November 28). Prezi.com. Retrieved November 16, 2014, from https://prezi.com/nqqs1oqn4v34/historytimeline-of-dance-1900-2012/

Fine art. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 16, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_art

Visual arts. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 16, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_arts

History of art. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 16, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_art

Images from:

http://stockarch.com/images/business-and-industry/art-design/art-2082

http://alpha.sd41.bc.ca/static.php?page=static110110-204537

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17vzt2aabxn07jpg/original.jpg