The Masters Of Drawing

Leonardo Da Vinci 
Da Vinci was one of the great creative minds of the Italian Renaissance, hugely influential as an artist and sculptor but also immensely talented as an engineer, scientist and inventor.

Renaissance Italy was centuries away from our culture of photographs and cinema, but Leonardo nevertheless sought a universal language in painting. With perspective and other realistic elements, Leonardo tried to create faithful renditions of life. In a culture previously dominated by highly figurative and downright strange religious paintings, Leonardo's desire to paint things realistically was bold and fresh. This call to objectivity became the standard for painters who followed in the 16th century.

No slouch when it came to the techniques of the day, Leonardo went beyond his teaching by making a scientific study of light and shadow in nature. It dawned on him that objects were not comprised of outlines, but were actually three-dimensional bodies defined by light and shadow. Known as chiaroscuro, this technique gave his paintings the soft, lifelike quality that made older paintings look cartoony and flat. He also saw that an object's detail and color changed as it receded in the distance. This technique, called sfumato, was originally developed by Flemish and Venetian painters, but of course Super-Genius Leonardo transformed it into a powerful tool for creating atmosphere and depth.

Pablo Picasso 

The Weeping Woman, 1937 by Pablo Picasso

Arguably, one of the most famous and influential artists of all time is Pablo Picasso. Before the age of 50, the Spanish born artist had become the most well known name in modern art, with the most distinct style and eye for artistic creation. There had been no other artists, prior to Picasso, who had such an impact on the art world, or had a mass following of fans and critics alike, as he did. 

Although his art career spanned over a 7 decade period, Pablo Picasso is most known for his introduction of cubism, and modern approach to painting, which set forth the movements to follow in to the twentieth century. Not only was his art form well ahead of his time, but the works he created went on to influence artists and painters down the line, for a period of more than 50 years, and still influences the styles of many artists today.

With his first piece Picasso was greatly criticized. But, today, it is one of the most iconic pieces he created. What he did for modern art was to create a new way of looking at art. Basically, he broke away from tradition, and what was believed to be art, and focused on creating work that challenged the mind, challenged your vision, and created different ways of looking at the same thing. Much of his work was painted in the form of cubes and squares, to mimic what they looked like in different dimensions. 

Although, there is not simply just one, or a few masters of drawing... Each and every artist in their own right, may be a master in what they do. I believe it is simply down to opinion, one thing which the artist may think is stunning, another may think is abysmal. All artists have a unique style and work in different ways.

For example, I would call myself an artist (as well as a make-up artist) and when I create artwork I like to work in a very realistic way and I believe I have quite an eye for detail. 

An example of an acrylic painting I did

The finished product

But I also experimented in many different areas of fine art, and some people may argue that some of my work was not actually art, or was not very good, etc. For example, this piece I created in 15 hours and simply consists of 4 different colours (white, light grey, dark grey and black), and the whole image is made of tiny dots (as you can see on the right). Some would argue that this is not art, but to me, it is, and this is what I created for my A-level art exam. 

Reference: http://www.pablopicasso.org
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/da_vinci_leonardo.shtml
http://legacy.mos.org/leonardo/artist.html