The Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli is most known for his elegant and detailed paintings of scenes from myth and religion. He began his painting career in an apprenticeship under artists such as Antonio del Pollaiuolo and Fra Filippo. Under Filippo, he painted one of his most analyzed works, the Primavera, for the Medici family. Botticelli painted many frescoes in Rome depicting scenes from the Bible before moving on to paint large scale mythological scenes. Those scenes were some of his most creative as he translated mythical events into extreme realism, and were one of many symbols of the Italian Renaissance.
Birth of Venus by Botticelli, 1485-1486
Botticelli does well to show depth in Madonna of the Magnificat, not only through shading but through the curve of the subjects' hands as they wrap around shoulders. There is also an immense amount of detail drawn into this piece through the patterns in clothing and the definition of each strand and ringlet of hair. I will attempt to emulate Botticelli's attention to detail by rendering various patterns and textures as realistically as is possible with the restriction of size and medium.
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Possible self portrait of Botticelli in Adoration of the Magi by Botticelli, 1475
Birth of Venus is a painting depicting the Roman myth of the goddess of beauty, Venus, being born from the mist of the sea and blown to shore by the wind gods Zephyr and Aura. The scene is depicted in a realistic style typical of a Renaissance painting. The painting shows vibrant colors of pink and aqua which stand out against the dark green and ivory sections in the piece. There is obvious texture in the water around the shell and the shading of the clothes which emphasize folds and depth. I will be translating these characters into my own drawing by placing them in a modern setting but keeping the same composition. In addition, I also intend to mimic Botticelli's depiction of fabric and bold shading.
Madonna of the Magnificat by Botticelli, 1480-1481
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After scouring through various famous works of art, most of them featuring multiple subjects, I found one whose composition and posing could be very fun to translate into modern times. The Birth of Venus had a composition which was very deliberately staged and was meant to convey a scene from a piece of media at the time. I decided to convert this scene with these characters into the present day.
My first thought was that the people could be doing a photo or video shoot with their main subject, Venus. I wanted to keep the lady on the right with her dress intact as the flowing fabric implied movement through an imaginary wind. This wind could then be a fan coming from one person on the left, the other of whom would be filming. As for the setting, I wanted it remain by the sea and in fact could replace the seashell Venus is standing on with a surfboard, which could be pushed forward by one of the people on the left, referencing the myth of Venus' creation.
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I deliberated whether to do a grid drawing, draw by eye, or do a graphite pressure transfer to make the pencil sketch. Due to the digital drawing being just a sketch, I decided to use a grid drawing technique to transfer the proportions but make an overall cleaner line-art on the board.
I drew the sketch using a colored pencil in the approximate shade of the element being drawn in order to make the line less obvious when I colored over it. |