Exploring the Historical Drawing Materials of the Renaissance
🎨 Welcome everyone to the Tuscany Sketchbook Tour Group! 🇮🇹
We are so excited to begin this journey together. Over the next months leading to our trip, we’ll be sharing information, travel tips, artistic prompts, Q&A updates, packing lists — and most importantly — inspiration to keep the excitement alive!
Today, we want to start with one of the most unique aspects of our program: our Historical Drawing Materials.
🪔 During the Tuscany Sketchbook Tour, our drawing sessions will not be done with modern, generic tools. Instead, you will learn and create using materials inspired by the masters of the Renaissance — the same region where they were born and developed.
✨ Some of the materials we’ll work with include:
🖋 Silverpoint / Metalpoint — the drawing method used by Leonardo da Vinci for his studies🟥 Sanguina (Red Chalk) — favored by artists like Michelangelo and Raphael🪶 Ink & Pen — for dynamic gestural studies and quick observational sketches🌑 Charcoal from vine and willow — the basis for classical tonal drawing
Each medium has a fascinating history — and each offers a different kind of expression and discipline. Our goal is not just to visit Tuscany, but to experience its artistic heritage through our hands, the same way the great artists once did.
Throughout the upcoming weeks, we’ll be posting insights, tutorials, and examples to help you get familiar with these materials before we travel.
If you’re as excited as we are, leave a comment below! 👇Tell us which drawing material you’re most curious to try — silverpoint, sanguina, ink, or charcoal?
Let the adventure begin! 🇮🇹📚✍️— Atelier School Team
