I chose to watch the two films, The Drawings of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance. I chose these two videos because I was interested in learning more about each of these artists. I also have heard of these artists and think they are popular artists that many people are familiar with. Each artist is interesting in their own way and has their own way of creating art and I was interested in their thoughts as they created artwork.

From the first video, I learned many of Michelangelo’s drawings did not survive. I also found it interesting that he probably wouldn’t of wanted us to see his pieces of artwork. One would figure artwork as good as his would want to be seen. I find his artwork to be very detailed about people’s bodies. His artworks of men are very detailed to the man’s muscles and body. I learned that it takes a lot of skill to be an artist. There is so much detail that has to be done in artwork, especially in the work that Michelangelo created. Many of his sketches were better than most people could draw. He drew sketches of bodies and his sketches didn’t contain the faces of the people. I learned he has only one signed sculpture. It seems like if you’re an artist you would want to be known, but it seemed as if Michelangelo wanted to keep his work to himself. Michelangelo tried to aim his artwork as future body builders, which is also interesting because these men do look as if they could be body builders. From the second video, I learned about Leonardo’s past and where he was born. I learned that he had great knowledge, which is why he was who he was. He was the first to make an actual landscape. He made density and transparency in his work. His artwork also tells stories, which I find to be interesting. When looking at a piece of art and can get a story from it that is something not everyone can do. At the age of 20, he made his first paintings in a studio.

The videos relate to the readings in the text because they show examples of each artists piece of work. They show some of the same pieces of artwork that the text showed. The videos gave more history to the artists and explained what each artist did while they created a piece of work. They are trying to understand how the artist thought as they were creating their work of art. Both the videos and the text explained the times during the Renaissance. I think that the videos provided more detail to this than the book.

I think the films give a great deal of depth to each artist. They share the artist’s past life so the viewer can learn about where they came from. They also provide many examples of each piece of work that they created. I like the videos because I am able to see the drawings and put a picture to what they are explaining because it is right there in front of me. I also like the videos because I have to listen rather than read. I find this to be more interesting in topics such as these. The videos also explain key concepts in more detail so that they are easier to understand.