¶ of drawing

which is best, to draw from nature or from the antique? and which is more difficult to do outlines or light and shade?

¶ of variety in the figures

the painter should aim at universality [.]; for a man may be well porportioned, or he mat be fat and short, or tall and thin, or medium. and a painter who takes no account of these varieties always makes his figures on one pattern so that they might all be taken for brothers; and this is a defect that stern reprehension.”

from the notebooks of leonardo da vinci.