Drawing Plants and Flowers

Graphite Stick on A3 Cartridge Paper


I was worried about this exercise and was unsure that the end result would resemble my vase of flowers. I needn't have worried and I'm very pleased with the result. Half was through I wished I had chosen an easier flower than mine. I'd like to repeat this with flowers such as sunflowers to see if the results are as good. 






Plants and Flowers in Coloured Pencil


I chose A2 piece of green paper, something I soon regretted finding the colour pencils did not show their true colours on the paper. I did think this would be useful to show the green wall and the colour of the leaves in between the pencil marks. If I were to repeat this I would choose a white or cream paper. Coloured pencils are not my favorite and I much prefer using watercolour pencil both wet and dry on the one piece. I lost a little of the edges due to the paper but found I liked the effect of a black pencil highlighting some, not all, of the edges. 


EXERCISE: DRAWING WITH OTHER MEDIA


For my first picture I used crayon and watercolour pencil. I stated with the crayon to draw the out lines of the leave and petals, then used a white crayon to highlight the white tips of the petals. Watercolour pencils shaded the picture with water to spread the colour.


I liked the resistance of the white crayon which meant I could colour across without having to worry about the light parts being spoilt.


This produced a picture with subtle definition and colours and soft edges. 



For the second drawing I used felt tip pen and soft pastels. The hard lines of the felts encouraged a harder brighter picture with less need for detail. I wanted to use sharp lines to draw the outlines and to add highlights to the leaves and petals. 










Check and Log
This section including drawing negative spaces has shown me how to look more closely at my pictures to ensure a accurate proportionate replica of my chosen still life. 
I needed to keep looking and checking my drawing to the spaces more carefully, watching for any signs of deviation. I kept both mental note and used my pencil held up in front of my still life to line each leaf to the next.
The effect of a three-dimensional drawing, as always, was made using light and dark tones to show shadows.