(Note – If you’re new to my page, this is how it works: At the beginning of each week I randomly draw a new project from my Challenge Bucket, then see what I can create before the week is over. You can read all about the Challenge here.)
If you read last week’s Creativity Challenge – Teacher Gifts – you know that it required a LOT of various supplies and medium. It was a a ton of fun, but when I considered my ideal project for this week I concluded that something with more simple supplies would be ideal!
My wish came true when I pulled out… Illustration! All I needed to do was dig out my pencil set, grab a sketchbook and was ready to go!
A little background: I always enjoyed drawing in high school. While I was decent at it, I never could achieve the realism that I saw other artists create. For this reason I concluded that drawing wasn’t my strongest skill, and with no access to teaching and tutorials (not like we have on the internet now), I was content to remain mediocre.
That being said, talented artists fascinated me then and continue to do so today. I love to watch the shorts that pop up on social media of random artists doing what they do best. Their ability to shade, shape and color astounds me. They make it look simple but I know that it’s not.
So how should I approach this week’s illustration project? Should I work on developing my weak skills or just learn through reproducing someone else’s creation? (this may sound like plagiarism, but it’s a common technique to help beginners learn about lines, shapes and shading.) Also, the genres of art are SO broad – what would the subject of my drawing be and what style would it be in?
It might surprise you to know that though infinite tutorials are available online, the first place I went was… the library! I decided that to narrow down my selection of projects, I would go and see what was on the shelf at my local library. If any illustration books piqued my interest, I would sign them out and explore their contents.
I came home with these two: Learn to Draw in a Weekend and Botancial Drawing in Color.
I picked the first because I thought it could give me some quick pointers on improving my skills (it literally says “in a Weekend” and I had a whole week! This could make me the next VanGogh, no?). I picked the latter book simply because I’ve always loved art that revolves around flowers.
That evening I got out a sketchpad, pencils, and pencil crayons, cracked the first book, and began reading.
This book was neat because, amidst the artist’s teaching and work, there were many small “Try It Yourself” challenges. I worked my way through the first chapter which taught shading techniques. However, after completing several challenges, I realized that I actually wasn’t enjoying it! This book was challenging me to draw more realistically but, while I agreed my skills were lacking, I realized I actually had no interest in making realistic drawings. I’ve always enjoyed creating more whimsical art, so I decided to end my Learn-to-Draw-in-a Weekend career.
I turned my attention to the botanical drawing book. As I perused the pages I realized that I would love to create a line drawing of a field of flowers. Now don’t get me wrong, this was not what the book was about. The book was about creating realistic drawing – which I had already squashed. However the variety of flowers and foliage inspired me and I could already see a simple drawing emerging in my head.
Now knowing what I wanted to create, I embraced the technology of this century and turned my search to the good ‘ol internet. I found a great tutorial on drawing simple flowers and composed my plan. Using the tutorial, I would practice drawing a few different types of flowers, then I would use what I learned to make my final drawing of a simple line-drawn field of flowers.
I used the tutorial to learn geraniums, snowbells, poppies, roses and cosmos. I decided that I liked the look of poppies and cosmos the most, and with that they secured a spot in my flower field.
Once I felt comfortable with a few new skills under my belt, it was time to start my official project.
I began by penciling in where I would put the the main floral blooms. Next, I filled out the blooms and worked on the row of various “greenery”. I used a quick internet image search for ideas on different types of foliage.
Once I was happy with the composition, I used a black ink pen to mark the official outlines.
Satisfied with my outlines, I erased the pencil marks and worked on filling in all the little details. I was really beginning to love how it was coming together. This felt more “me” than the oranges and the lemons.
Once I completed the lines it was time for a BIG decision: to add color or not. I looked back into the book about botanical drawing and was loving a short tutorial I read on coloring flowers. I decided I could try adding color to the poppies on my practice sheet from earlier, and if I liked the result I would add color to my main project.
I chose to color with pencil crayon as I’d picked up some great tips from my two library books. First, I had learned that shading should be applied first. In the orange/lemon picture at the beginning of this post, I had been directed to apply the shadows with a deep purple color before adding any other color. Yes, even on the yellow lemon! The other colors were then built on top of shading.
The second thing I learned from the botanical book was about “burnishing”. I had never heard of this before. I learned that it is a technique used to blend and brighten pencil crayon markings. The best part about this, though, is that it uses… the white pencil crayon! Yes, the least popular colored crayon who never got played with! You don’t have to feel sorry for it anymore because it has a purpose! After coloring in a picture, I was directed to simply color over top of it all with a white pencil crayon. Sounds crazy, right? But it totally works!
Check out the two following pictures. The first is layered with shading, highlighting and color. The second is after burnishing. See how the colors blend and brighten? I had no idea!
After experimenting with these techniques and adding color to my practice page, I was sold – I would add color to my official Creativity Challenge project!
I colored in the blooms first, then worked on the foliage. It seemed like a simple coloring job, but with all the layering this actually took me more than a few hours.
Even though it took a long time, I decided it was worth the investment. Upon finishing the color I decided it was maybe even frame-worthy. At least for a low-traffic area in the house.
I pulled out a dollar store frame I had kicking around, mounted the drawing inside, then headed down to our basement bathroom. This poor room has been crying out for artwork for years. My art piece was small, but it did breathe a little bit of life into those bare walls.
It’s been a fun week working on my drawing skills. Whilst I still am no artist, I did pick up some neat little tools along the way, and our barren-walled bathroom is a little bit happier.
Way to go!! I’m still sorry I didn’t buy your woodland path (in high school) before the other customer . Are you going to continue drawing? Can’t wait to see what you will paint!
I definitely would like to improve my ability to sketch. I’d love to be able to quickly doodle pictures when I’m teaching kids or preparing activities for them. Right now I’m at stick-man level though, so would need to practice, practice, practice! Might be something worth pursuing though…
I love this! Are you ready to take commissions?
So beautiful and I agree with Beth…so artwork for my walls as well! You are so talented Kara!
You are too kind 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement.
It turned out so great!! I was a little worried the coloring would take away it’s beauty, but I love the pops of color you chose!! Great job!!
Aw thanks 🙂 I was worried about the same thing!
Pingback: Challenge #9 - Watercolor Painting