A few posts back I mentioned the new thing I was trying for my daily short drawing practice, abandoning the use of prompts and my imagination for copying AQS's 30 days of blooms series. Still working in that Molekine sketchbook I didn't like (and finally using it up!), using pencil and a Micron Pigma pen, coloring in with cheap colored pencils. My challenge to myself was to analyze each flower (which I find it hard to believe is designed for use as applique) to figure out where to start, the best sequence for drawing each part that would make up the whole, and to match as closely as possible the color of each as printed out from the website (see example of one page above left). Some were relatively simple shapes, others so complicated that I wasn't sure I could draw them. There were a few days throughout the month that I did not draw, but would catch up with two drawings on another day. Some of these flowers I had never heard of and all in all it was interesting to study the details of each and attempt to draw them.
I started out just penciling in the shapes and coloring with colored pencil.
At some point I decided the pencil lines weren't showing up enough, so I'd go over them with pen.
Soon I discarded the pencil altogether and sketched bravely with the pen, which at times gave me a somewhat wonky bloom. But how would anyone know if not comparing it to my model?
The top one on this page was the one that scared me off the most. I spent several days telling myself I could not draw it, would not try to draw it, being totally intimidated by it. After about the 3rd day, I relented and realized I just needed to pick it apart more or less, drawing a few petals at a time starting in the center and working my way out. The shading of the petals was nearly as challenging as drawing them. But I completed it (again, who will know how close to the original I got?).
With new confidence, I charged through the rest of the month.
And drew the last three flowers on the last page of the sketchbook which felt like a bit of a flourish what with those colors.
I'm trying something totally different for June's daily exercise, using one of the handmade books from my club. Not sure if I made a good choice as the paper in it is resume paper. But it takes pen well and we'll see what else I can make it play nicely with.
4 comments:
All of your practicing has certainly paid off….these are lovely!
Isn't it amazing how much more detail you see when you are drawing something? Your flowers are wonderful!
I'm impressed by your beautiful flowers, but even more by your patience & perseverance! You should be very pleased with how well your drawings turned out! Stay well! Jan in WY PS I've heard that a little birdie has landed back in your neck of the woods!!
Thank you all. Mary yes, practice definitely results in improvement and confidence. I've mentioned this before, but I never would have thought all that Zentangling I've done actually was training me to see how a thing outside of the Zentangle world is put together in order to go at it logically. Indeed Sherrie, so much detail we tend to gloss over in everyday life pops out bit by bit when we start to draw. I find it fascinating. Patience and perseverance, Jan? I found myself losing my patience a lot throughout the month but even with skipped or less than enthusiastic days, I did persevere. This set of flowers was actually for the month of April but they were pretty welcome in May. Thus something else was going on to spark days of impatience. I'm restless I think, quite ready to do something different for a daily practice. I understand this is not unusual.
Post a Comment