Monday, July 4, 2011

Drawing Flowers

These are a couple of five minute drawings with reference photos. At first, I am mainly concerned with composition and getting the feel of the subject down.


I am thinking of design, center of interest, movement, impact and exaggeration at this stage of the game.



Sketching flowers may not be as simple as one might think. This is possibly due to the fact that we want to over simplify things and not really "see" the shapes we are drawing. This week's challenge will be to sketch flowers and make a pleasing composition using the Momma, Poppa, Baby Theory and the Rule of Thirds.  Here are some flower photos to sketch from. I also encourage you to sketch from life. You can see several of my finished paintings that demonstrate the two design principles I've mentioned here, on my Web Log today. This week's challenge is not just to sketch what you see in front of you, but to change sizes, directions and placement of elements. This is called artistic license and all accomplished artists use it. Begin by doing gesture sketches, studying the various shapes and noticing their differences. What I'm ultimately looking for is interesting shapes that lead the viewer's eye around the piece in a well designed composition. I will be expanding on this throughout the week.





1 comment:

  1. Not sure what it's called but the white weed flower sketch (second sketch)......how would you paint something like that? I have that plant all around me and I've sat and studied and still not sure how to best go about it.

    Love the sketches!

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