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I wanted a little holiday project but I am slow. Here I have added a dried orange slice. My next goal is to combine them.

Nice Erin! The orange (fruit) colors are very good and it has a fresh, juicy quality as you would expect.

I wanted to add an anchor to the previous drawing of Laminaria algae. So I added streaks and tiny rocks to represent the sand on which the algae laid. It is tough to get this right! Any suggestions?

Hi Helene! Happy New Year! This is a wonderful drawing of a great subject!. I think what you need to do to anchor these objects is to add shadows. I see a couple of hints of shadowing, but you need to commit to it and that will convey that they are lying on a sandy shore.

I’d welcome any feedback or suggestions. Thanks!

Hi Rachel! Your fruits are well rendered and the colors are very good! I would say that judging from the highlights and the cast shadows that your light was directly over the fruits. The botanical standard for lighting is that if you are right handed, the light comes over your left shoulder at a 45 degree angle. If you are left handed the light…[Read more]

Many thanks Doug – I appreciate all of these suggestions!

Hope everyone is having a peaceful and happy Holiday season. I’m working on the techniques for a small holiday vignette. Lots to learn here with shiny berries, shiny leaves, and a dried orange slice.

Beautiful Erin- holly leaves are so shiny and I think you could brighten the highlights even more to emphasize that. I would also darken the leaves at their bases where they curve to the stem and also have cast shadows from the berries. Darkening that area will make the berries pop even more than they already do. I am looking forward to seeing the…[Read more]

Happy holidays to you and yours!

Dahoon Holly-2: Tried to follow Doug’s suggestions. Adding bright highlights could not be done because I left no original paper spots. I did try to add more shadows to show what’s front and what’s back. I think I did ok with berries, but the leaves were not easy. Lesson learned is to be more careful when selecting the subject!

This is a grey scale print of Dahoon Holly-2 drawing. I can see better where I needed to have more contrast. Will do better the next time.

Hi Machi! Happy Holidays to you and your family! You are so smart to do the black and white image. It is a great tool to help with getting tones correct and also see where you need more contrast. It is a beautiful drawing and I think the changes you made have helped a lot! The work you did on the leaves has given depth to the branch structure and…[Read more]

Wow! Lovely

Gorgeous Katie! It is so realistic and the cast shadows are wonderful!