Activity

This azalea was amazing with its different hues of orange and pink on the same flower.

Wonderful colors Helene! I feel like it needs some sort of representation of leaves on the left side of the stem. I know you were drawing what you saw, but in the future try to avoid parts lining up. I am referring to how the bottom petals on the flower (on the right) lines up with the bottom of the leaf to it’s left. It would have been better f…[Read more]

Hi Gale- nice representation on the different magnolia parts. Be careful to be consistent with your light source. The flower bud and stem seem to be receiving light from the right, but the leaves look like the light is coming from the left. Magnolia blossoms seemed to fare well this Spring without getting hit by frost.

Welcome to the ArtFeed Lee! You are off to a great start! The colors are very pleasing and everything is well rendered! Now you need to add more saturation whether you do that with more layers of watercolor and/or layers of color pencil. Be sure to pay attention to the shadows and highlight. Judging from the large center leaf it appears the light…[Read more]

Hi Denise- I love the varying colors and patterns! You have selected a wonderful subject to illustrate! I think your light source is coming from the right, but I would work on making that clearer. The benefits would be twofold because you also need more dark tones added to the shaded areas. It will help define some of the overlapping leaf parts,…[Read more]

This is my second attempt at capturing peonies – it’s not finished yet – have to do the colored pencil detail on the leaves and more detailed shading on the flowers which I find very challenging. Any suggestions? Should I add green leaves behind the main white flower to set them ff the white? I am afraid of getting a dirty look if I shade too h…[Read more]

Hi Margaret- you are off to a great start! The colors are beautiful and the stems and buds are looking wonderful. I understand your concern about the petals getting muddy, but you need more shading to give the flower dimension and form. Right now most of the petals appear very flat. Leave the highlight areas as white as possible and I would use…[Read more]

This was very helpful, Doug. I ended up using the deep fuchsia pink sporadically on the petals which worked great and also deepened the contrasts. I’ll post the final drawing.

I have been trying to capture Peonies but could use some feedback on this drawing – my first attempt. What do you think it needs?

Hi Margaret- the stems and leaves are beautiful! It can be very effective to use the background color of colored paper as the mid-tone, but you can not rely only on it solely for the toning. The majority of the petals have a transparent quality and they lack definition. Other than using the background paper color for the mid-tone there is no…[Read more]

Japanese Camellia in graphite. Part of the SBA Distance Diploma Assignment 2

Gorgeous Ishbel!

Nice Ishbel! I find stippling so meditative. There are some areas where I expect cast shadows from overlaying leaves. There are a couple of spots where it is missing – the two overlapping leaves stands out.