Hi Heidi- you are off to a good start, but you need to add some toning and saturation to bring these leaves to the next level. Except for the little bit of dark toning on the left side of the main vein there is not enough difference between the two sides of each of your leaves. As with everything we draw we need to establish the form of an object by showing highlights and a range of shadows. With leaves (if your light source is coming from the left) there is some highlight on the left side which transitions to the dark left side of the main vein which is caused by shadow. On the right side of the main vein there is highlight again transitioning to shadow on the right edge. There is a recent photo of a leaf on the ArtFeed that shows this very well. Even though it is a different variety of plant the basic concept will be the same for most leaves. The leaf in the photo has a shiny surface so the highlight is very strong. For a dogwood the highlight would be toned down as the leaf surface is not as shiny. Wendy likens a leaf to an open book and that image always sticks with me when I do leaves. For reference there are many good examples of successful leaves on the ArtFeed in addition to Wendy’s videos and books. Once you have established your highlight areas and range of tones you can proceed to add more saturation of color. Leaves are probably the biggest challenge for many of us and I would suggest drawing as many different types as you can.
Heidi, I’m loving the color mixing on these leaves – really beautiful. I can see you starting to get nice and dark down by the midvein on the left sides of the leaves – that’s the right idea to begin showing the 3D form. Continue to push those darks and highlights, taking all of Dougs advice, and this lovely drawing will be even better.
Hi Heidi- you are off to a good start, but you need to add some toning and saturation to bring these leaves to the next level. Except for the little bit of dark toning on the left side of the main vein there is not enough difference between the two sides of each of your leaves. As with everything we draw we need to establish the form of an object by showing highlights and a range of shadows. With leaves (if your light source is coming from the left) there is some highlight on the left side which transitions to the dark left side of the main vein which is caused by shadow. On the right side of the main vein there is highlight again transitioning to shadow on the right edge. There is a recent photo of a leaf on the ArtFeed that shows this very well. Even though it is a different variety of plant the basic concept will be the same for most leaves. The leaf in the photo has a shiny surface so the highlight is very strong. For a dogwood the highlight would be toned down as the leaf surface is not as shiny. Wendy likens a leaf to an open book and that image always sticks with me when I do leaves. For reference there are many good examples of successful leaves on the ArtFeed in addition to Wendy’s videos and books. Once you have established your highlight areas and range of tones you can proceed to add more saturation of color. Leaves are probably the biggest challenge for many of us and I would suggest drawing as many different types as you can.
Heidi, I’m loving the color mixing on these leaves – really beautiful. I can see you starting to get nice and dark down by the midvein on the left sides of the leaves – that’s the right idea to begin showing the 3D form. Continue to push those darks and highlights, taking all of Dougs advice, and this lovely drawing will be even better.