Great leaves Susan! Good colors and details! A couple of observations – on the green leaf, the main vein undulates as we would expect, but the thickness varies. Main veins usually are widest at the base and narrow as they head for the tip. The secondary veins stop at mid leaf and it seems they should follow thru to the edge of the leaf. Even though they are not going to be as evident in the highlight. The gold leaf reads very flat because there is no dark and light side and maybe that is the way it was. The cast shadows are really well done! Nice job!!!
Hi Doug – Thank you for the feedback, I see what you mean about the green leaf main vein and secondary veins. The other leaf was very flat – would you suggest a little toning anyway to show it is less flat?
Susan, sometimes we need to exaggerate form just a bit even when we don’t really see it in life. This can be tricky because we are so focused on trying to draw exactly what we see. But we also have to remember that as artists we are creating the illusion of 3 dimensions on a 2 dimensional surface (paper). To create that illusion, we sometimes need to think about how we can use some of the tools in our toolbox to bring a drawing to life by making it look more 3D (even when it appears flat). So, in the case on the leaf on the right, think about your light source, and tone it a little more like you toned the leaf on the left. It won’t take much toning to give it that little push over to that 3 dimensional illusion.
Great leaves Susan! Good colors and details! A couple of observations – on the green leaf, the main vein undulates as we would expect, but the thickness varies. Main veins usually are widest at the base and narrow as they head for the tip. The secondary veins stop at mid leaf and it seems they should follow thru to the edge of the leaf. Even though they are not going to be as evident in the highlight. The gold leaf reads very flat because there is no dark and light side and maybe that is the way it was. The cast shadows are really well done! Nice job!!!
Hi Doug – Thank you for the feedback, I see what you mean about the green leaf main vein and secondary veins. The other leaf was very flat – would you suggest a little toning anyway to show it is less flat?
Hi Susan- if you want to give it a little dimension, you could ad a bit of toning to the gold leaf.
Susan, sometimes we need to exaggerate form just a bit even when we don’t really see it in life. This can be tricky because we are so focused on trying to draw exactly what we see. But we also have to remember that as artists we are creating the illusion of 3 dimensions on a 2 dimensional surface (paper). To create that illusion, we sometimes need to think about how we can use some of the tools in our toolbox to bring a drawing to life by making it look more 3D (even when it appears flat). So, in the case on the leaf on the right, think about your light source, and tone it a little more like you toned the leaf on the left. It won’t take much toning to give it that little push over to that 3 dimensional illusion.