How I draw a Poppy and a Cornflower

Watch the YOUTUBE-VIDEO

Tracing to understand the reference image

Drawing the Poppy and the Cornflower was another project to understand the abstraction process better. I wanted to become more familiar with the shapes and also the colors of these flowers.

The Poppy I sketched first, throw my sketch away and traced the petals. This was successful. The Cornflower refused to be good looking in my sketches and my tracing. In the end, I slowly worked my way from simple shapes to the fiddly petals.

Can painting and drawing be relaxing?

Can painting and drawing be relaxing? For an experienced artist maybe, but for me as a beginner many steps are challenging and exhausting.

This is probably where my aversion to gesture drawing comes from. As a complete beginner, you are barely able to hold the pencil properly. Then out of the blue the teacher says: Draw this gesture in 30 seconds (or 1 minute).
Heck no!
I’m no bloody beginner anymore. Now I am a beginner with some knowledge here and there. I occasionally do gesture drawing, but without a time limit. I also study the reference longer before I start sketching the pose. I learn more from this approach than from my pitiful attempts to draw against the clock.

Coloring my sketch with alcohol based markers

Coloring my sketch with alcohol based markers is my favorite step in the process. When I paint the base layer, I can relax. Choosing the right colors is also fun, but can be a challenge in itself. I was so naive to wish for a bag with 216 Ohuhu markers for my birthday. It took me days to swatch and sort these pens. Now, it only takes me 5 to 10 minutes to find and swatch the colors for a picture.

Mix media: Markers, Color Pencils, Effect Pigment

After I had colored the flowers, I added accents with pencils. And I tried cross hatching. The lighting conditions during the recording were bad. It was raining outside. And therefore the result is not really visible.

Finally, I wanted to add some glitter effects. Mixing the right orange for the poppy petal was not given to me. This experience teaches me to learn more about color mixing.