Fearless Friday, The Importance of Drawing

the Painted Apron

5 years ago

I recently read an article on Artists Network about how drawing regularly can enhance your painting, photography, just about anything you do creatively

Even if you are an accomplished artist, the act of drawing regularly will increase your skills to be able to see things differently…see new colors, tones and values…discover even more about light and shadow…learn how objects relate and influence each other…

Think of your drawing time as doodling, which takes the pressure off. You are playing, relaxing, not trying to create a masterpiece

One of my favorite ways to draw is to break down the subject into shapes, as previously demonstrated in Drawing by Shapes, and Seeing Double

The inspiration for today’s drawing came from this beautiful watercolor iris by David Drummond

Pick a start point and slowly draw what you see, either the outline or the shape

Check proportion and location as you go and continue to add/fill in the subject

One reason I like flowers so much is that they are forgiving, petals don’t have to be exactly right or perfectly placed

Don’t fret if it’s not perfect, add or adjust until it makes sense to your eye

Once the drawing was finished I chose the marker colors I wanted to use and made a small color chart on the edge of the paper. The markers are within reach, lined up by the sequence of the chart so I know exactly where to find each color I want

As you can see, I have an eclectic collection of brands!

I like to work from light to dark

so I began with the lightest tones

The arrows point to the slightly darker mid tones

which can be hard to recognize

Next I added a bright yellow and the dark red and browns

On a whim I used the bright yellow to make lines on some of the petals

indicating the iris signature texture

Next more brights with a bold orange

Pinks were added for more contrast and exaggeration

Lavender

And the final purple

“Bold and Beautiful” 7″ x 10″ ink & marker on mix media paper

Practice drawing by shape to enhance your skills, and exaggerate with bold colors to encourage your eyes to see things differently and really dissect the colors and tones

We automatically associate water with blue, but if you really look at water you will see it is a reflection of the many things around it, and might not be blue at all!