Calla Lily: 3 methods (+1) in one month

So let's conclude.

Two almost similar written tutorials and one is a video.
1. Method 1 - taken from DrawingNow.
2. Method 2 - taken from How to draw cartoons online.
3. Method 3 - taken from YouTube.

There is one more by DragonArt which I didn't use but its there and I feel I can't ignore it completely.

And what have I learned during this month?
1. When drawing from an image reference (if it's an online one) always save a link or an image. It is not always possible to complete a sketch in one session, so it is very useful when you can get back to the original one instead of starting it all over again (happened to me several times before).
2. I started sketching with HB and 3H pencils as planned and the outcome - obviously - much less messier.
3. In general, callas have a very simple structure - its lines are flowing and all you have to do is sketch the line, find and place the bud's curves.
4. Started erasing outside lines only. Since I'm sketching now with harder pencils at the beginning, there's no reason to erase the inside lines. I'm shading everything anyway, right?

I hope it was a productive month for you.
Next stop - a Water lily!

See you soon,
D.

P.S. Watched Silk recently. Beautiful, slow, flowing movie. And White and Calla lilieas are a great motif of life and death in it.
also, for your entertainment, do watch this Calla Lilly Centerpiece video tutorial. It's stunning.

Drawing Calla lilies - Bouquets

Hello!!!

Since I found no more tutorials for drawing Callas, I've decided to use online resources to draw some Calla bouquets.
I've chosen some nice an simple ones for practice. Here they are.


Next week I will be drawing callas from life.

This is what this post was supposed to be saying.

But as you see - the text is erased.
And the reason is that I failed big time. I could draw a single bouquet this time... I tried several of those I found online, but I kept on erasing every line I made. You could think that I didn't do anything, because, logically, I was supposed to scan even those I did badly, even to just justify this post.

But I got so frustrated that I erased sketches and tore papers. I've been working on these a lot, but there was nothing. Only yesterday I've realized that I should have kept and show everything.

I hope next time I will be wiser and more cold spirited and not let my emotions to get over me like that.

Because even a failure is a step to success.

Have a great weekend,
D.

How to draw a Calla Lily: Method 3

Hello :)

This time I'm gonna use a Video tutorial. And since you all know that I don't really like them, the obvious question would be - why do that? Well because there are not enough written tutorials for this flower. And as much as I don't like videos I really had no choice on this one. You could tell that the situation is really bad since I had to use similar tuts for Method 1 and Method 2.

But no matter, as long as I learn something new, that's what important. And this method is indeed different.

So this is "by the tut" sketch.

And these are reference made.

I really enjoy drawing Callas - they are very elegant and really simple to draw. No wonder they are being used for weddings and funerals!









Did you find this method useful? I know I did!

Have a great day,
D.

How to draw a Calla Lily: Method 2

Hi all.

The method I will be using here is exactly the same as the one used on a first method, but for some reason it feels a bit different. I don't know why but I really feel this urge to dedicate a separate post to this one. It is taken from How to draw cartoons and it's really simple.
It has a pointed part that goes up high, and a curve wrapping the triangle base.

This is the By the Tut sketch.

It felt easy. It felt very right to follow this tutorial. It might be because I've already practiced the same thing last week, so it felt really right.












Doing these are my other sketches I had this great feeling of satisfaction. I had a great time sketching these.

While shading I tried to follow the flower's natural curves that were perfectly visible on those photos I used.

Some of the shaded flowers are better than the others, but here I really felt that shading and not the shape become my main subject here.

I guess it's a progress.







I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I did.

Have a great day,
D.

How to draw a Calla Lily - Method 1

Hi all!

So...... Calla Lilies.... shall we?

For the first try I chose a real simple one, suitable for kids even, taken from DrawingNow.com.
It's based on a triangle and some kind of a shape above connected to the triangle's base.
I was very lazy while doing this tut so it took me quite a while, but it's really an easy one.

This is the result, plain, no shading, no background...















These are based on image references.

These are the only sketches I've done so far, there are no more of these that I did and hid from the viewer's eyes....
I am not really happy with the shading, but I must admit that it looks better on screen that it looks on the original physical version. No idea why.

Also I realized that I'm having some trouble setting proportion of these flowers, so I guess I have to start working on that too.

Did you find this method useful?

Have a great day,
D.

June: Month of a Calla lily

It's June now and we're moving on from a Garden Lily to a Calla lily.

Calla lily (officially called Zantedeschia) is one of Araceae family and has nothing to do with Liliaceae family (btw, "- aceae" means "family of" in Latin).  They grow mainly in warm climate and their color vary from white through yellow and red to black purple. They are considered to be pretty toxic but their leaves are sometimes used in various cuisines. 


The flowers was cultivated for the usage during Easter floral trade in the beginning of the 20th century hence the additional name - Easter Lily.
It is the national flower of St. Helena (Remember the Napoleon exile?)

Georgia O'Keeffee, an American artist, painted many Callas, mostly white, during her career.
Diego Rivera, a Mexican artist, wildly used this flower in his paintings.

Regarding the cultural usage of the flowers - hey are used both in weddings and funerals.


Enough said - let's draw!!!