Water Lily: Links and conclusions

Hi all!

It's the end of the month and, as usual, it's time for a conclusive post.

These are the tutorials I used during this month:
1. Method 1 - taken from DrawingFactory, simple, with a little bit of shading.
2. Method 2 - taken from DragonArt.
3. Method 3 - Taken from DrawingNow, almost a video tutorial, but not.
4. Method 4 - taken from FinalProdigy. A very nice tutorial, but I must say that you guys have almost missed since at some point Final Prodigy wasn't available for its clients and I was so close not to publish this method. Thank god I published the tut several days after it was scheduled.

I didn't use this one - Water Lily tutorial that I found on YouTube. It's really nice and really really simple... I guess I could have used it as a first one... I loved the background song, though...

Throughout this month one though kept me really busy: is there really a difference between a Water Lily and a Lotus. Some articles said it's the same. Some - they are different. And even Wikipedia clearly said that these are from two different families I was still confused.
But then I found this article, Is Lotus different from Water Lily, explains it all very, very clearly.
I love it when I find answers to my questions, don't you?

Have a great day.

How to draw a Water Lily - Method 4

Hi all,

This is Method 4 of How to draw a Water lily Month.
This tutorial here brings a completely different angle to drawing water lilies: it starts from the center, aka, its stamens.
It's taken from FinalProdigy, and if you browse through the site you will find many great tuts for you to learn from. Thanks you, FinalProdigy, for sharing these.

Anyway, this is "by the tut" sketch.

And these are the "By the web image" sketches...
I did less then I was supposed to do, but it takes me pretty long time to do them. Also the shading is still a mystery and a challenge to me but I'm doing the best I can at this moment (I know, I know, I should stop whining and start working).

So let's work!!!

I'll see you in a few days with a new method.

Have a great week,
D.

How to draw a Water Lily - Method 3

Ha all,

It's time to method 3 of How to draw a Water lily.

This tutorial is taken from DrawingNow and based on a Crescent and an Oval.
A big part of this tutorial is dedicated to shading, wonderfully suitable for color shading.

So I did the sketch but ignored the shading and this is the result:

Too simple, too plane, but I did try to compensate it with other sketches that you can see below.









These were based on the web reference, as always. It took me really long to make each sketch; I really worked hard on that shading.
I tried to deal with sketching water again; nothing much came out of it, just plain dark spaces... But I guess it's a beginning...

This tut was very fun for me because I like the way DrawingNow tuts are built. They are on the edge of being a video tutorial, but somehow it's not really it, so it makes it bearable.













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

Be it a great week for you,
D.

Holiday illustrations - here I come!!!

It's summer time now and major holidays are far away in the autumn season!! But everybody knows that any seasonal business works best when everything is ready 5-6 months in advance. 

Since I'm always late with seasonal illustrations I've decided to start working on them these very days. I know, I know, some might say that I am late again, but the intention is good and I believe that I am not hopeless.

So besides drawing flowers I should start working on some new illustrations. The main thing is to doodle now. Doodle all the time. The ideas will come during the process. 

I'm thrilled!!

All I have to do now is just - do it!

Best regards, 

D. 

P.S. Have you noticed that there's no llustration this time?

How to draw a Water Lily - Method 2

Hi all,

Moving on to Method 2.
This time I will be using a tutorial from DragoArt website, wich I use a lot, as you know.

As in the previous method this sketch is based in the outer and the inner circles.
The difference between these two is that here the author uses planes and not layers. The front plane of the flower is the one with petals that are the closest to the viewer.
Second plane - is the center of the flower.
Third plane - the farthest petals.

This is "by the tut" sketch.

And these are the additional sketches.

To tell yo the truth - I have nothing more to say on the matter.

I hope you found this method useful.

Have a great day,
D.

How to draw a Water Lily - Method 1

Hi all!!!

Let's begin.

For the first method I chose a tutorial from Drawing Factory.

The author breaks the flower in two circles - the inner for center and outer for petals. The petals go all around the center - layer by layer.
Circles around are for the leaves floating around the Water Lily on the pond's surface.

I can't say that it was very difficult. The author made this tutorial really easy to follow. But really was like drawing a Rose for the first time, since I almost got lost in the Lilly's petals when I did this one.

Another challenge was to draw water which was the very first time for me. I did water once before in oil actually, but not in pencil sketch.



Anyway, these are other four sketches. Had lots of fun, although the water thing didn't really work very well... as well as shadows...

I hope you found this method as useful as I did.
Feel free to leave a comment.

Have a great day,
D.

Drawing and writing - To scedule or not to scedule?

I first started this blog in 2009.

The original idea was to develop my drawing skills and keep some kind of a diary to keep myself motivated. I needed a place to share my sketches and illustrations, the work in progress and finished projects.


My first post was published on January the 31st, 2009. And it was all about Discipline (hmmmm....)
And that was the only post on that month. Well, there are no more than 31 days in January, so...

After that I've published 6 posts in February and 1 in March.
In total I've published 16 posts in 2010 and 22 in 2011.

When 2011 was at its end I began - as many of you - to get ready for 2012. I've realized that if I really wanted to become a better illustrator I needed a routine. A proper schedule that I would work towards. Something like a weekly deadline. I wanted to post my results at least once a week - so I started to schedule my posts. To make it even harsher, I made a new commitment recently - to draw for at least an hour every single day (and check it in my daily planner)! At least 4 times a day. Of course, not only for the purpose of this blog but for other purposes as well. 


As you know my main drawing theme this year is a flower. 12 flowers until the end of the year. So there are at least 4 drawing methods for each flower. There are an opening and a concluding post. And from time to time some posts in between - like this one. 


Its July now and up til now I've published more than 50 posts.
It gets easier to draw from day to day.

I can say that I'm pretty proud of myself - I keep my promises.

I wish you a great day and a fun summer holiday.

Best regards,
D.

July: Month of a Water Lily

Hi all.

For the past two months I've been working on Lilies: Garden Lilies in May and Calla lilies in June.
This month I will be working on Water lilies. Why, you ask? Because according to Wikipedia, it is a birth flower of July.

So what can we learn about them?

According to Wikipedia, there are 70 species of water lilies and they grow in temperate and tropical climates. They grow in rivers, pools and ponds with roots and stems under and flowers and leaves above the water surface.
They come in various shapes, colors and sizes and the largest of them, Victoria Amazonica, grows in South America.

Water lilies were immortalized on Claude Monet paintings.

But here's the thing. For some time now I've been wondering if there's a difference between a Water lily and a Lotus. For some reason I never bothered to check it.
Recently I began asking that question again and here's why. First - I learn to draw lilies now. Second - my sister opened a jewelry store and named it Silver Lotus. Obviously, the question came back to me and finally I've decided to find out - is there really a difference between the two or is it the same flower?

But I'll keep it for the August opening post.

Have a great day,
D.