Narcissus/Daffodil: Links and conclusions

Hi all,

It's Time to conclude again.
Usually when I start a new month and finish collecting tutorial links, I usually sort these links from easiest to the most difficult. This time I couldn't since they all seemed pretty simple.
So, for your consideration, here's the list:

1. Method 1 - Taken from DragonArt. Nice and simple.
2. Method 2 - is taken from Drawing How to draw, I love it, there are some great sketches in it.
3. Method 3 - is taken from TLC how to, stunning sketches, as always.
4. Method 4 - well, I skipped it due to a PC failier, which, I believe you remember me posting about. (published Sept 2013)
5. Method 5 - same as Method 4. But I do promise to make an update on these and to publish it soon. (Added Dec 2013 under the original date).
6. Method 6 - taken from Simply one stroke, a blog of a One stroke method artist, Pat Goh.

This is an additional DragonArt method I found but didn't use - but you are welcome to check it.

And this is an Echo and Narcissus story, if you didn't get to read it in my Opening post for this month.

Have a great day,
Dalia

P.S. when I searched for an online images of these flowers I realized that searching for Daffodils gave me a better image list than searching for Narcissus. I wonder...

How to draw a Narcissus/Daffodil - Method 6

Hi all!!!

It's Tuesday and it's time for another method.
This one is taken from Simply One Stroke blog - and you should check it out, Pat, the owner, has some gorgeous art works.

It's a video tutorial and it's lovely. Easy to follow, thanks Pat!

This is my "by the tut" sketch.

I didn't add any shading but I did this small bouquet Pat added on the side, really cute.










And these are the sketches by references.

I must say I'm pretty happy with these. I took me some time to sketch the one on the left - the five flowers, but I really enjoyed doing it.
Also I really love the one on the upper right corner, I think it's pretty good.







Well, I guess this is the last one for this month.
In September we'll be working on Orchids, and all the upcoming holidays.

See you soon and have a great day,
Dalia

PC is live again!!!

Hi yall!!!

My PC is live again!!!

Apparantely the Screen card collapsed but a quick check shoed that it has some kind of cream-becoming-plastic that got dried (or something) and it kind of disconnected the card from everything else .... or something...

So thanks to the team of TMS my PC is working, hopefully for long again.

I'm back, baby!!!

How to draw a Narcissus/Daffodil - Method 5

Hello,

We move on to the Fifth How to draw a daffodil/Narcissus tutorial. This is another DragoArt tut, a wonderful one, as usual. Simple, user friendly, easy to do tut. 

I finished it pretty fast. It is indeed as easy as it seems.

The references are from the web, as always. I captured the form, didn't look for a perfect resemblance or for a perfect shade. All I cared about was to create the form of the flower itself.

Hope you found this method useful.

Have a great day,
Dalia

How to draw a Narcissus/Daffodil - Method 4

Hello.

This is a method 4 of a Daffodil/Narcissus drawing. This is a video tutorial and as much as I don't like them I have to use them since sometimes they are really really good and useful.

So it's like ellipse, upside down cap, ellipse.

That's the "by the tut" sketch.

And these are the by the web ref sketches.

These four didn't take me too long to complete, all fast ones, bad shading, but that was not the task here. It seems it was a very good and simple tut that could be applied to many other flowers.

One thing I learned from this tut, that all you need is two circles and a cap to draw a daffodil.

Have a great day,
D.

My PC collapsed!!!!

Hi all,

Due to a PC collapse, some of my posts will be published a bit later.

See you soon,
D.

How to draw a Narcissus/Daffodil - Method 3

Hello!!!

Welcome to Method 3 of How to draw a Narcissus/Daffodil month.
This time I will be using a TLC how to method. What drawn me to this method is the lightness of the first sketch. The lines and the circles the artist uses here are almost weightless and this is something I am willing to achieve too - make my work lighter than it is now.

There are five steps and, as in most of tutorials, one starts with lines a

This is my "by the tut" sketch.

Not bad, I'd say.
Light, simple, basic.
It was pretty easy to complete.










And these are the other sketches.

As you know, I usually use references I find online. While browsing the web I saw a photo with three daffodils and I really wanted to sketch them. Well, see here I really struggled. I have no idea how many times did I erase and started this sketch all over again! But I loved it so much I had to continue!!! I'm not saying that this one is great, but for sure it's better than it could be.

Practice brings to perfection, is that what they say?
And I try to practice as much as I can.








I hope you found this tutorial useful.

Have a great day!

"Sketching is for ideas as Drafts is for writing" - Idan Gazit presentation

Hi all,

Yesterday I attended a lecture at Meetup Israel, and later on I found a presentation by the same lecturer, Idan Gazit, about the ipmportance of sketching.
You have to register to see it but it's bt a big deal.

Here it is - I thought I might share.

Have a great day,
D.

How to draw a Narcissus/Daffodil - Method 2

Hi hi!

This is Part 2 of How to draw a Narcissus/Daffodil flower.

The method was taken from Drawing How to draw web site. When I saw it at first I was really impressed with the drawing its author made and I thought to myself "hmmmmm... that must be difficult..." And boy was I surprised!! The tutorial is simple, organic and very easy to follow...
You draw a line, two circles with a U shape and finish with petals. Some shading comes in the end.








This is my "by the tut" sketch. And I honestly think it came out really nicely. Very accurate.












And these are the other sketches.

Some of them I love more than others, for example the one on the bottom right corner.
And I hate the one opposite to it, the one on the upper left corner. I could, of course, leave it out of this post, but hey, it's a learning process. I should include my flops too, don't you think?










Anyway, here they are and I hope you found this tutorial useful.

Have a great day,
Dalia

How to draw a Narcissus/Daffodil - Method 1

Hi hi,

For the first method i used a tutorial created by DragoArt. A simple method that describes how to draw a narcissus/daffodil.
You begin with drawing a draw a center of a flower and half an ellipse connected to it. After that you add six petals. That simple.

This is a "by the tut" sketch. I was really surprised how simple it was. It took me several minutes to complete.














These are the other sketches. Since I shaded it a bit, it took me around half an hour to complete each of them. I had a great time doing this session: simple, fast, not many petals.

My personal favorite is the bottom on the right, looks most realistic to me.


















I hope you found this method useful.

Have a great day and see you soon.

D.

Resetting goals for the second half of the year

Hi all!!!

The first half of this year is over and it's time to go over the goals I've set to myself in the beginning of the year.
So this is the list. 10 of its items are the original ones from the beginning of the year. The last three were added as the year went by (and, for sure, I will continue to add some more).

Let's see what I have achieved during the last six months:

1. Sketch, sketch, sketch!!! As much as possible!!! - I do!!!! Several hours a day, several days a week! (see no.11)
2. Learn how to draw all Chinese calendar characters to get ready for the next year in advance.
3. Same for the Zodiacs, of course :).
4. Do a 5, 10, 15 minutes exercise once a week. It shouldn't be hard to dedicate half an hour of my time to such a development. - I must get back to this exercise...
5. Draw 12 flowers during this year, but do it in such a way that it will become a second nature. I mean, I love daises, but come on, I must move on.  - I'm actually half way through :)
6. Work on Portraits and Human figure. - Yeah, right... Hopefully next year...
7. Get ahead of myself and be ready for the holidays at least 2 week before it comes. Which means, start preparing for it at least 2 months in advance. - I'm working on it... It's really time to get ready for Fall holidays...
8. Learn about Illustrator Brushes and Symbols - thanks for the reminder, Ryan.
9. Do DrawSpace lessons more often. 
10. Become a regular on Illustration Friday. I've made one or two illustrations in the past, but that doesn't really count.
11. Draw at least 1 hour a day - every day! And keep it documented in my Journal. (added on March, 2012). - I draw and I document - at least try to... (I will make a days count in the end of the year)
12. Learn how to shade properly (Added on March, 2012).
13. Learn to draw water and water drops (Added July 28th, 2012).
14. Continue working on my Zazzle shop - add at least 500 more items (Added July 31st.)
15. Try to blog twice a week (Added July 31st)
16. Add to Shutter stock gallery at least 30 items til the end of the year.  (Added July 31st.)
17. Continue developing SEO skills.  (Added July 31st)
18. I've started learning HTML again - I might build a website soon.  (Added July 31st.)

* Does it feel like I'm spreading again? It does to me... 

Well, I can't say that I'm really happy with the meantime result. 

3 in progress - items 1, 5 and 11. 2 in thoughts - items 4 and 7. The rest - 2, 3, 6, 8-10, 12-13 are untouched. 14-18 were taken from my 2011: The conclusion post so they don't really count since they were only added today. I hope to get to some of them during the second half of the year. Some - I believe will be delayed to the next year. 

And what about you? Have you made any plans this year and checked them already? 

Do share.

Have a great day, 

D.

P.S. I had a baby too :)

August: Month of a Narcissus/ a Daffodil

Hello all!!!

It's August and I declare it a month of a Narcissus!!!
And what can be said about the Narcissus that hasn't been said already?

A well-known myth tells us of the Narcissus, a Greek hunter who fell in love with his own reflection. That love brought to his death by drowning and a beautiful flower grew on the river's shore.

A Narcissus, aka Daffodil, grows during winter and spring, both in a wild and in one's garden. Some of it is large with yellow petals and a darker yellow crown. Some of it is tiny white or yellow ones with yellow or white crowns. And it grows almost everywhere!!!

I don't know why I like narcissus. It's not really a flower I would pick for myself or a friend but I would definitely plant it in my garden, if I had one. There's something very fragile about a Narcissus, modest and almost submissive. And like a Narcusses the Greek hunter, it looks down ready to discover its own reflection.

Let's hope that my future sketches will reflect the references.

Good luck to us all!!!
D.