Ho to draw a Flower in perspective.

Hello all!!!

It's springtime and everything is in bloom.

I've been drawing nonstop lately - although it doesn't show in the blog at all!!! - with and without the image reference. And since one of the main goals of this year is the act of drawing - development of some self-discipline plays a huge role here.

One of the things I've been dealing with here is Perspective. I was struggling with the way of finding a way to draw a partly closed and fully open flower. And then I realized that in fact it's really simple.

A half open flower will look like a bowl. A fully open - will usually look like an open umbrella. In both cases part of the petals will not be seen. This is the sketch. This is what I'm going to remember when drawing flowers.






I hope you found it helpful.

Have a great day,
D.

April: Month of the Lily

Hi all,

It's April now and it means that it's time to start talking about a new flower. This time I chose a Lily. Why Lily? No particular reason. It's beautiful and has a great strong scent. So strong that I personally get headaches when I'm near it. That is the reason I never bring them into my house. But the flower is definitely worth some research and learning to do. Especially because of its cultural meaning.

So what does the web tells us about this almost royal flower?
According to Wikipedia, there are around 101 species of Lilies, or to be correct, a Lilium. They grow from bulbs and some of these bulbs are even edible.
They come in different shapes and colors and are divided into 8 groups/sections.
The really interesting thing that Lilies or its bulbs - are toxic to cats and can cause the cats' renal failure.

Lilies play a great part in both visual and written arts.
All of us remember the Tiger Lily, the Indian girl who lives on the Neverland Island.
There is a Madonna Lily, the White Lily, which is considered to be the base of Fleur De Lis, which is a symbol of purity. Also this flower is mentioned in Bible and was drawn in Kings Solomon's Temple.

They were used both during the Renaissance period by several artists, like Sandro Botticelli and Fillipino Lippi. In modern times - by Georgia o'Keffee, Robert Mappelthorpe and before them by Claude Monet, of course.

The fact that this flower has such a strong cultural reference implies that there will be no problem with finding drawing tutorials. On the contrary, there might be enough for two months.
Also I think that I will treat a Calla lily and a Water lily separately in the future, since both of them have a completely different structure then, let's say, a White lily.

Let the journey begin!!! (and, of course, you are most welcome to join it)
Good luck!

Yours,
D.