Rhododendron by Leslie D’Allesandro Hawes (c) 8″ x 10″ colored pencil
It’s time for the April Virtual Sketch Date !
Every month, a reference photo is posted on the Virtual Sketch Date Blog, and artists who wish to create a sketch join in for the fun! This months photo of a splendid rhododendron is from Jeanette Jobson. Thanks, Jeanette!
I have been taking lots of photographs recently using a closeup setting, and I “saw” this photo as a closeup. I enlarged and cropped the original photo in preparation for the drawing.
I made a black and white copy of the enlarged and cropped version, and did my “cut out” method to transfer the image to a purple mat paper I chose for the drawing.
I selected my Derwent Artists colored pencils, shown in the photo below:
- Zinc Yellow
- Raw Sienna
- Pink Madder Lake
- Hollywood Cerise (a Venus Paradise pencil froma million years ago)
- Imperial Purple
- Light Blue
- Emerald Green
- Chinese White
I used Chinese White for this sketch, but then forgot to return it to the pencil lineup, so it was left out of the photograph.
I scanned my steps as I went, shown below.
Scan #1. I used all the colors right from the start in an overall filling of the paper. I defined the brightest parts of the flower first, using Chinese White, and filled in the larger areas of color with Zinc Yellow and Hollywood Cerise (Venus Paradise color). I used a bit of Imperial Purple and Light Blue and Emerald Green at the top of the paper to create the feeling of shadowed distance. The left side of the main flower is Raw Sienna, and Pink Madder Lake is on the flower at the bottom of the drawing.
*********************************************************************
Scan #2. As shown in the second scan, I colored over the Chinese White for the most part with Pink Madder Lake. I intended for that to make the flower look “pink”, but it only served to make the sense of “light’”go away. That’s not what I wanted.
I intensified the Zinc Yellow area on the right, intending it to be a bright, flat, undetailed area.
********************************************************************
Scan #3. I layered Chinese White over the Zinc Yellow to make it as bright as possible, and then added more Chinese White to the flowers that I had just colored with Pink Madder Lake, in an effort to correct my “mistake”. If I had left it colored with just Chinese White to begin with, the end result would have been brighter and more clear.
I began to define shapes with outlines and shadows of Imperial Purple.
********************************************************************
Scan #4 This is the finished drawing, same as the picture at the beginning of the post. Lots more Imperial Purple used to define the shapes and outline of the drawing. More Chinese White was used to define highlights. I added some Light Blue to the bottom left yellow corner to draw your eye back and forth across the drawing to the blue in each corner. I added a signature.
Ta-da!
The actual drawn image size is 4½” x 6¾” on an 8″ x 10″ purple board.
As always, doing the Virtual Sketch Date is lots of fun. Anyone can do it. Just visit the blog, and read the instructions in their sidebar.
Leslie