Draw Abstract Art using Patterns inspired by Gustav Klimt

1. Welcome!: You know that feeling when you're really inspired by the work of another artist? And you really want to use that inspiration in your own work, but you just don't know where to get started? Well, I've been there too and yes, it's not a great feeling. But guess what? We're going to fix that today. Hi everyone! My name is Ridhi Rajpal and I'm a Film-maker and a Multi-disciplinary Artist from India. I am also a Certified Zentangle Teacher and a Certified Sculpture Painting Artist. Now, forget about all of those certifications because frankly speaking, I'm just like you. I'm super enthusiastic about making art and that's exactly what we're gonna be doing in today's class. So today we are making abstract pattern Art inspired by one of the greatest artists of all time, Gustav Klimt. When I first came across Klimt's paintings, I was blown away by his work. His use of intricate patterns, bold colors, and abstract forms is absolutely mesmerizing. And a few years ago, as I was enjoying the beautiful sights of the city of Vienna in Austria, the place where Klimt was born. I fell in love with his work all over again. Even the souvenir shops over there were filled with his paintings printed on literally every item possible. And that's where I also got myself, this cute little tin box. So anyway, it got me thinking, how can I use all of these creative inspiration in my own artworks? After all, I didn't want to simply replicate or copy Klimt's work. Instead, I wanted to use all of this inspiration to create something that was distinctive and uniquely mine. And that's exactly what we're gonna be doing in today's class. We are gonna be making abstract art inspired by Klimt's style, but totally reflective of our own creative voice. We will learn how to utilize colors, shapes, and textures in innovative ways. We will get to experiment and explore our own unique creativity. But most importantly, you're going to gain confidence so that every time you are inspired by the work of another artist or any other source of inspiration for that matter, then you can use that effectively in your own one-of-a-kind artworks. In other words, the techniques that I'm sharing in today's class can be applied to multiple sources of inspiration, not just Klimt's paintings. So that's pretty cool, right? We'll learn everything in an easy step-by-step manner. And at the end of this class, you will have two finished pieces of art that you can hang up on your wall and be proud of every single day. And here's the best part. You don't need any prior experience in art to join this class. Whether you're a seasoned artist or a complete beginner. This class is for anyone who wants to explore abstract pattern art in a playful, expressive environment. So if I've done a good job of tempting, you, meet me in class, and let's create something stunning together. 2. Class Projects & Overview: Gustav Klimt's art is known for its intricate patterns, bold colors, and abstract forms. For your class projects, we are going to be drawing inspiration from Klimt's style and using it as a jumping-off point to create our own unique abstract pattern art. In total, we're going to be working on two class projects. But with the techniques demonstrated in this class, you will be able to create many more of your own. And don't worry, you're not alone in this! I'm going to be with you every step of the way to make sure that your class project turns out to be super stunning! To make each of our class projects, we'll start by exploring a few paintings by Klimt. And we'll understand how he used geometric shapes, organic forms and ornate patterns in his paintings. We will also be studying his use of color and texture to understand how we can create depth and interest in our own compositions. Once we have narrowed down on the inspiration for each of our projects, we'll start drawing. But it's important to note that we won't be simply copying or replicating Klimt's work. Instead, we're gonna be using that as an inspiration to develop our own creative voice. So that means throughout this class, we will be actively engaging in making decisions that make our artwork more unique and personal. Throughout this class, I'll be sharing my own creative processes and techniques to help you infuse your own creative voice in your projects. But at the same time, you're also welcome to use your own creative processes and techniques. Processes that you have already tried, techniques that you already trust, and things that you want to add into your own artwork to make it personal and unique for yourself. In other words, you have the freedom to totally customize and personalize this experience for yourself in any way that you like. So basically, no rules over here! Once you're done with the class projects, I encourage you to share them in the project gallery. This way, you will get feedback from not just me, but a very helpful and supportive student community over here on Skillshare. Alright, so now that you know what the class is all about, let's get started! 3. Supplies: Alright, everyone, let's talk supplies! Now this class is all about accessibility and keeping things simple and flexible. Which is why I have kept the supplies as simple and minimal as possible. The first thing that you are going to need is of course, paper. And you can use any kind of paper that is easily available to you. You can also use a sketchbook and you don't need to have loose papers like I have over here. So basically use whatever is easily available. Now the paper that I'm using is from the brand called Strathmore. And they make these gorgeous artist tiles which come in the square format. So if you've been a regular student of mine, you know that I love working in a square format. And so this is my personal choice for today's project. But you are definitely welcome to work in a rectangle, circle or any other format that you'd like, horizontal or vertical orientation, whatever you prefer. Now, what I like to do with my artist tiles is that I put these washi tape edges on the corners. And so you can also use a regular masking tape for this. The benefit of this is that once the drawing is finished. I can peel these off. And that nicely reveals these crisp white edges, which creates a fake or a faux mat or a frame around the drawing. And so I really like that look. So again, this is optional. If you don't have a washi tape or masking tape, that's totally fine. You can skip this step. And of course, this is also a design preference. So if you don't want to have that border around your artwork, then it's totally fine. Now, the next thing that we will need is some kind of a coloring media. So I'm gonna be using these water-based markers, which I found from Amazon, from a brand called Ohuhu. I think I'm pronouncing that correctly, not 100% sure! But this was a pretty affordable brand that I found online. What I liked about these markers is that they are dual-tip. On one side, they have a fine liner tip, which is great for adding tiny details. But on the other side, they have a brush pen tip, which is great for covering large areas and basically just having a nice large application of color. So what I also like about these brush pens is that you can actually create these painterly effects. So for example, I can go over a certain patch and make it darker. Then when I overlap these lines, it creates these blotches. It's basically creating this nice painterly, raw finish. So I always like to say that if someone was playing with their brush pens and if they were slightly scratchy, then they basically just give us slightly more expressive, painterly finishes. And so basically that's the kind of look that I'm trying to create over here in the class today. But again, this is totally optional. If you don't like to have this kind of blotchy, raw finish, and if you don't want to have this painterly expressive style, then you can totally skip this and you can use some other coloring media. So for example, you can also use these Sakura Pigma Micron pens, which are great. And these come in various different colors as well as various different thickness of the nib. So you have thin and thick variations. So these are slightly more opaque as compared to the water-based markers. And of course, you can use anything else as well. So for example, you can also use alcohol-based markers. You can use color pencils, sketch pens, acrylic paint, gouache, you name it. So basically, I just want you to have fun with whichever coloring medium you choose. And it should be something that is easily available to you and something that you are comfortable working with. Alright, now, one of the most important things that we're going to need for today's class is something gold. So basically, we will need gold pens or gold paint, if that's what's available to you. And one of the gold pens that I'm going to be using in today's class is this light, nice, shimmery gold from uni-ball, which is a gel pen. And this has a nice shimmery finish to it. But along with this, I'm also gonna be using this Sakura Pen-Touch marker. We need to shake it to get the ink flowing. This one is a slightly more antique gold and it has a slightly more opaque finish. This is the same one that I've also done over here. So basically this pen also comes in various different nib sizes. The one that I'm using for today's class is an extra fine point, at 0.7 MM. But you also get these in thicker nib sizes. So that's an option too. I'm gonna be using two different kinds of golds just to create some more interest and drama in the drawings. And the reason why we are specifically using a lot of gold in the drawings is because Gustav Klimt's work is famous for the use of gold. He used a lot of gold leafing and also a little bit of silver leafing in his work. And his paintings had this sense of richness and opulence because of that gold leafing work. So we're just taking inspiration from that. And to replicate that effect, we are gonna be using gold pens over here. Now, as I mentioned, you don't have to have these gold pens. You can instead use gold acrylic paint if that is what is easily available to you. Another thing that I highly recommend for today's class is a white gel pen. And that's because it's very useful in adding these details on top of colored patches. You can basically create some interesting layering effects with a white gel pen. This is again from uni-ball, the same brand from which I'm using the gold pen as well. But you can use any other brand that you like. Again, if you don't have a white gel pen, you can use white acrylic paint or white gouache as a substitute. Now one more reason why I like to use these white gel pens or white acrylic paint in my drawings is because I want to cover up paper white. For example, you have certain sections white in your drawing and you want to leave negative spaces. That's totally fine, but I highly recommend covering them up with white. The reason for that is that after a few months or a few years, your paper might start to discolor. And so if you intended for certain sections of your drawing to be white, they might start becoming yellow or brown. So to prevent that from happening, it's always a good idea to use a white gel pen or a white acrylic paint or white gouache or something white to cover up the paper white. So that these pigments, which are basically archival ink or acid free pigments, do the job of keeping those white areas, white. Which means that you are still going to have white even after a few years. You'll see me use this technique on the white areas of my drawing when we actually get to the project stage. Alright, now that we have discussed the paper and the coloring media, I also want to quickly tell you to keep a few scrap pieces of paper like this one handy with you, so that you can test out your colors beforehand and create swatches before you actually get into the drawing stage of your projects. You will also need a couple of blank pieces of paper, which can be your regular computer printing paper or copy paper. And that will be used for doing some practice exercises. For those practice exercises, you will also need a pencil. And if you don't want to use a pencil, that's fine. You can also use a pen or a marker. It's just for practice, so you're free to use whatever you want. So that's another thing that you should keep. And as a couple of optional supplies, if you like, you can keep a ruler handy, and you can also keep an eraser handy. So these are totally optional. We won't really be using a lot of the ruler and the eraser in the drawings. But if you'd like to have them on standby, that's totally fine. So that's it, pretty much for all the supplies that we are going to be using in today's class. Now, since this class is based on observing the paintings of another artist, we obviously need a few reference images. For the most part of the class, I am going to be using reference images from this book. And you don't have to have this book with you, but it's a great one, in case you are looking for interesting art books. So this is from a publisher by the name of Taschen. And this is a book on Gustav Klimt's complete works. So it's a great reference book and it has many interesting images of his work or where he studied, where he lived, etcetera, etcetera. So I'm gonna be using this as the reference for building up color palettes and taking design inspiration in the class. Now I realize that some of you would like to zoom into the details and really see the true colors of each of the paintings and really look at the details up-close and personal. So obviously me showing these on camera will not do the job. Which is why I have also created a Pinterest board for your convenience. The link to the Pinterest board is in the Class Resources document. On that board, I have put in several pictures of Klimt's original paintings, as well as pictures of work by artists who are broadly inspired by Klimt's style. And then some fashion designers, accessory designers, etcetera, who have developed collections based on Klimt's style. So basically just a good set of reference images. And I keep adding more images to it pretty regularly. So if you like, you can check out that Pinterest board in the Resources section. And, of course, I must mention that the greatest and the best resource for finding high resolution pictures of Gustav Klimt's artworks is Wikimedia Commons, where you will find a ton of pictures in the public domain, including Gustav Klimt's paintings. So these paintings are great if you want to download them in high resolution and really zoom in and look at the color palettes and look at the details of each of the paintings. So you can use those for reference images as well. So yeah, so that's pretty much it for all the supplies and resources that we will need for this class. And if you have any questions about anything at all, you can always drop them in the Discussions tab. And I'd be happy to help. So now we are ready to move on to the creative stage of our class, which means in the next lesson, we are going to start finding some inspiration for our projects. See you there! 4. Finding Inspiration: During his early years, Gustav Klimt showcased remarkable talent and versatility as an artist. He initially trained in architectural decoration alongside his brother Ernst. and their common friend, Franz Matsch. Together, the three of them also formed the "Company of Artists", creating intricate murals and paintings for many public buildings. A lot of Klimt's early works reveal a strong influence of historicism and academic Art, which was prevalent during that time. He painted landscapes, portraits, and allegorical themes, meticulously capturing details by employing various traditional techniques. However, everything changed when Klimt joined the Vienna Secession, a revolutionary group of artists aiming to break free from traditional constraints and explore innovative artistic expression. As part of the Vienna Secession, Klimt embraced a new artistic direction. His work became increasingly experimental, characterized by symbolism, sensuality, and a profound exploration of human psychology and emotions. So Klimt's Vienna Secession period is perhaps best known for his iconic paintings featuring intricate patterns, sumptuous use of gold leaf and mesmerizing ornate details. These works often centered around themes of love, desire, and the female form, reflecting Klimt's fascination with the human experience in general. Klimt's masterpieces from this period, such as, "The Kiss", "The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I", and the "Tree of Life" are celebrated for their exquisite beauty, rich symbolism, and profound exploration of the human conditions. It is believed that when Klimt showcased his painting, "The Kiss", for the first time, he mentioned in his opening speech that he viewed so-called "Fine Art" and "Applied Art" as one. This idea is deeply rooted in the concept of "gesamkunstwerk", which is a German word representing the idea of a unified work of art. And I'm pretty sure I haven't pronounced that correctly. My German is not very good. Maybe a quick search on the Internet will help you with that. Anyway, moving on through his art, Klimt challenged societal norms and opened the door to a new era of artistic expression. His work within the Vienna Secession not only influenced his contemporaries, but continues to inspire countless artists to this day. As we delve into Klimt's Vienna Secession period, it's important to note that we will primarily be studying his independent works rather than his earlier collaborative pieces created for public buildings. This is because Klimt's independent works are characterized by a greater utilization of intricate patterns and opulent gold detailing, which aligns perfectly with our focus on developing abstract pattern art during this class. So basically, we'll be observing those masterpieces where patterns and ornamental details take centerstage. And we'll be observing these details as independent elements that we can use in our own work with our own creative voice. So let's begin. Now, the first painting that we're gonna look at closely is, "The Kiss". "The Kiss" is one of Gustav Klimt's most iconic and celebrated paintings from his Vienna Secession period. It showcases a passionate embrace between a man and a woman, enveloped in a richly patterned and ornamental background. And we're going to look at the shapes used in this masterpiece. One prominent shape that stands out over here is the circular form. The circular motif is repeated throughout the artwork, appearing as swirling patterns in the background, and also as decorative elements in the garments of the figures. Another prevalent shape is the use of spirals. Spirals are intricately woven into the patterns, embellishing the figures' clothing, and the background. And the spirals give a sense of energy, rhythm and transformation. Then there are these rectangular shapes in the form of mosaic tiles. So these rectangular elements, along with the precise lines, add a sense of structure and order and balance to the painting, which is a nice juxtaposition with the organic and flowing shapes present in the figures. Then we are going to look at the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I". And this is another renowned painting by Klimt, which is known for its lavish and ornate style. And again, Klimt has employed a combination of organic and geometric shapes, creating a very visually striking and intricate composition. So one of the dominant shapes in this painting is again, the use of circles or ovals. And Adele Bloch-Bauer herself is portrayed within a circular frame, surrounded by a halo like aura of golden circles and decorative motifs. And the circular shapes serve to emphasize Adele's presence and create a sense of ethereal beauty. Then another significant shape in the artwork is the use of these intricate curvilinear patterns. So again, these decorative patterns are very reminiscent of ornamental motifs from Byzantine Art, which had influenced a lot of Klimt's work. And we can see that in the dress as well as the surrounding background. Again, these organic and flowing shapes add a sense of opulence and femininity and sensuality to the portrait, which reflects the elegance and grace of Adele herself. Then, Klimt also incorporated angular and geometric shapes as contrasting elements within this composition. So there are shapes seen over here like mosaic tiles that are in the background. And they provide a structured and balanced counterpoint to the organic forms in the foreground. So it's a very nice juxtaposition overall. Now just as a side note, Klimt's use of shapes in this painting actually goes beyond purely aesthetic considerations. The carefully chosen shapes and patterns are filled with symbolic meaning. And they were reflective of the social and cultural contexts of the time. Now, just like this painting, there's another portrait that we should definitely look at, and that is the "Portrait of Emilie Flöge". Now, again, this portrait features various shapes that contribute to the overall composition. So again, predominantly we can see organic shapes which are characterized by flowing and curvilinear forms. And then we can see some patterns in Emilie's dress, which are reminiscent of Art Nouveau aesthetics. And additionally, the portrait also has geometric shapes, such as the rectangular frame and the circular motifs in the background. So again, these shapes create a very harmonious balance within the composition. They enhance the visual appeal of the artwork. I particularly love the use of the spirals on the dress over here, along with these little squares here and there. By now, you've probably seen some amount of commonalities and repetition appear over here. So a lot of the shapes that Klimt has repeated in his paintings over and over again are basic shapes like rectangles, squares, triangles, spirals, ovals, etcetera. But each time he has used them differently in different contexts with different symbolism and different meaning. Now, as one of the exercises for this class, I want you to take a few minutes and try to come up with a few more variations of your own. So for example, we can do a spiral inside an oval, or we can do a spiral inside, a square or a triangle. Then just like we saw this oval that was split into two, we can also do a square that is split in two, or even a triangle that is split in two. And just like we had these swirling spirals, we can also do some swirling triangles or squares. So basically, look at these shapes closely and think of different and unique ways to embellish the same outlines. And just as a reminder, you're also free to use the Pinterest board that I have created for this class. It has additional reference images which can be used for observing more patterns and paintings by Klimt. And the link to that board is in the Class Resources document, which is available in the Projects and Resources section. So take a few minutes to brainstorm new ideas. And once you're ready, meet me the next lesson where we will develop a color palette for our first piece together 5. Project 1 - Color Palette: Alright, so we are now going to develop a color palette for our first project together. So my main source of inspiration for the colors is going to be the man's outfit from "The Kiss". Now, over here, we have a ton of these rectangular blocks which are completely covering the man's outfit. We can see that there are hints of yellow gold and some light gold, orange-y gold etc. So basically just tints, tones and shades of various types of golds. And then we have a little bit of black and silver and white. Now I want to primarily use this color palette. But this color palette can tend to become a little boring because there is nothing that pops in this palette. And just to reiterate, I'm talking about the colors only in the man's outfit. I'm not looking at the woman's outfit as yet. So this is gonna be the primary color palette. So now I want to add something over here that can brighten up the palette and make it a little more playful and joyful because that's my personal aesthetic. Now your aesthetic can be totally different than mine. Maybe you prefer really muted colors and maybe you prefer analogous color palettes. So that's totally alright. You can pick colors that work very well for you and that go with your vision and your tastes and preferences. But I'm just giving you an example of the kind of color palettes that I usually develop. Now with these gold, silvers, whites and blacks, I want to introduce a nice pop of color, which is why I'm also going to take inspiration from another painting by Klimt, which is titled, "Hope II". Now over here we can see that there is a large chunk of this orangey red in the outfit. And there are these nice big gold ovals all over the outfit, which have these pops of color in the middle. So we have green pops, we have blue pops, we have orange pops, etcetera, etcetera. Now I don't want to expand the palette so much either. So that means I just want to take a few colors from here to add to the palette that I like from the previous painting. And basically I just want to combine my inspiration from both of these paintings. So I'm going to borrow the idea of this nice bright orangey red from this painting, which is, "Hope II". And I am also going to borrow the idea of using a little bit of blue and a little bit of green from this painting, from the Ovals basically. So now when I put together all of these colors, I have a really nice combination working for me. We have some really nice muted colors, but we also have something that can break the monotony of those muted colors and add a little bit of pop. Now based on this color palette, I am going to swatch out the supplies. Now keep in mind that colors on a monitor or on a computer screen are usually not the most accurate representation of a pigment. So it doesn't matter if you don't have the exact same colors that you'll see on the screen. You can try to match the colors with whatever closest supplies that you have available with you. So even in my case, even though I have a really large set of brush pens, which has around 100 or I think 112 different colors. But even then, I won't really have the exact same shade or the exact same tone that I see in a painting. I'm just going to try and match to whatever the closest color I find. That's how I am going to swatch my palette. Now, once I have Swatched these colors, one of the things that I really like to do is to click a picture of my palette and convert it into black and white. The reason why I like to do that is because I want to develop a color palette that has colors of different values. Just to give you a quick insight, color value actually refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a color. So it's a very important aspect of color perception. And it's essential to know about values because they help you to develop interesting color palettes. Now, when you're looking at your color palette, you don't want everything to be of the same value. You'll definitely want to have some dark elements, some light elements, and some medium elements. Now, if you're a beginner in art or in color theory in general, then it can be a little tricky to just simply look at a color and guess its value. That is why I recommend using this trick where you can convert your color palette into a black and white picture. Once you convert it into black and white, you can very easily see the different types of gray. And with this, you can actually make out which ones are your darker colors and which ones are your lighter colors. In other words, you can easily make out the value of these colors. So my pro tip is to develop a color palette which has a nice mix of these dark, medium and light values. And the reason for that is that you want to build contrast in your drawings. And contrast plays a very important role in creating visual interest and drama in your drawing. And it helps to guide the viewer's eye within a composition. If you end up having too many light colors, then there will be nothing that stands out in your painting or in your drawing. And at the same time, if everything is of really dark values, then your composition is going to end up looking very flat. So there will be nothing that stands out to break the monotony of the dark colors. So that's why it's always a good idea to check your color palette. So as of now, I think I'm pretty happy with the palette that I have developed. Now, of course, these colors are not set in stone. You can always change or rework your decisions as you go along and progress in your drawing. So you can always add another color or decide not to use a couple of colors later on. So nothing is set in stone. And in fact, for me, I might not even use the blue color. I might only end up using green because that works as a nice complimentary color to red. So red, green and a lot of gold and black and white will do the job of making the composition look nice. And I won't really need blue. But at the same time, it's always a good idea to just make these swatch cards and keep them handy just in case I want to use them later. So I encourage you to look at a couple of paintings and develop a color palette for yourself. Again, you can look at as many reference images as you like. You can look at as many different pictures as you like. And just extract the colors and test out the values and see what kind of color palette is working best for you. And on the other hand, if you feel like you want to do the exact same color palette as me, you are totally free to do that as well. So I will put a picture of this color palette in the Class Resources document. And you can have that as a handy little reference when you are comparing your colors to the swatch card. And hopefully that will help you in picking your colors easily. Once you've got all your colors ready, meet me in the next lesson where we'll begin drawing. 6. Project 1 - String & Structure: Alright, so welcome everyone to this lesson where we're going to start working on our project. And as I mentioned earlier, I've got my paper covered with the washi tape on the edges. You can also use a regular masking tape instead of this. But as I mentioned earlier, this is totally optional, and if you're someone who likes to have your designs and your compositions going all the way to the edges of your paper, then you can totally skip this tape. Now, moving to the first basic step of our composition, I'm just going to lay down a single-loop string. And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of strings, I just want to give you a quick overview of what they are and how they help us in our abstract drawings. So the concept of strings is something that I've actually borrowed from the Zentangle method. And essentially, a string is an unplanned pencil guideline on a blank piece of paper. So the string is actually laid down without any prior intentional thought. We just simply make an abstract gestural stroke on the paper. And it's almost as if you take a piece of thread and you drop it down on a flat surface, then the thread is just basically going to take a shape of its own. And the sections that the thread creates is basically the sections that you're going to use to fill up your drawings or your patterns. And the string basically takes away this whole overwhelming feeling of having a big blank paper in front of you. So it gives you small sections and small little areas of focus in your drawing. And you can fill them up one-by-one. So this is basically to make the process a lot easier for those of us who experience creative blocks very often, or for those of us who are new to this whole idea of making abstract compositions. Now, I talk a lot more in detail about strings and the entire Zentangle method and the philosophy and the origin, etcetera, etcetera in my other two classes over here on Skillshare, which are dedicated to solidifying your knowledge about the Zentangle method. But now coming back to our abstract composition for today, we are gonna be using a single-loop string. And basically, this is just a freehand gestural stroke in which we create this abstract loop-like shape. And we just want to create one of these loops, which is why the stroke is called a "single-loop string". Now, the next thing that I'm going to do is switch over to my pen. And I'm going to start laying down some ovals over here, which are inspired by the pattern that we saw on the painting titled, "Hope II". And you can actually see these orbs or circular structures in a lot of other work by Klimt as well. And I'm just going to basically lay this down freehand on top of my string. Now, coming to the top section over here, I actually want to draw a pattern over here which is inspired by the man's outfit in the painting titled, "The Kiss". And I want to incorporate those kinds of details over here in this section. But to make it easier for myself, I'm actually going to take the help of a tangle from the Zentangle method. And this tangle is actually called "Rome". So it starts off with these wavy lines. And we just basically create lines parallel to the original wavy lines. Like creating these ribbons which are free-flowing. And then we draw these perpendicular lines, pretty much like pillars, which are connecting these ribbons. And then once we have a few of these pillars, we're just going to repeat the process. So once again, we make the ribbons. And this time we're just going to take them behind the pillars that we drew. And then I'm just going to create a few more pillars, like so. Basically I'm just creating a guideline over here or like an overall structure, which is going to be helpful for us once we start adding in the details. Alright, now, coming to this bottom section over here, I'm going to start filling this up with triangles. And I'm going to start placing these triangles very randomly. Again, triangular elements is something that we see a lot in many of Klimt's paintings. For example, we definitely see a trail of triangles at the bottom of the painting, "The Kiss". Then we also see some triangular elements in the painting titled, "Hope II". There's also a wonderful use of triangles in another painting, which is titled the "Three Ages of Woman". Now, as you can probably tell, I'm not trying to replicate the pattern exactly the same way as I saw in any of the paintings that I'm showing over here as a reference. Instead, I'm just actually trying to extract some of these shapes and some of these forms that I'm seeing as repeated patterns or repeated elements in multiple paintings by Klimt. And I'm just trying to extract some general style elements from all of his work and using that in a playful manner in our own composition. And now in the same way, I'm just adding a few spirals over here. Some really long, nice elongated spirals. Again, something that we can see repeating a lot in Klimt's work. So there are multiple paintings in which we see the spirals reappearing. And this is sort of like, I think, a signature Klimt pattern, so to say. Now, just to make things a little bit more fun and interesting, I'm just going to add a large triangle behind these spirals. So again, this is just basically laying down an overall structure or a guideline of where we want our patterns to go. Sort of like creating a skeleton or a framework. And in the same way, I'm just going to add a few large ovals behind these triangles as well. So I'm basically just trying to break the monotony of these patterns and just trying to mix and match them a little bit here and there. And keeping things playful and interesting. Alright, with that, we've got a basic structure ready for our composition. And we can now start working on the details that we want to add inside of these little shapes that we have drawn. So you can take a quick break. And then I'm going to see you in the next lesson where we'll start adding color to all of these beautiful shapes that we have just drawn. 7. Project 1 - Squares & Rectangles: Alright, so it's time to start adding some details into this composition that we have created. And I'm going to start off on the top-left corner where I want to create a pattern which is broadly inspired by the clothes that the man is wearing in the painting titled, "The Kiss". So if you look at the pattern, we can see that it basically has these rectangular and square blocks. And these are blocks of color. And we can see these black blocks which are appearing in contrast to the gold blocks. And of course, there are different shades of gold. So we can see some light golds and some yellowish golds, some antique golds. And then there are these little splashes of light orange-gold as well. So the idea is that we're going to create smaller sections into this pattern that we have already created. So as you probably remember from the previous lesson, we basically created a tangle over here called "Rome". And now what I'm basically going to do is switch between the different colors of brush pens and ink pens that I have. And I'm just going to keep shuffling the order of these pens. And with them, I'm going to create smaller blocks of color, or smaller chunks of color in these large sections. So for example, over here, I've added the black and then a little bit of the red and the gold. Then the same way, I'm just gonna keep adding more details. So here, for example, I'm just going to add a little bit of this brownish color on the edge. Then I'm just going to bring in my white. And once we remove the masking tape, you will actually be able to see the beautiful but subtle difference between the gel pen white and the white of the paper. So it's a very subtle difference, but it creates this beautiful, sort of artistic, painterly effect. And this is one of the reasons why I like to use white gel pens heavily on my abstract drawings. To create this beautiful layering effect... And that's something that we're going to see in this drawing as well. So now here again, I'm just adding a little bit of the red and then different shades of golds and browns that we're going to play with. As I'm playing around with these colors, and you know, as I'm consciously switching the order of these pens, I'm also consciously trying to create blocks in different orientations. So what I mean is that I'm trying to create a balance between vertical blocks and horizontal blocks. So some of the sections that you'll see over here are squares, and the others are vertical rectangles and the others are horizontal rectangles and so on and so forth. So sometimes I'm going inside them to add smaller details. And other times I am going around the shapes to create outlines. So just basically playing around and adding bars and blocks and squares and rectangles of various different colors. Now, one of the things that I'm also doing over here consciously is to not use a lot of the red color. So I only want pops of red over here, in contrast to all the browns and yellows and the golds that I'm using over here. And I actually want to use majority of the red in one of the larger sections on the composition later on. So that's just a quick design decision that I'm doing right now. And I just want to use little pops of red peeping through here and there, in this pattern. Now at this stage, I would really encourage you to try and not copy the exact same steps that I'm doing. But instead focus on the general idea and the general theme of what we're trying to do over here. So as you've probably understood by now, the general idea that we're going for is taking these larger sections and then breaking them down into smaller subsections which we are filling with color. Once you've understood that general idea, you can play around with the order of the colors. And of course, you can play around in terms of scale as well as repetition. So that could actually mean something different and unique for each of you. So some of you might like to have larger chunks of color, while there might be others who enjoy adding really small and tiny details. Then there might be some of you who want to add probably a little bit more white or a little bit more gold as compared to what I'm doing over here. So really just basically play around with squares and rectangles. Those are the general shapes that we're going for. And once you've understood those shapes and once you've understood the technique and the process, really take the time to customize the experience for yourself. Now, after a point, the steps in this pattern get pretty repetitive. So I'm going to speed up the video a little bit for you to see my progress. But I do want to quickly mention that you should not feel overwhelmed by the speed of this time-lapse video. And instead, if you feel like you need a little bit more time, you can always hit the pause button, work at your own pace, and then come back and play the video again. And I also want to quickly mention that these Sakura gold pens sometimes don't flow very easily in the first go. So you might benefit from keeping a scrap piece of paper on the side where you can just quickly draw a couple of lines, get that ink flowing, and just create a little bit of friction between the nib and the paper. And then once you have that ink flowing, you can then come back to your composition and start adding the gold. So I'm using the more shiny chrome like Sakura gold on the original borders that we had created. The wavy lines and the pillars. Whereas all the other colors have gone inside in the inner sections. So I have created small boxes and small rectangles and small squares here and there. And I basically just try to create a variety in the placement of these little details. And really, this is something where nobody ever goes wrong because honestly there is no right or wrong way to do this. You can play around with as many colors as you like. You can play around in terms of the thickness or thinness of the lines. And of course, we're playing with the same shape in different orientations. So it's all very harmonious in itself. And as I mentioned, there is no wrong way to do this. So feel free to have fun. Alright, now with that, we're done with the top-left corner of our composition. And now in the next lesson, we're gonna get started on the other areas as well. 8. Project 1 - Background Blocking: Alright everyone, welcome back to the class. And now we are going to start adding some color into the background of these large sections that we had left empty earlier on. I'm going to start off with the top-right corner of the composition, where we had created this large triangle and a few spirals. So I'm gonna go into the background and I'm going to use my brush pen to add a background layer. And for this, I'm actually using this color which is very similar to a bister-brown color. And here's a fun fact. Bister is actually a pigment which is made from soot. So historically speaking, it was actually created by burning down beechwood. And of course, now you have a lot of the artificial pigments which are similar to that. So you do find a lot of tints and shades of the same color. And you can actually spot this color a lot in paintings by old masters. So they used it to create washes in their paintings. And it has this beautiful yellowish cast to it, which makes it really fun to pair with different kinds of golds and browns. But at the same time, it also works really well with colors like green and orange. And I especially like the combination of using this with olive green and a rust orange color. So that's also something that you can try experimenting with maybe later on. Yeah, basically, I quite like this color! And as you can see, the beauty of brush pens is that you can layer them and create these really painterly effects. I'm purposely going back-and-forth on some sections to create these dark patches and light patches, almost like an uneven painted wall. So for example, if you just get a painter, like a wall painter, and they do a really bad job of painting your wall, and it has this funny way of creating washes on the wall... well then that's the effect that we're going for, in this particular piece, at least! Okay, and now in the same way, I'm going to add red to the bottom section of the drawing. And now over here, if you remember, we had actually created this loop as part of the string. But I'm actually going to ignore that now. And I'm just going to cover it up completely with the red color. And this is simply because, as I mentioned earlier, a string is simply a guideline. You don't have to force yourself to follow the exact same shapes that the string creates. It's just a way for us to warm up and just get rid of a blank paper. And basically just get rid of our anxiety and overwhelming feeling of having a blank paper in front of us. So with that, the string simply just acts as a guideline. And then later on you can totally feel free to ignore the string altogether. So that's exactly what I'm doing over here right now. I'm ignoring the string and I'm merging two sections to create this red patch over here in the background. So I'm just adding that all over... behind my triangles and the large ovals that we had created. Of course, if you're going very close to the outlines of the triangles, then you can switch to the other side of the brush pen, which is the fine liner tip, which gives you a slightly more precise application of the color. And then, when you want to create some painterly effects, then you can switch to the brush side of the brush pen. And you can use that tip to create these beautiful painterly wash effects over here. And with that, we've got the color application done for our background. And in the next lesson, we're going to start working on top of these backgrounds to create even more beautiful details. 9. Project 1 - Swirls & Spirals: Alright everyone, welcome back. We are now ready to move forward with the details on our composition. And I'm going to start off with the top-right corner, where we are going to add some spirals. So again, spirals and swirls is a pattern that you'll see in a lot of Klimt's paintings. And sometimes you'll see it in color, whereas other times you'll see it with gold and silver. So just taking inspiration from that and adding in some swirling, spiraling elements over here on this section. Now, you can always draw all of these elements first and then go back in with your pen to color them in. Or you can do them one by one. Whatever is easier. But one tip that I definitely want to mention over here is to keep rotating your paper with your left hand and keep drawing with your right hand. Or the opposite, if your dominant drawing hand is your left hand. So then the opposite works. Now the reason for that is because you want to keep your wrist at a comfortable position and you want to keep drawing with the same muscle movement or the same muscle memory, so to say. It's best to keep your hand stable on the table or on the platform on which you're working. And then use the other hand to keep rotating your paper. This way, not only do you get a comfortable angle to draw, but at the same time you can ensure variety in your drawing. So what I mean by that is that you can draw these spirals in different directions. And so they won't all be facing in the same direction. And this way you can create a lot more complex design. So, yeah, so that's just a tip that will help you draw easily and more comfortably. So of course, if you have a thicker pen, you can use that to color in the Spirals. And if you like to have more color in your compositions, then you can definitely do the spirals in multiple different colors. But for me, I wanted to create a balanced composition where I definitely wanted to add a little bit more black, because we've used a little bit of that on the top-left corner of the composition. So that's the reason why I'm creating these spirals with the black color. Now, this is a fairly simple and fairly repetitive step. And depending on the size of the paper that you're working with, you might get done faster or might need more time as compared to me. So it's all relative and it's all subjective. So I'm just gonna speed this up a little bit for you to see my progress. But one thing that I wanted to show you over here is the subtle difference between the spirals that I had drawn in the beginning versus the spirals that I drew later on. So you can see that the spirals that are drawn in the beginning are slightly faded out. And the black over here is a slightly more faded black as compared to the other spirals. And the reason for that is because I had to switch pens midway. So my Sakura Pigma Micron pen got over. The ink got finished. And so I had to switch to the Artline brand somewhere in the middle. And it's actually a good thing that this happened because now I can show you that just because a brand says that their pen is black in color, that does not necessarily mean that the black shade or the black color will match the black of another brand. So this is a good example to show you that the black from Sakura Pigma Micron is different from the black that Artline has. Different brands, might have the same names for the colors, but they might just create different effects. But for me it's not a big deal right now because I can actually go back into those initial spirals and I can just go over them with the Artline pen. So now, they all look the same. And I'm pretty happy with the result because now the black is the same all over. So yeah, so with that, we've got all the spirals done over here. And in the next lesson, we're going to continue adding more details into our composition 10. Project 1 - Ovals & Triangles: Okay, so now it's time to start dealing with these ovals and triangles that we had left empty earlier. And I'm going to start tackling the ovals first. So these large ovals in the bottom section, were largely inspired by the ovals that we saw in the painting that was titled, "Hope II". And even though the original painting had hints of blue and purple as well, along with the green and the gold, I have actually decided to skip the blue pen altogether. So just like I was thinking in the beginning, I don't think I want to use my blue pen over here. And instead, I'm going to just outline these ovals with the black pen. And that will just help to make them stand out a bit more against the red background. Then once I have these black outlines, then I'm going to go in and add more color. Now, one of the things to keep in mind in abstract compositions like these is to really focus on varying the thickness of your lines. So you don't want everything to be of the same thickness. So over here, I've got my black outlines to be slightly thinner than the green sections inside and the gold sections inside. So I'm basically aiming for variety in the thickness of these lines. And that just helps to make the whole pattern a lot more interesting. Now of course, if you're working at a different scale as compared to me, then you might have to make some adjustments to this pattern. So for example, if your ovals are smaller as compared to me, then maybe you might not be able to add three such outlines. And maybe you're just able to squeeze in two ovals or maybe just one other oval inside the existing outline. And at the same time, if your ovals are bigger as compared to mine, then you can also go back in with another color and maybe add a few more details. So you could probably add a few spirals inside the ovals. Or maybe you could add a few semi-circles or squares inspired by the top-left corner of the composition. So basically, depending on the scale that you're working with, feel free to customise the process. Okay, now coming to these triangles, I just realized I had missed a spot of red over there. So just quickly fixing that. And now I'm going to start adding details inside the triangles. I want to make sure that the triangles feel as if they're part of the same design family. So I'm not going to go radically different inside the triangles. I'm going to try and follow the same approach of adding smaller shapes inside the bigger shapes. So that means just like we did with the ovals and the squares, I'm going to add in smaller triangles inside these outlines that we have created. And again, I'm using a combination of two or three different colors over here. And sometimes I have white outlines with black triangles inside. Other times I have black outlines with a white or a golden triangle inside. So just adding a triangle inside another triangle inside another triangle. And sort of just creating these triangular details and patterns inside. This way, we know that it's the same design language or the same design grammar, so to say, and it all feels very homogeneous and it all feels very connected to each other. And that helps to bring harmony in your design because you are following the same design principles over here. I'm also just adding a few smaller black triangles here and there. And you can actually do this with gold and white as well. But for now, I feel like I have enough gold on this bottom section, so I'm just using the black ones. And then just finishing up all the other triangles. Now, I want to create an effect over here where it feels as if there is a pattern on top of another pattern. Sort of like creating a layering effect. And to achieve that, I'm just going to go in with my gold pen and add a few wavy lines behind these ovals and triangles. They're not exactly completely wavy, as in they don't resemble ocean waves, but they're just not completely straight either. So basically just fluid freehand lines. Then I'm just going to go in with my white pen and just add a few of those as well between the gold lines. Once I have these lines, I'm going to come in with my other gold pen, which is the Sakura gold pen. And now I'm going to add smaller dots, over here, behind the triangles and the ovals, but they're gonna be overlapping the fluid lines that we just drew. I absolutely love working with this gold pen. And I definitely can't have enough of these gold dots over here. So I'm just trying to create a really dense pattern because everything around it is pretty airy and pretty spaced out. So again, this is also an interesting way to create contrast in your drawings, where you have a really dense pattern with elements closely stuck together in the background. Then on the top you have this overlapping pattern, which is more airy and more spaced out. Now, as I lift my drawing facing the light, you can really see that gold shining nicely. Literally looks like real gold leafing effect over here. I think Klimt would be very proud of us right now if he saw as drawing these. So just continuing now... on the large triangle over here. Again, I'm going with the same design language, which means I'm creating smaller triangles inside the bigger triangles. But I am varying the thickness of the lines. So I'm going to do them in thick and thin variations. And just playing with the same color palette, making sure that each color is sort of evenly spaced out in the drawing. And I want to make sure that there's not too much of one color happening in one section. So I just want to break that monotony by adding in other colors and creating a visual break, so to say. Okay, and now that this large triangle is done, I'm going to come in with my Sakura gold pen again. And this time I'm just going to cover the Spirals that we had left empty earlier on. And one of the reasons why I'm specifically using this leafing style gold pen for this is because I really want the spirals to pop against the other colors that are there in the background. And against the light, this gold really shines beautifully. So it's definitely going to create a nice contrast. And it really lifts up that area and it gives a nice cool pop to the drawing. Okay. And now we come to these smaller ovals. And again, I want to maintain design harmony over here. So I'm going to try to match these ovals to the larger ovals. But that doesn't mean that I'm going to follow the exact same style. It means that I'm going to follow something similar, where I am going to create smaller ovals inside these larger ovals outside, and I'm going to vary the color slightly. And sometimes I'm going to have gold on the edges and green inside. Whereas other times I might have green on the borders. And then I might have gold or black inside. So using the same colors, but trying to use them in a different order. And this is also one of the reasons why I didn't use the green colour anywhere else in my drawing, because I wanted only the ovals to have this green pop. And so basically this was again a conscious design decision so that the ovals all feel part of one family, that we can have spread out nicely in this composition. This is also partly the reason why I decided to skip the blue altogether. Because the ovals are already feeling quite interconnected. And they're doing a great job of having this green contrast with the red and the golds and all other colors around it. So adding the blue over here, would just make the whole composition very busy. And it wouldn't do a very good job of being in the same family. So that's why I decided to skip the blue altogether. And I'm just sticking with the greens and the blacks and the golds for these ovals. Alright, now that the ovals are done, we just have to add a few more finishing touches. And that's exactly what we'll be doing in our next lesson. See you there! 11. Project 1 - Finishing Touches: It's time to add finishing touches to our drawing. And I'm going to start by outlining all these tiny spirals and swirls that we had drawn on the top-right corner of our composition. And I'm using the Sakura gold pen for this because that one has a slightly richer pigment and it's going to stand out better against the black spirals. So I'm just going in and giving each of them an outline. Now, this is completely personal and optional. If you feel like you already have a lot of gold in your drawing and you don't want to add further pops of gold, then you can totally skip this step. But the reason why I'm adding gold over here on the outlines is because the gold stands out really well against the black. And it also reflects very beautifully in the light. So I'm just adding a few outlines here and there and I'm also going to add a few gold outlines to the ovals over here that we had drawn. So again, just to make them pop a little bit more against the other two patterns that we have drawn on the top half of our drawing. Alright, and now once I have that done, I'm just going to observe my drawing closely and just look for areas that need a little bit more finesse. So I'm just going to bring in my black pen to neaten up the lines or to do some touch ups here and there, especially on the triangles. And I'm gonna do the same thing with my white pen and my gold pen. So basically, once you're done with the entire drawing, just observe it for a few minutes to look for spots or areas that could use a little bit more improvement, so to say. And if you feel like you want to just touch up the outlines to certain sections here and there, then this is the time to do it. Okay. Now it looks like we've covered everything. And in case you want to do a few more adjustments, you're obviously free to do that later on as well. But for now I think it's time to start removing the washi tape. And we're just going to remove it one-by-one. Gradually, very gently, very slowly. And oh my God, look at that. This is the best part of making the drawing, I think... when you get to see these beautiful, neat, crisp white edges. I love this part! Okay. So we have this gorgeous frame on the piece. And yeah, I'm not going to shy away from saying that this is something I love. And I'm sure you feel the same way about your piece as well. This has obviously turned out to be great for me and I hope it's been the same for you. So really take a moment to appreciate your drawing and go shout out from the rooftops that you've finished this beautiful drawing! And yes, of course, don't forget to share a picture of your project with me in the Projects and Resources section of the class. And I'd be more than happy to look at your work and give you feedback. And now that we are done gloating and feeling happy about our project, let's move on to our next project where we'll get to practice our skills a little bit more. 12. Project 2 - Color Palette: Alright, so let's build our second color palette. Now, my main source of inspiration for this project's color palette is going to be the "Portrait of Emilie Flöge". And so when you look at the picture, obviously Emilie stands out very beautifully against the background. And that is mostly because of the colors that are used in her dress. So there are interesting blues and greens which are used all over her dress. And there's a little bit of use of purple and magenta and a fuchsia pink, which is very subtle, but it's definitely there, adding interest on the dress. So I want to use similar colors for my project. But I want to brighten up the palette a little bit and make it more playful. Again, this is my personal choice because I like to have a burst of colors in my illustrations and in my drawings in general. And I basically love colors a lot! So I'm just going to brighten up the palette a little bit. So I am going to intentionally brighten up the blue and green in my palette. The ones that we see on the portrait, or slightly more subtle. But I'm purposely going for slightly more brighter colors over here. So a bright blue, a nice, bright green, and a nice fuchsia, which is somewhere between fuchsia and magenta actually. And then we of course have golds. And also I am going to use a really nice dark purple as the color, which is going to provide relative darkness or a darker value as compared to the other colors over here in my palette. So I'm going to skip the use of black in this color palette. So the dark purple is going to do that job. And so of course, we have white as well, which we can play with. So these are going to be my colors for this particular project. And you can use the same colors, or you can also check out other color palettes in the Class Resources document. Or you can build a color palette completely from scratch by looking at some other inspiration pictures. So feel free to develop a color palette that best suits your aesthetic and whatever is reflective of your own creative voice. And once you have your colors figured out, meet me in the next lesson where we'll start to develop our second drawing. 13. Project 2 - Checkered Details: Alright, it's time to start working on our second project. So for this, once again, I'm going to start off by making a string. The string for this is gonna be very similar to how we used to draw birds when we were little kids. So basically just two curvy lines like so. And then I'm going to turn the paper around and make another bird like so. And again, if your string is looking slightly different than mine, then there's no need to worry. Because at the end of the day, strings are only supposed to give us these sections to work on. And they're not rigid boundaries in any way. So it's totally alright if your string is not the same as mine. Alright, now once the string is in place, I'm going to start off with one of the sections over here at the bottom. And over here, I'm going to create a checkered pattern, which is inspired by the pattern that I saw on the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer". And this pattern is on the neck line of the dress that she's wearing. So it's sort of like a checkerboard pattern. But within these blocks there is also a little bit of detailing. So over here, I'm first going to create my Checkered pattern using the purple pen. And so as you can see, it's not exactly straight lines. Instead, I'm trying to follow the outlines of the shape. So the outlines that are produced as a result of us drawing the string. That's exactly what I'm following. So I'm just replicating that and making this sort of curvy, wavy checkered pattern. Once I'm done with the grid outline, then I'm going to bring in my gold pen. And I'm going to start coloring in these blocks. So very similar to the pattern that we saw, I'm just going to leave three blocks between each of these gold blocks. So I'm gonna make one gold block. Then I'm going to leave three empty and then do another gold block. And then on the row above that, I'm just going to find the center point between these two gold blocks. So basically the middle one and then the one on top of that. So then again, we want to count three to the left, and, three to the right. But over here there's obviously not enough space. So we're just gonna go ahead on the next row. And once again, we're just going to color in the blocks like so. So basically instead of going alternate like a regular chess board or a regular checkered pattern, we are leaving three blocks in the middle and then creating this repetitive grid. Now again, it's totally your decision, if you want to stick to the pattern exactly the same way as you saw it in the painting. Or if you want to deviate a little bit. So if you feel like you want to have a regular checkered pattern with lots and lots of gold, then you're totally free to do that. And if you want to use other colors instead of gold, then you're also free to do that. So basically, just experiment, have fun, and go with whatever feels easy to you, whatever comes to you naturally and whatever is most intuitive to you. Alright, so once I have the gold blocks colored in, I'm bringing my purple pen once again. And now I'm going to start adding smaller lines inside of these empty squares. And I'm basically just going to create smaller bars, very similar to the rectangular and square pattern that we did in our first project as well. And I'm going to intersperse this with a little bit of green details as well. So for example, I'm just going to add a few green sections here. And now, just to save myself from the hassle of constantly switching between these two pens, I'll first finish off all the purple details. So I'm just going to add a few lines here and there. And once I'm done with all the purple bits, that's when I'll switch to the green pen. So as you can see, I'm basically varying the thickness of the lines. Very similar to how we did it in our first project. And sometimes I'm adding thicker bars. Sometimes I'm adding thinner bars. And just basically playing around with the outlines over here. Alright, so that finishes up all the purple bits. Now I'm going to bring in my green pen as well as my blue pen. And I'm going to start adding some details in this pattern. So basically, I'm just going to leave a few of the spaces white, but I'm going to color in with blue and green on some of the other empty spaces. And I'm really not following any specific pattern over here. I'm just going very random. I'm not consciously counting and leaving the gaps the way we did it in the very beginning of the pattern. And just basically going very random here and there. Again, I'm only sticking to the green and the blue over here right now, along with the purple and the gold. Because I don't want to add too much color right away, in the beginning itself. So I'm probably going to use the other colors later on. Right now, I'm just starting off with a very limited palette. And we'll expand it a bit more as we move on to the other sections of the drawing. Okay. Now that I have all of these blue and green sections filled in, I'm bringing in my Sakura gold pen. And I'm just going to use this to add small, tiny lines here and there. So these are gonna be even thinner lines, which will help us to break down the blocks even further. And once again, we're just going to add them here and there randomly. Okay. So with that, we finish the first section of our drawing. And now in the next lesson, we will continue to work further on this composition 14. Project 2 - Floating Ovals: Okay, so now it's time to add some ovals into this composition. And I'm gonna be using my uni-ball gold pen for this. So I'm gonna be adding the ovals over here in this section at the bottom of my paper. And honestly in these abstract compositions, there is no top and bottom because you can rotate this artwork in any direction. And you can actually frame it or hang it up in literally any orientation that you like. And it would still end up looking very good. And again, this is a technique or a learning rather which I have borrowed from the Zentangle method. Because in the Zentangle method as well, there is no up and down orientation. And usually the artworks are made on a square piece of paper. And you can rotate it around in any direction that you like. And the artwork would still look finished. And in that sense, the artwork becomes truly abstract. So now one of the things that I'm going to do over here is that I'm purposely going to draw over my washi tape on the edges. And that's because I want to create this illusion of the design continuing further beyond the boundary or the edge of the paper. Of course, once we remove the washi tape later on, we will have a crisp, clean edge. But right now I'm just going to draw over it because it's just going to help me draw a lot more comfortably. And I'm just going to have a better hand movement with drawing the full shape rather than trying to the cut it in the middle. So I'm just going to draw over my washi tape in certain sections. And of course we can peel this off later. In the same way, I'm just going to continue adding more ovals and fill up this section. Once again, I'm going to ignore the string because I'm overlapping it. And I'm not really trying to contain my ovals inside the string section, which has been created by the pencil string that we did earlier. So I'm crossing the string and just trying to place my ovals very randomly here and there. Now, once I have these in place, I'm going to bring in my colored pens. And I'm just going to color the insides of just a few of the ovals. I'm not going to color all of them because I want to leave some room for adding different colors later on. Right now, I'm just going to add the blue and the green. And maybe later we'll add some other colors as well. And with that, I'm done with the ovals. And once you've completed this stage, meet me in the next lesson, where we're going to continue adding more details on the top section of this composition. 15. Project 2 - Grid Detailing: Alright, it's time to start working on the top sections of this composition. And the first thing that I'm going to do over here is create a grid using my ruler. And I'm not going to be measuring this. So I'm not exactly trying to make all of these squares equal, but roughly just trying to keep them as squares of the same size. And just creating these straight lines with the help of a ruler. Now, if you're someone who likes organic patterns more than grid-based geometric patterns, then you're totally welcome to skip this step. And in fact, you also have the option of drawing this grid freehand. But I'm using a ruler over here just for the sake of a little bit of convenience. And just to make sure that my lines are all straight. And like I mentioned, I'm not really measuring the grid, but just trying to keep them somewhat of the same size. Now, I'm going to bring in my gold pen, and I'm just going to add a few more overlapping ovals over here, just to give an illusion of the pattern continuing even on the grids. And again, the idea over here is to juxtapose or overlap different patterns on top of each other. And this will help us to create a nice layering effect. So I'm just going to add these right in the beginning to remind myself that all the grid patterns are going to go in the background while the ovals are going to stay on the top. Now, I'm going to bring in my colored pens and I'm going to start adding a different kind of detail into each of these sections. So the idea over here is that I'm going to play with the same shapes, which means I'm still going to play with triangles, rectangles, squares, lines, and even spirals. But I'm going to play with the orientation and the thickness of each of these elements. So for example, over here I'm going to start off with a nice large triangle in the middle. Then on the section below that, I'm just going to create a square outline. Again, I'm not really measuring each of these elements, but just trying to draw them as accurately as possible with my hand. And this is something that I highly recommend because it helps the viewer to understand that this is a handmade piece of art. And so these little imperfections or little inaccuracies here and there... they just are kind of a nod that the artwork is hand painted or handmade. And it has that human touch to it. Now, in the same way, I'm just basically adding different kinds of details to each of these blocks. And sometimes I'm going to add vertical rectangles. Sometimes I'm going to add horizontal lines. Sometimes they're going to be diagonal elements. And other times I will also add triangles, spirals etc. And so basically, I'm just going to play with the exact same elements that we used in the pattern earlier as well. But I'm just trying to use each of them differently and in a unique manner in each of these grids. So that just helps to create a certain amount of variety in the design, and at the same time, it keeps everything harmonious because it's the same elements that are being used in a different manner each time. So in this manner, the detailing of this grid is totally open to your own interpretation. And you can use all kinds of colors and all kinds of tools over here to make this grid really a reflection of your own creative voice. And you can do this in a very intuitive and playful manner. Now at this stage, I'm also going to bring in a little bit of the pink color. And I'm going to try to add that in the grid. But at the same time, because I want to maintain a harmonious look in my artwork, I'm going to use a little bit of that pink in the ovals as well. And that's the primary reason why I left some of the ovals empty so that I could add these pink details later on. And that's what we're doing right now. And then in the same way, I'm just going to continue adding the details onto the grid. I'm going to try and do the bottom sections first. And that's because I want to create this rigid outline for the bottom section, where I want to color the entire chunk at the bottom with the purple color that we have. And again, this is just going to help in creating that overlapping look where it will seem as if there is a purple section at the bottom. But the ovals are sort of going beyond that purple section and crawling into the space where the grid has been created. So again, this is an intentional design decision where even though the grid and the purple section at the bottom are meeting each other in the background, the ovals are standing a little more prominently in the foreground. The shiny gold ovals are standing out really beautifully against the dark purple background. I quite like the way this is turning out. Now I'm just going to add a few more details here and there. Now, I definitely want to add a couple of nice gold chunky blocks here and there in this pattern. So that it's a nod to the checkered pattern that we had done earlier. And the gold blocks over here will match the family of the gold blocks that we have in the checkered pattern. So again, these are just little steps that we can do to make sure that the design looks unified and harmonious. And we can always borrow design cues or ideas from patterns that we have already placed on our drawing and use them in the newer sections of the composition. And then in the same way, I'm just going to continue adding the details for the rest of the grid. I'm going to try and place the patterns as randomly as possible so that there is no obvious repetition of the shapes and forms. And at the same time, I'm just going to play with the thickness of the strokes. And I'm going to play with different colors over here so as to break the monotony of the pattern. And just basically treating this like a little kid, happy in a candy store, trying to place all kinds of colors here and there, and just basically having a lot of fun! Now, this entire process of detailing the grid took me around 90 minutes, more or less. So I'm going to speed up the video even more for you to see a little bit of my progress. And if you feel like you are stuck at a certain point or you don't know what kind of shapes to add over here, then you can definitely look at my artwork and borrow some ideas from what I'm doing over here. And hopefully the details that I'm adding over here will help you and inspire you. And that way you can complete your grid easily. But at the same time, I definitely encourage you to try and finish this up on your own so that you can really do this in an intuitive, playful manner and really let your own creative voice shine. You're free to use as many colors as you like and try out as many design ideas as you like. And you are definitely free to take as much time as you'd like. So don't be in a hurry and really enjoy yourself while making this grid. Once you've completed this stage of your drawing, then you can join me in the next lesson where we'll be adding some more details on top of this. If you're someone who enjoys watching these time-lapse videos, or if you would just like to see how my drawing is shaping up, then you can continue watching a few more minutes of my process in this lesson. And hopefully you'll enjoy it. 16. Project 2 - Spirals & Finishing: Alright, so we're now at the last stage of finishing up this composition. And I'm going to be adding a few spirals in this section over here. And I'm going to have the Spirals branching out or blooming out of wavy lines to make them look like a creeper plant. So pretty much like a vine or a money plant or any other creeping plant. I'm just going to have the wavy lines acting as the base or the stems. And then the spirals are going to look like leaves coming out of the stem. So to make the process easier for myself, I'm going to start with the wavy lines, which are going to act as the base or the stem from which the spirals are going to come out. Now, again, I want to keep these equidistant, but I'm not going to measure them strictly with a ruler. Instead, I'm just going to eyeball the distance and just try to space them out as equally as possible. Now, once I have these wavy lines in place, I'm going to start adding the spirals. And just like I mentioned earlier, I'm going to add the spirals as if they are leaves blooming out or growing out of the stems. And so I'm just basically going to keep rotating my paper. And I'm just going to add the spirals at different angles with a different thickness each time. Once again, you can always have some spirals going outside your paper edge, which means you can draw on the washi tape. So that later on, once we remove the tape, it's going to give an illusion of the design continuing even beyond the border. And that just helps to give your painting a slightly more finished and polished look. Rather than trying to squish or morph the shapes within the outline... Alright, and now once all of these spirals are in place, the next thing that I'm going to do is bring in each of my colors one-by-one and use them to fill up the background. So I'm just going to bring in all my colors except for the dark purple. And that's because I want this area to look very bright. Again, because I'm using a marker over here, I can create these beautiful painterly effects. And I can overlap some sections here and there to give this raw feel. Alright with that done, it's time to do some final checks. So I'm going to bring in my uni-ball gold pen. And I'm just going to go over some areas where the gold is not looking saturated or where I feel that the paper white is still showing through. So it's always a good practice to look for spots where the paper white is showing up and then cover them up. Because that just helps to make your artwork look a little more polished and finished. And of course you can do that with the other colors as well. And maybe a few hours later I'm going to look at this with a fresh pair of eyes and do some other touch ups here and there. But for now, I'm just going to fix these gold sections that I can see are not completely done. Now on second thoughts, I feel like I need to add just a little bit of pink on the checkered pattern. And that's because I feel that this section lacks a little bit of connection to the rest of the drawing. So just to make it look a little more cohesive, I'm going to add a few pops of the pink in there on the checkered section as well. And again, these are very personal choices and decisions. If you prefer for your artwork to not have these pops of color, then, that's totally alright. So basically just do whatever comes to you intuitively and naturally. Okay. And now that I have added these pinks, I am going to start removing the washi tape. And as always, this is my favorite part. I am always looking forward to these white, crisp, clean edges. I absolutely love the look of a finished drawing with these white borders. Alright, with that, we are done with our second project as well. And this has also turned out to be super beautiful. And I'm sure that yours is looking equally gorgeous. So make sure that you post a picture of it in the Projects and Resources section. And I'll see you over there to offer my feedback and to answer any questions that you have about this class or anything else in general. 17. Wrap Up: Alright, so congratulations on making it to the end of the class and finishing up your beautiful projects! I truly hope that this class was useful for you in finding your confidence when it comes to using inspiration in your artworks effectively. I truly encourage you to keep practicing this technique further. The more you practice, the more improvement you will see in your work. And to that end if you've found this class to be helpful for you, then may I please request you to drop a review about it under the reviews tab? Your reviews make sure that all my classes and my presence on Skillshare continues going forward and that I can keep building more valuable content for you. Skillshare is truly a student driven platform, So I value your opinion above everything else. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please drop that in the Discussions tab. The Discussions tab is also open for you to ask me any questions about this class or exchange ideas in general. I also recommend that you hit the Follow button on my profile on Skillshare so that you are subscribed to all my notifications over here. This way, you will be the first to know whenever I launch a new class or a bonus lesson, or when I plan a giveaway or have other exciting announcements to make. Basically, it's an easy peasy way to stay in touch. And in case you haven't already done this, I want to give you a quick reminder to post your projects in the project gallery. I reply to all the projects posted over here. And this will be a great way for you to receive personalized feedback. In the same tab, you will also find the Class Resources document which is available for you to download. It contains some additional reference images and color palettes for you to try. And finally, don't forget to connect with me on social media. I've created a small hashtag community on Instagram where you can find students from all my classes posting their wonderful artworks. This way, we can all give and receive endless Inspiration. So thanks a lot for joining me today and until next time, take care and keep creating!