Transcripts
1. Class introduction: Hello, thank you for joining me. In this lesson, we're going to go through four different classes, but using one subject matter, the pineapple, which is still really on trend. First of all, I'm going to be drawing the pineapple from life in pencil just so that I can understand the structure and some of the textures within the pineapple, and then we're going to move on to basic watercolor pineapple using line work to emphasize some of the shapes that we've seen. Then we can create a much more decorative pineapple using pen and watercolor. Then we're going to move on to a pineapple play passing using posca pen. Please join me because I know we're all going to have so much fun.
2. Drawing the pineapple: When looking at these pineapple closely, I see proportionately, the spiky green part that sits on top of the body of the pineapple is much taller in length, and then moving back down onto the body, you can see that it's made up of these little segments. Looking closely, you can see that each segment is different shapes. There's different spiky parts and also different coloring. This is a pencil that I like to use. Obviously, you can use any pencil that you feel comfortable with. I like the fineness of this one. I'm looking really carefully at this pineapple and I'm going to try and pick out all the little indications on the skin. There's a very geometric vibe going on, I'll see if I can pick up on that as well. The stuff in the middle of the paper. By the way, this paper is just photocopy paper. I'm not being precious. This is just a study of a pineapple. I'm not intending to do anything with this. It's just that I can get a better idea of how pineapples are constructed. I'm looking very carefully at my reference right in front of me. People have asked me in various times, why didn't I use pencil blind first? I usually go straight into brush pen, and that is when I'm doing artwork. It's usually when I'm doing commissions on doing actual foodie projects, perhaps. Sorry, I've gone wrong there, and it's not that I don't know how to use a pencil. For time purposes, I don't have it. If you can imagine that this is going to be the base of the pineapple and I'm just going to work upwards. Let me move the camera slightly. I'm going to continue this way, and talk to you at the same time. The leaves interlock. In a fairly standard way, I can see a pattern forming, but I'm not going to start making it up. I will try and copy what I'm seeing in front of me. I don't often painted pineapples, and it's a little bit tricky but the reason we're doing this study is so that you get a good idea of where the leaves are in relation to the body. You can see we're going towards the upper leaves. I'm not going to be adding every single thing. Again, I am making mistakes. This is just an exercise for me, and I become familiar. When we go to do the rest of the lessons in this class, because we've taken just this five- ten minutes to observe how pineapples are constructed, we're going to find it a little bit easier coming up with ideas. We got leaves coming out this way. Especially when we get to the body of the pineapple during this observation exercise, it will be less daunting. When we come to do the rest of the exercises, you don't have to be drawing the pineapple accurately. It's just that you are now, have the resources to come up with other ideas. Pineapples are spiky, and hold on. That looks a bit skew. I think I'm missing the leaves here. There's little leaves that come out this side. You can already see, I've only been drawing a few minutes. The leaves at the bottom are smaller and they gradually get lengthen as they go further up the spiky part of the pineapple. If you want, you can include this in the later exercises, but we shall see. Now, I'm going to have a good look at the body of the pineapple. I'm still holding it in my hand here. I know it's daunting. It's even daunting for me looking at it, but you have to start making marks. Any old marks will do. You just have to start somewhere. This is where the pineapple starts and they've got these spiky bit that points upwards and almost halfway down, it does this, and then one bit goes that way, which is the bottom of this segment. This is very geometric. Nature loves doing things like this. It's a diamond, but it's also hexagonal as well. I'm not going to be drawing it completely accurately. I can see almost like little stained glass windows. No. This is what I can almost see. Hold on. This is what I'm seeing almost. But I'm just going to make a note of that because we can use that later on, I reckon. I'm just going to continue with this. If you went to Art school, this is the thing that they would have had us doing. It's purely an exercise to learn. It isn't to be perfect. If you would perhaps be given two minutes to draw something and then get another sheet of paper, start again. That's how you learn. By drawing. We've got roughly this shape happening and it is a little bit skewed, but that's fine. I'm just going to fill in, just to my own education, a bit more of this pineapple. There's very nice geometric things happening because I've never really, even though I eat pineapple quite often, I don't observe it in this manner and it's really good exercise for me, and I'm learning at the same time as I'm teaching you guys, which is obviously a win-win situation for everybody. Now, where am I going with here? There's this thing happening. It's going like that, but I've lost it here. I'm just going to do that. If you're worried about these little segments of the pineapple, you could literally draw something like that in to help you. I'm just doing it freehand. Get it up to this stage and then we're going to assess it. I'm just filling in this upper section here with relevant line work, just adding information as I go along, use some line. Yeah, I think that is enough for me to get a fair idea of how these pineapple's being constructed. I actually drew another version as well in the exact same pineapple, and we're just going to compare and contrast them. We got the same basic things going on. But because I've drawn it again, it means that I've understood it even more. That's going to work really well in my favor when I come to explore the painterly watercolor side of things.
3. Watercolour line: Now for this first exercise, we are going to mix up the base color of the pineapple. I'm going to make the pineapple a bit riper than the example that I bought of the supermarket. The base color is like a yellowy, orange ochers. I'm just going to mix up a base color now. It's probably a bit too bright, I'm going to add a bit more ocher to that. That's still a bit bright. That's probably about right. First of all, all I'm going to do is paint the bottom section of that pineapple very loosely, very watery as well. I think I'm going to include a bit more brown in here, tiny bit of brown and a bit of orange just for that contrast between that side and the other side, and maybe some yellow down on this side as well. That is all we're going to do, basic shape, that's fine. Again, we're just going to be doing basic. Let's do a green. It's like a pale lime green or murky lime green, I think that'll do for now. We're just going to fill in the basic silhouette of those spikes with this. It is going to be rough because we can add more detail later. I'm applying several greens really quickly and then mixing them up on the page, wet on wet. That's all we're going to do for now, and then I'm going to let this dry. Now what we're going to do is mix up a darker color. I'm going to add a bit more brown to what we've got here and maybe a bit of red. We're going to use this just to begin with drawing those geometric parts of the pineapple. We're going to use it like a pen, that is water color, so, again, I'm going to keep it really loose, this is not to scale. I've got some reference in front of me, but I'm just exploring at this stage. This is the dark outline, but I'm going to fill in a few bits inside this area, I think, because there's not enough information for me for what I'm wanting to do. I am carrying on painting these imperfect hexagons keeping the paint very watery. You can see that I'm not trying to form perfect hexagonals far from it. The lines are a little bit skewish, that's an English phrase, which means they're not straight. The lines are of all different thicknesses. I really like the variation personally. That will do for now, and now we're going to carry in with a slightly different color because that was the outside of these little segments and I want more more orangey color. Now I'm going to add the other aspects of it and I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible. I'm filling each section in very rapidly. Notice that each line work is not exactly the same, and I quite like that because nature doesn't make two things the same. Just feel that pineapple in quickly and please don't overthink because that's when you'll start to get into trouble. Now I'm going to fill in some of the spiky parts of this green section. Again, I've mixed up a darker version of this green, I've added a bit of brown and a tiny bit of Payne's gray. We're just going to fill in the gaps here. Because we did that exercise before, just in pencil, I'm now able to freely move around this section and add the relevant spikes. I'm not going to try and keep to the watercolor ground that I laid down earlier, it was just a basis for what is now happening. I am now filling the rest of the spikes in working very freely. I am not looking at the reference so much. Just using intuition to balance out the proportion of the spikes here. We got up to this stage, and I think for me, I don't like the way it's just attached on like that. There's not quite enough information to tell me that, that is actually growing out the pineapple. I'm just going to add a tiny darker section here, and I'm going to do the same with the orangey part, the free part of the pineapple as well, just to give it that extra information, but not going overboard is just the tiny indication of how this pineapple is constructed. Mix up a bit more brown with the orange I already had. Just to make it darker under the leaves there. I am wondering if I should just add a bit more of a spiky bit sticking out. Yes, I think I will actually, I think I will because that's extra information that lends itself to describing this pineapple. Here we have the finished pineapple, and as you can see, once those lines dry, they create certain translucencies which really emphasize some of the shapes that we found within this pineapple.
4. Watercolour and gel pens: Now, for the next technique we are going to be using gel pens again. This is just an example of what I've used where I've put uniball gel pen over a water color shape. I think this would blend itself very well to this pineapple sequence. I used pomegranates and you can see that there is a very decorative approach so that's what we're going to try next. I just wanted to quickly show this again. I really liked the shape that I was seeing in this particular pineapples. I think that's the motif I am going to try and produce in this next pineapple. These are my gel pens and they are uniballs, but please just use whatever pens that you have. I have already done a class where I've used these, but I just thought it'd be a wonderful way to introduce that lovely motif. It's quite vibrant and really smooth line. Let's get started. Now what I'm going to do is mix up a base color of a orangey ocher again. Only quite light because I want the gel pens to show on top so that'll do for now. Starting off basic shape again. Don't worry, we can add a few more bits to this. I might make it a tiny bit bigger. There we go. I think it would be good to make one side a little bit dark it contrasts with the other. Maybe bit more orange and maybe even a touch of brown. Maybe a bit of sienna just here at the base I think. A bit of rest to let it spread out and then I'm going to add the spikes as well. Just a basic green. I'm not going to start mixing too many colors. Just a little bit more I think. Yeah, I think it needs a bit more height here. I think that would do. A bit more contrast down here. I think it would be nice to add a tiny bit more yellow towards the top. Then when we apply the pens they should show up really nicely on this ground. Now I'm going to dry it. Now I've dried it and I'm going to try adding this motif using my gel pens. First of all, I have a really nice orange one which is quite vibrant. I'm just going to give it a go. I don't think I'm going to give great technical repeat. Let's just do it. How is this going to repeat underneath? I'm not sure. If you watch my other Skillshare videos for watercolors you now that I make things up as I go along. Maybe I will just keep on repeating a pattern like this. The negative space also forms it's own pattern as I can see it starting to do now. I'm not deliberating over every strike either. It really is better to make a mark than to not make a mark and you learn from it whatever you do. You can see there's a lovely a trellis Moroccan type thing happening there which is very nice. I like that very much. I will be introducing the white gel pen. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I will pick up something. I often work like this. I've not done a pineapple with this motif in it. This is the first time I've done it and sharing it with you as I go along. Which is fun and scary at the same time because I don't know how it's going to turn out. Just finish this row down here. Yeah. I'm glad I kept it quiet light because it's just getting a tiny bit too dark down here for the gel pen to show up. In the original sketch you can see there's like a star pattern happening. Let's see if we can introduce something like that. I'm not sure how that's going to work. Let's try doing a starburst pattern from the negative shapes. That's a little bit light. Let's try doing it where it's a tiny bit darker, down here. I like picking up on these things. It's serendipitous. I think it that contrasts nicely with the motif. I'm really pleased of how this is turning out. Some up here. I will move on to the green spiky section in just a minute. Just to emphasize the other shape I might need to add something else to that because it's a very pretty shape. Let me think. What can I do? I'm going back to my reference. That's quite pretty. Yes, I think that's what I'm doing today. I like seeing this emerge. I don't think the white is going to show up under this. It's very faint. I might be able to get away with it up here. I'm going to take my green gel pen and add a bit more information to the spikes, although I rather just left like that. I think just a little bit it would help just a few sections. I don't think I'm going to go over all of it because I really like the coloration that's happened when I use a hair dryer on it and it just dries how it dries. I don't really have much control over it. Starting from the base because I know that the spikes. Hold on. I just had an idea. If I use white gel pen here where it's dark. How does that look? It's quite nice too. I'm just making the spikes much longer up towards this section here. I like that. I like the contrast between the line work and where I've left it blank. I think I might just add one more white section there and there. I think that's it. Because I don't want to overwork it. I really like that the contrast between the slightly uncontrolled water color underneath and the very graphic line on top.
5. Watercolour and post pens: This is something I did quite a while back and it's been turned into washi tape of all things. Again, I have looked at the geometric aspects of the pineapple and some really fun colors. Let's try and recreate this. I might do several versions to show you. What I'm going to do is fill the page with just two tones randomly. Again, rough pineapple shape. I need to leave a space for their spiky part. I might do it green, I might not. I don't know at this stage. Let's fill this up my page. I'm using my little [inaudible]. Maybe this way around, I think. That's good. Then I'm going to move on to the orange version. Again, I'm not mixing these up too much. The spiky bit is going to go there. I'll do the orange one here. That will do. I don't know if the spikes, spikes will go there. I'm going to do another orange one about here. Then I think another one will fit in about here. This one is a little bit too round. I think I will use a bit of green. But it will be quite bright, quite vibrant. I'm mixing something up now. I'll start off with this one. I don't know whether to do a red one or another spiky green one. Let's just go round. Again, I don't have a plan. I have a vague idea of what I'm going to do. Let's do this one green. I'm applying the abstracted green spikes very swiftly and not worrying too much about the overall shape. In fact, I quite like them different. I think the rest will be, I don't know. A red, maybe a red, a coral. Let's try coral. Mixing up a bit of red, orange and a touch of white to give that coral hue. That's going to come here. Do something spiky here. Again, I'm using swift, smooth brush strokes to create this abstracted spiky part of the pineapple and it creates a smooth line. Now we're going to get the posca pens out. Now, I have got a class about negative space where I use posca pens. I do talk about them in length. I'm not going to go over them again here. First of all, I think it would be nice to find light orange ones. I'm going to be using the thin version. This is a thin nibbed one. Again, keeping it the geometric vibe, I think. I'm going to add some triangles here. I might fill some of these in later to see how it turns out first. I think I need to give them a bit of a shake. That's better. If you don't have posca pens, just carry on with a fine brush because posca pens are only paint anyway. Th e edge of this one is a bit harsh. I'm going to add some few dots there. Maybe add some dots to fill some of the gaps here. That looks, quite tribal. Now, let's take a different posca. I've got a white thick, white posca. Just going to add zigzags along this one, I think that looks really effective. Again, you can use white gouache for this. There we go. I've smudged that one a bit. Because I didn't let it dry. Not to worry. I can sort that out in Photoshop. I might introduce one more color. Hold on. Let's see what I've got. I've got a slightly less vibrant orange. I'm going to go across it like this. I'm going to use the same posca on, I think this one. On this one, keeping it geometric. On this one, I think I'm going to add some dots. Going back to my white posca, I think something will have to happen here. Little V shapes. What shall we do in this one here? I made this up. I was just thinking, let's do something decorative. But you will find your own ways of introducing some patterns in here. Again, these are now abstracted. But because I observed that pineapple, I'm able to do this without reference. I'm just going to add a few little bits in the background. I don't like leaving white spaces too much. Just keep with that geometric vibe. I'm going to add some V's I think. I might do some triangles up here to fill. I don't really like leaving too much negative space. If I'm doing something of this vibe where there's a pattern, I can see a pattern forming. That yellow is too thin. Let me get the thicker yellow posca out. Add some down here. I'm scanning all around, seeing the gaps. I think some up here. Let's add a bit of green on that bit previously. Never mind. These are really simple shapes and simple mark-making as well. But they add so much to the piece. A little bit more here, I think. A few more dots up here, I think. We're almost done. Now, that was so easy to put together, and really quickly, and thus very fun. I enjoyed that. Hope you enjoy your version too.
6. Final thoughts and Homework: I really hope you've enjoyed some of the ideas and techniques that I've presented in this class and I'd like you to go away and explore pen work, watercolor line, posca pens. Maybe use different fruit like watermelon, pears, kiwi, strawberries, whatever is going to excite you and inspire you and whatever you produce I very much look forward to seeing it. Please post in the class gallery and also if you want to put your work on social media, please use the hashtag on my Skillshare and I can't wait to see what you do. I've just got one more thing to say. Now, just one extra thing I want to talk to you about is researching the information like drawing of the pineapple. It gives me a better understanding and I draw every day. It might not be with the pencil. It's normally with a brush pen but drawing really helps you understand a certain subject. If you keep drawing and drawing every time you put that pen on the paper, it gives you a better idea of how it's constructed. Don't be afraid of making mistakes, and don't be afraid of making marks on the page because I use lots of paper. That's why I use good-quality photocopy paper, because I can just throw it away and I'm not afraid of spoiling and expensive sketchbook and it's absolutely fine. Please keep on exploring, keep on drawing, keep on making mistakes, and just walk away from them and start again the next day.
Ohn Mar Win, Illustrator Artist Educator
