Illustrate Orchids in Procreate

1. Introduction & What You'll Learn: I recently did this collection of Orchid illustration, and I want to start this class by showing you some of the examples of these illustrations. These beautiful illustrations can be turned into art prints. And if you wish to illustrate a collection of them that can be turned into a seamless pattern, and these seamless patterns can go on various types of products like stationery, home decor, or any fashion accessory to. There are plenty of ways to add them to your next project. Hi, I'm Benita, an illustrator and a designer based in Singapore. This is a beginner friendly class for someone who wants to learn the basics of illustrating any flower in procreate. We will be illustrating this beautiful orchid in the class today. We will start our illustration by adding a base color and the first layer of shadow and highlights. In the second part of the class, we will add the center, stem, and the leaf. Followed by more details and finalizing our illustration. If you wish to follow the same orchid I am illustrating in the class today, I have attached the sketches, color palette, and the brushes in the resource section. There are plenty of examples where I am explaining you the process I followed to illustrate them. I have also attached some additional sketches and reference images for you to practice. So let's dive into the world of this beautiful tropical flow. Okay. 2. Examples & Project: Let's see some examples of these orchid illustrations. This orchid is commonly known as a flag orchid. I will zoom in and show you all the details for each flower. Let's see the process I follow to illustrate this orchid. There are three steps that I follow for each flower. Step one is research and reference images. Once you're ready with all your reference images, step two is to sketch and plan your composition. Once you finalize your sketch, step three is the illustration process. We start by adding a base color to our sketch, followed by shadow and highlights. For most of the illustration, you need to have a base color with a mid tone. Then add shadow with the darker tone of the same color and highlights with the lighter color of the same color. Let's move on to the next one, commonly known as pansy orchid. I have the sketch for this flower in the resource section. You can download and illustrate following the same step shown in the class. For this flower, two, I have followed the same three steps like the first one. The time required to illustrate these flowers can depend on the composition and the number of flowers. The higher the number of flowers, it takes more time. Example for a flower like this, it can take around three to 4 hours. If you have less than three flowers, it can take around two to 3 hours. This can also depend on the type of flower. If the petals are too detail and has a pattern on it, that can consume more time. If you have a flower like this with a white base color, you can have the base color in the shades of grays or beige. Shadow can be darker of the same color, and the highlights can be more towards the white color. For the reference images, I was very lucky to have access to the orchid garden in Singapore here. I have also attached few in the resource section. Another way to find these images are from the royalty free websites like Unsplash or Pixabay. While collecting these reference images, if you are clicking them, make sure to have pictures from different angle of the same flower. If you're planning to add the roots and the leaves, make sure you have a clear picture of them too. Every orchid has its own different characteristics. I hope these examples inspire you and helps you decide on the project for this class too. I even have sketches, color palette, and brushes in the resource section of this class that can help you kick start your project. I will eagerly wait for your beautiful orchid illustration in the project section of this class. 3. Canvas & Brush Setup: Let's start with our Canvas and brush setup. This is how my Procreate gallery looks like. Now, to create a new canvas, I'll tap on this tiny plus sign. Again, on this tiny plus sign. Now, the size of your canvas can depend on the project you're working on. A standard size that I follow is 3,000 by 3,000 pixel with 300 DPI. 300 DPI is standard for printing. If I have a bigger composition of flower like more than one flower, then I keep my canvas size as $4,000 by 4,000 pixel. Tap create to create the canvas. Let's see the brushes we'll be using in this class today. I'll go to the brush library. And there's a brush set at the top here. I have this brush set in the resource section. You can download these brushes, and when you open in the Procreate app, you'll find this brush set here at the top. These are default brushes from the Procreate library itself. I've just edited them depending on my preference. For example, I've changed their stabilization and the spacing a little. The first brush is for sketching. You can find this brush under the section sketching. The second is a studio pen that you can find in inking. And the third one you can find in the artistic section at the bottom here. We'll be using the first brush for sketching. I'll use a gray color and also to add small details to the flower. The second brush is for the base color. We'll be using this brush to add base color to the orchids. And the third brush is to add shadow and highlights to our flower. This is how the brush looks like. It is pressure based brush. So when you have slight pressure, it looks like this and with more pressure, it becomes darker, like that. Now for the color palette, you can find two color palette in the resource section. One is for the orange orchid and the second is for the pink orchid. When you install this and open in procreate, you'll either find at the top here or at the extremeom at the extreme bottom. Sure. Now, when you're working on a particular orchid, you can set the color palette as default for that I'll tap on this three dots here and select set as default, and that becomes your default color pallete and it shows here. Now we are done with our canvas and brush setup. Let's move on to our sketching process. 4. Sketching Process: So there are a couple of ways that you can follow to sketch in procreate. The first one that we can see is a free hand sketching, where you can refer to a reference image and start sketching on a blank canvas. Our first step is to insert our reference image. For that, we'll tap on this wrench icon menu. Here, tap on Canvas. Under Canvas, you'll find this option called reference, Togal on this option that will open a tiny little box on your canvas. You can hold here and you can move around and place it wherever you're comfortable with. Tap on the second option, that is image. You'll find this option called Import image. Tap on this option, and it will open your photo gallery, and you can select your reference image from here. Now you can see your reference image on the canvas. You can hold here on the right corner and you can adjust the size of the square. You can even zoom in or zoom out your reference image. Also can select and pick up colors from the reference image directly. Another great feature is this little square will not move when you're moving your canvas. Next step is to select any sketching brush and color of your choice and start sketching on the blank canvas. This is one of the technique you can follow to sketch in procreate. Another way of getting the reference image is with the split screen. I'll cancel this reference option first. Tap on this and you can cancel. So if you don't have your reference image in the gallery, and you want to refer directly from the Internet. Either you want to select chrome or from the Pinterest, you can just hold this app and drop it on the left or the right side. Now, you can search or open any image of your choice and start sketching on your canvas on the right side. So free hand sketching is one of the way you can follow to sketch in Procreate. Now, let's move on to the second one. That is tracing your reference image. Our first step here is to get the reference image on the Canvas. For that, I'll go back to Wrench Cin menu, tap on add Under Insert a photo, swipe left, and tap on Insert a private photo. This will open your photo gallery, and you can tap and select your image. Now you have your reference image on the Canvas. You can resize and adjust the position of your image. Whatever part of the image is going out of the Canvas will be cropped. Next, we'll go to layers and reduce the opacity of this image, tap on this tiny N, and you can reduce the opacity of your image. I'll keep mine at around 50%, add a new layer. Now, following the reference image, you can start sketching on the new layer. You can use this reference image as your guideline. And while sketching, you can add your own changes. For this process, you have to be careful with your reference image. These images should be either owned by you or should be royalty free. Now, let's move on to the third technique that is a combination of freehand sketching and tracing. I will start by importing all the images I need on the canvas. For that, I'll go to action, add. I left on Insert a photo and insert a private photo. I'll repeat these steps until I have all the images I need on the canvas. So I need a couple of flowers for my sketching. I like the way the position and the way it looks in the image. I will select the flower I need and cut and paste them. I am selecting this flower with the free hand selection. Swipe with three finger and you'll get this option called cut and paste. This will paste the selected flower on a new layer. You can delete the extra layer that you don't need. I will repeat the same steps with the second flower too. I need the second flower where I can see the back of the flower. For example, here. I will select this flower with the free hand selection tool. Swipe down with three finger, cut and paste, I'll delete the extra layer. Now we can plan the composition two. I'll resize and move around these images until I'm happy with the composition. Once you're done placing your flowers, I'll go to the layers. Pinch and merge them into one layer. Next, we can reduce the opacity of this layer so that we can start sketching, add a new layer. So I have my flowers ready here. But for the leaf and the stem, I'll keep my reference image on the left side here. I'll go to Canvas, switch on my reference. Now, to clear this image, just tap clear and import a new image. I will import the image where I can see the stem and the leaf clearly. For example, here, I can see the leaf clearly, and for the stem, I will follow this area. Also, in the image, you can see this little tiny root. We can even add that to our illustration. So we are all ready with the reference images. Let's move on to the sketching. Now to start sketching, make sure you're on a new layer. I'll start tracing my flowers first. This can also be done by free hand sketching. But sometimes tracing can help you achieve these natural folds and shape of a particular flower. This is also very helpful when you're a beginner because it builds your muscle memory. So I'm done with my flowers here. Let's move on to the stem. Now for the stem, I'll be sketching it free hand. I'll be following the reference image on the left. You can even have them all on a different layer. So if you change your mind and you want to change a position of a particular flower, it is easy to make changes when they are on different layers. Now let's move on to the leaves. And I'll add this tiny little root that I can see in the reference image. So here we are done with our sketching and planning our composition for this flower. This is also one of the processes that I love to follow for most of my illustration. Now let's move on to our next lesson. 5. Pink Orchid - Part 1: In this section, we will be adding a base layer to our sketch and the first layer of shadow and highlights. Let's start with the first half of our illustration. When you download my sketches from the resource section, you'll see them here at the top. I'll tap and open this first canvas here. This is how my sketch looks like. When you go two layers, you'll see there's just one layer with the sketch on it. Now, when you go to the color panel, to get your color here set as default, tap on this option called palette here. Tap on these three dots, and you'll find this option called set as default. So you will need the one with the pink orchid, and you can see your palette here as default. Now, our next step is to get the reference image on the Canvas. For that, I'll tap on this Swing icon menu. Here under Canvas, you'll find this option called reference, Tgal on this option. You can place this tiny box wherever you're comfortable with. Here when you're on the canvas, it will show what is happening on the Canvas, but we need to be on the second option call image, tap on this option. Tap on Import image. And you can import your reference image from your photo gallery. Okay. Now we have our reference image on the canvas. You can hold on this right corner and resize this box. You can even zoom in or zoom out and even pick colors from this reference image. Next, we can reduce the opacity of our sketch layer. For that, we'll go to layers, tap on this tiny, and we can reduce the opacity to around 50%. Now we can add a new layer. Pull this layer below our sketch layer. All our working layers will be below our sketch layer. Okay. I'll tap on this layer and rename this as base color or base layer. Next, we need to select brush to add this base color. For that, I'll go to the brush library and select my studio pen brush. Next, we can go to the color panel and select a mid tone of this pink color. You can select this second color from my color palette. This is one tone darker. And now we can add an outline to this flower and fill it with the same color. Make sure you're on the correct layer. Now you can follow the sketch line and add an outline to this flower. While you're adding this outline, you can even make your own changes. You can use my sketch as a guideline. For example, like the reference image on the left, you can make your petal slightly more pointy or have more curves. Once you've done adding the outline, you can hold the same color and drop it into this outline. Okay. Now to add another layer of color on this. We'll go to layers. We'll add a new layer. Tap on this layer and tap clipping mask. Next, we can select R brash. For that, we'll go to the brush library and select our third brush. Go to the color panel, and we'll select our third color from here, which is two to darker than R base color. We can start with the first petal here. I'll zoom in my reference image, so I can see it clearly. I'll keep my brush size to around 20%. I'll start with this center line that I can see in the image here. I'm going to add this color to all the areas where I feel it is slightly shadow or darker. Whenever you're adding any of these colors, you have to make sure you're following the shape of your object. That is the shape of the petal here. I will add this little dark area on the left side too. This I'm adding with very light pressure. Now, let's move on to our second petal. That's the right one here. I will start with this dark area here. And also, we can see a center line two. Now, while we are adding this dark color, we need to make sure this is not going on the edge here. This area has to be lighter so we can create a depth for our first petal. Now, let's move on to our third petal that is at the bottom here. I'll adjust the reference image so that we can see the petal. Now here we need to create this roundish effect at the bottom here. I'll keep my brush size to around 26%. Now, let's move on to our fourth petal. Now, here two, we'll add this dark color like we can see in the reference image here. Now, here again, I'm not making the edges darker here because this petal is overlapping and it should look like it is at the top. And the first one like this one like it is under these petals. Now, for this petal, again, this area has to be too. So we are done with the first layer of shadow here. Now, our next step is to add a layer with the lighter color. That will add a layer of highlight to our. We will be doing that on a new layer. Tap on layers, add a new layer, on the layer, and mask. Now, we need to select a lighter shade from the mid tone. Select the first pink from my color palette, and my brush size is around 12%. We will be adding this two or four petals. Let's start with the first one here. Now, one tip you can follow while adding this highlight layer is to not fully cover the base layer. That is the midtone layer, and also avoid overlapping your shadow layer. Your brush stroke should follow the shape of the petal. Now, our next step is to blend these colors. We'll be using the smudge tool to do that. I will start with my darker color first. I'll go back and select my darker layer. Select your smudge tool. Make sure under Smudge tool, the same brush is selected. Now, from here, we can increase or decrease the size of our smudge tool. With the opacity panel, you can increase or decrease the intensity of the smudge. So whenever you're smudging or blending, you have to make sure you're following the shape of the petal. If you feel the smudge is too strong and the colors are moving too much, you have to reduce the opacity. So I will keep adjusting the size of the brash and the opacity depending on the area of the flower I'm working on. I will increase the speed of this smudging process. But this smudging process can take some time and practice to understand what pressure and brush size works best for you. I'll continue blending for the other petals, too. M. Next, we'll go to the layer with the lighter shade and we'll blend and repeat the same steps. While you're blending make sure you're following the shape of the petal. Now, for the next step, we'll create another layer with a much darker shade. And this will have more defined lines around this area in the center. For that, we'll go to layers, unhide my sketch layer and add a new layer. Tap on this layer and tap clipping mask. Next to the color panel, we'll select this darkest tone of pink. I'll reduce the size of my brush because we need a smaller brush. Make sure your third brush is selected. And I'll be adding this color to the areas where you can see in the reference image. Where these petals are overlapped by other petals, this will help us create this depth to our flower. Next, we can smudge these lines so that it can blend well with the base color. For that, we can select the smudge tool. Make sure the same brush is selected. I'll reduce the size of my brush because the area we're going to smudge is quite small. Now, following the shape of the petal, we can these lines. So here we are done with the petals for this flower. Now when you go to layers and hide your sketch layer, you can still see all the petals clearly. You can see the difference by hiding this layer. It helps your illustration with this depth and three D effect. I will unhide my sketch layer, and let's move on to our next step of adding the center for this flower. 6. Pink Orchid - Part 2: After adding the first layer of shadow and highlights, we'll move on to add the details in the center, stem and leaf and later finalizing by adding more depth and details. Okay. Now, let's move on to our next step. That is the center for this flower. I will zoom in my reference image, so we can see the center clearly. Now we need a new layer above all our layers, tap on this layer and tap clipping mask. So we'll be adding this yellow area in the center. We'll start by selecting our brush, go to the brush library and select your third brush. Go to the color panel, and I'll select this second yellow from my color palette. And with this mid tone of yellow color, I'll create this base for the center. Next to add detail to the center. I'll add another new layer, tap on this layer and tap clipping mask, and I'll select two to darker shade of the same yellow. With a smaller brush size, I'll add this color to the areas where I feel is and that can create depth. Next, we can start blending this color for that I'll select my smudge tool. Make sure under Smudge tool, the same brush is selected. Once we're done blending, we'll go back to our lighter yellow color. I'll tap on layers and go back to our first yellow color layer. Here, I want the yellow part of the flower to blend in with our lower petal. Now, let's add some highlight to this yellow area. For that, we will need a new layer. Tap on layers and we'll add a new layer on top of our darker shade of yellow layer and add clipping mass to this layer. Now for the highlight, we will need a lighter shade of this yellow. And I'll add this to the area where I feel it might reflect light or shine. For some areas, I don't exactly follow the reference image. Now, blending this with the smudge tool. I'll hide my sketch layer. I want to add another layer of shadow with the darker shade of yellow. For that, I'll add another new layer and add clipping mass to this layer. From my color palette, you can find this darker shade of yellow. That's the fourth one. Blending with the smudge too. This will help us create this more depth and detailed finish to the center. Now, let's add these tiny spots in the yellow area. We need a new layer for that. I'll add a new layer under our sketch layer, and I'll be adding this with my six p pencil brush. For this, I'll pick up a darker shade of pink from the petal. This can be slightly time consuming. You can pause the video and take your own time. I've increased the speed and edited some part of it so that the video is not too long. So we are done adding our spots in the center of this flower. Now, let's move on to our next step that is adding highlights and shine to our petals. Now, if you see in the center, I'll hide my sketch layer. We can add some highlight to this area. And like you see in the reference image on the petals here, I will add a new layer below our yellow layers. It will already have a clipping mask on it. Now, from the brushes, I will have the same six p pencil brush selected. And from my color palette, I'll select this lightest pink. And I'll add these light brush strokes on the edges. Some on this petal, too. You can even try this brash by slightly tilting your apple pencil. It gives this very nice shaded effect. Moving on to the next petal. You can even go for a more lighter shade of thing. Next to the bottom petal here. Now, there is a tip that I want to add here is if you feel your illustration is looking slightly flat and you need to add more contrast. We'll go to layers, tap on layers, go to our first shadow layer, swipe left and duplicate. This will multiply the layers and add more contrast to your illustration. You can even adjust the opacity of your duplicate layer. This can also be done with your high light layer, the one with the lighter shade of pink, and you can adjust the opacity depending on the contrast you need. Now let's move on to our next step of adding a stem and a leaf to this flower. For that, tap on the base layer of your flower, add a new layer, and pull this layer below your base layer. Tap on this layer and I'll rename this as stem. Now I can unhide my sketch layer. Make sure you're on your stem layer. We'll tap on the brushes, select our studio pen brush. Next, we can go to the color panel and you can select the second brown from my color palette, and we can add a base layer to the stem. I'm going to add an outline to the stem and fill it with the same color. Now, to add some detail to the stem, we'll add a new layer on top of this base layer. Make sure it is on top of your stem layer and tap on this layer and tap clipping mask. Now we can go to the brushes, make sure your third brush is selected, go to the color panel, and I'll select this lighter shade of brown. With a smaller brush size, I'll add this brush stroke in the center of the stem. Now, on the same layer, I'm going to add another layer of this dark brown color. Select the darker shade of brown, and I'll add this on one side of the stem. That is on the right side. Next to blend these colors, I'll select my smudge tool, make sure the same brush is selected, and I'll start blending following the shape of the stem. Now let's move on to the tiny leaf. I'll unhide my sketch layer, add a new layer, and this layer should be above our stem layer. Select your studio pen brush. Next, from the color palette, I'll select this mid tone of green, and we can a base layer for our leaf. Next, we can add another new layer to add highlights and shadow to this leaf. This layer should be above our base layer, tap on the layer and tap clipping mask. Select your third brush from the brush library. Go to the color palette, and I'll select the lighter shade of the same green. I will add this on both sides of the leaf and leave a gap in the center that will help you give this in effect. Now, on the same layer, I'm going to add the darker shade to from the color palette, I'll select the darker shade of the same color, and I'll add this on the top and the bottom edges. Now we can blend with the smudge tool. While blending, I'm following the shape of the leaf. I am keeping this simple for this class, but you can add some more details too. So we are done with our flour here. But now after completing, I feel I want to add more depth to this flour. I want to add another layer of shadow. That will add depth and add more botanical finish to your flour. So let's move on to adding another layer of this darker shade. I'll add another new layer. This layer has to be below our highlight layer. Now, from the brush library, I'll make sure my third brush is selected. From the color palette, I'll select the darkest red. I'll be adding this few brush strokes around the darker area of the flower. While you're adding this color, you have to make sure you're not fully covering the base color. These should be shorter strokes compared to what we did for the other layers. And we'll follow the same steps and we'll blend them with the same brush. And now we are done with our flower here. You can even duplicate this layer and experiment with the swipe left and duplicate. Another way is to tap on this tiny N and try all of these different effects here. And if you feel it is too dark, you can even play with the opacity here. And this is how our final illustration looks like. 7. Final Thoughts: Congratulation for completing this class. To recap, we learned how to research your reference images, how to sketch and plan your composition. And finally to illustrate Orchid in Procreate. I hope this class has been beneficial to you and has contributed value to your illustration journey. If you have any question or doubt regarding the class or the illustration process, please feel free to share your question in the discussion section of this class. I am always here to assist you. I will eagerly wait for your beautiful orchid illustration in the project section of this class. You can follow me on Skillshare to get notified when I publish a new class. To get behind the scenes and more tips and tricks, you can follow me on Instagram two. Thank you for taking this class with me. See you in the next class.