Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello, and welcome
to my short class. Make a flower journal,
an illustrative route to joyful journaling. I'm Kate Willis Crowley. I'm a traditionally
published illustrator and author of children's books. I create artwork for commercial
use and more importantly, for my own enjoyment
and fulfillment, which is what this
class is all about. This is probably the shortest
class I'll ever make, but I absolutely can't resist sharing this beautiful
project idea with you. And even though the
class is short, the project itself
is something that will hopefully really
sustain you over time, helping you maintain a rewarding
daily creative practice.
2. About This Project: About this project. I've been journaling for about a year now. For me, it's just a
really fulfilling way to unwind and
consolidate my thoughts. As an illustrator, I tend to include illustrations
in my journal entries, and a little while
back, I mentioned my journaling to my very
good friend, Emma. Now, Emma's response was
to show me her journals, which absolutely blew me
away because it turns out Emma had been creating the
most stunning floral journals. So this class is 100%
dedicated to her, and she's given me full
permission to share her work and to share the
concept of flower journaling, because I honestly don't know of anyone else doing
anything quite like this. Since I started joining in
with my own flower journal, it's become such a joyful, chilled out part of my day. It's such an easy, low
pressure way to engage in daily art practice using really minimal equipment
and with great results. Let's quickly look at what this class is
and what it isn't. This short class is an
introduction to flower journaling as a means to sustain
daily artistic practice. This short class is not a
flower drawing tutorial. Now, if you'd like
to watch flower drawing tutorials to
complement this class, then I have some great
recommendations at the end. The focus though
of this class is the core concept of
flower journaling itself. The exciting thing
in my opinion, is that it's a project you can
really just make your own, a chance to really explore and enjoy your own unique style.
3. You Will Need: You will need a diary. I think a week to view diary is really ideal for this
project, and you'll see why. But you can adapt the idea to suit whatever form of
diary or journal you have. You will also need
a selection of your favorite pens and pencils. You'll see in the videos
that I use an HB pencil, waterproof fine liners,
and Zebra Mild liners, which are basically
muted highlighters. But any light
colored felt tips or brush pens would also
work really well.
4. Your Project: Your project. So the core
concept of this class is that you're growing your
flower journal illustrations gradually over time. This is why a week to
view diary is so perfect. Each day you add more
flowers and foliage, filling roughly
one box at a time. If you're using a
different type of diary or journal,
then of course, you can decide how much to draw each day with the end effects being a full page of flowers. The idea of expanding the illustration bit by
bit really interests me a self imposed
limit that brings this really wonderful payoff when each whole
week is complete. Of course, sometimes
I want to draw more. This is when I extend my
daily artistic practice into my over 1 million
sketchbooks or projects. I'm not limiting my creativity, but what the flower
journal does do is it makes sure that I
always draw something daily. For me, it's the
perfect activity for when the pasta is cooking
or dinners in the oven, when I know I've got maybe 15 to 40 minutes to
dedicate to drawing. Essentially, that's it.
That's the core concept. Perhaps, at this point,
you're thinking, well, that's all very well, but you're not sure where to
start, hold tight. In the next video,
I'll share some ideas about how to approach your
daily flower drawings.
5. Ideas: Ideas. There's so much freedom in how to approach gradually
growing your flower journal. So here are a few ideas. Drawing from life. If you're able to
access real flowers, then you can absolutely treat your flower journal
as a sketchbook. Something portable you
can carry around and add to with sketches
from direct observation. I'll be honest and
say this approach doesn't suit me too well
on a day to day basis, as I'm less likely
to find regular time to be out in nature
drawing every single day. Though it's something I do
love to do when it's possible. It's just not my go to approach. Drawing from reference. So what I am able to do is build up a bank of photo
reference on my phone. I'll often see gorgeous
flowers and plants, and I'm in the habit now of just taking quick snaps so
when I'm on my travels, then later, I can use these as an image
bank for my drawings. Alternatively, if
the season isn't offering up much in the way
of interesting flowers, then Google Image is a great go to resource
for flower imagery. Drawing from Imagination. I like to dabble with a mix of observed drawings and stylized
flower illustrations, so I'll frequently create
my own flower designs. I'm going to share
a little just about my general approach to drawing without
reference material, just by way of a demonstration. But I really want
to emphasize that your stylistic approach
can be totally your own. This is just what works
for me and it might be a good starting point for you if you're not
sure where to begin. I tend to begin by drawing
concentric circles in pencil. Then I draw lines radiating out from the center,
still in pencil, roughly evenly spaced,
and these lines become my guide showing me where roughly to draw
my flower petals. I use a waterproof fine
liner for the line drawing. Then I tend to give the drawing a little depth by adding some
light colored felt tip pen. This is a gray, but
I do occasionally mix it up a bit using
other pale colors. Here I'm using the mild liners
that I mentioned earlier. Standard felt tips would do
just as good a job, though. But as I've said before, you can draw however you choose to draw using whichever
stationery you love to use. The flowers can be as simple
or as detailed as you like, and the pages absolutely
don't have to be consistent. You can allow your approach to change and to grow day by day, using your journal as a safe space to play
with new drawing styles.
6. Final Thoughts: Thanks so much for watching. Hopefully, now you're full of exciting ideas about starting
your own flower journal. Seeing those pages grow day by day is such a rewarding feeling, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. So please do upload to the project section if you're comfortable
sharing your work. If you're feeling
at all overwhelmed about where to get started, I recommend playing with the concentric circle
approach that I modeled previously and seeing
what develops from there. Be playful, be brave, experiment with a range
of pens and pencils, and I promise you interesting
developments will happen. Alternatively, there
are some great flower drawing tutorials
here on Skillshare, which will definitely help you get your flower
journaling underway. Here are a few you
might like to watch. I just want to make one
last shout out to Emma, Queen of the Flower Journal, whose gorgeous diaries
inspired this video. Please do look her
up on Instagram. And if you'd like to check out any of my work on Instagram too, then you can find me there also. A final thank you for
watching this short class. Remember to follow me
here on skill Show if you'd like further
updates on classes, and I hope to see you
and your artwork around here very soon.
Happy scribbling.
Kate Willis-Crowley, Author and Illustrator
