Erika Lancaster

Crea hermosas flores de líneas y lavados: guía para principiantes

Renee, your Daffodils piece turned out SO good! The drawing itself is believable in terms of proportions, shapes and perspective, your pen and ink work is coming along beautifully, and the watercolor washes are also very well done. I really love the subtle variation in hue values that you've developed throughout the petals and leaves, and the wet-on-wet/soft transitions between values. The twists in the leaves are also very well done! These "twists" create more depth, realism and interest. Great job!

Thank you Erika for kind words. I enjoyed this class, especially since ink and wash is turning out to be my preferred style.

That's so awesome! I love this combo, too. It's my fave combo when it comes to combining different art mediums. Hope you're having a lovely day, Renee!

Renee, your line and wash Wild Roses are beautiful! I like this piece even more than the Coneflower piece! Did you find this type of flower more challenging or less challenging than the Coneflower? Your drawing, as well as the pen and ink work are fantastic. Lovely believable shapes, irregularity/asymmetry and also line weight variation when it comes to the ink work. The only possible suggestion I have, in terms of the drawing, is for the open flower. Make sure to start widening the stem at the top, only nearest the petal area, and only when the perspective of the flower calls for this, as flower stems widen only at the base of the petals. The perspective of the lower flower does call for this wider section because of this profile view. But, with the open flower, we wouldn't really see this base under the petals. This flower has a different perspective than the lower one. Because this open flower is facing toward us, the length of its petals would cover that base section of the stem that is wider than the majority of the stem. I hope this makes sense! The wet-on-wet effects and the gradient you developed in the open flower are beautiful. I also really love how you darkened the green only in half of the leaves. This creates a very interesting effect, like the leaves are folding slightly, which does happen in real life at times. You really succeeded in making this piece your own! The splattering was a great addition to the piece, too! Thank you so much for sharing with us and for inspiring us. :)

Thank you Erika for your lovely and helpful comments. You're so right about that stem on the full flower. I should have caught that in my sketch.

I used better paper for this piece so although I found both drawings/paintings equally fairly easy, this was less challenging due to the 100% cotton paper. I find ink and wash a dilemma in terms of paper. The smoother paper isn't good for wet-in-wet but the CP paper is hard on my fineliners.

Glad you liked the splatter. I occasionally use it although when I do it, it looks messier than what other artists due. True confession--I used it here to disguise the spot where I dropped my brush LOL

I LOVE that, Renee! What a great way to incorporate a little "mishap" as part of the piece. I don't think your splattering looks messy, at all! You're so right about watercolor paper. Especially when it comes to techniques that require more water and when we want nice wet-on-wet effects, quality matters a ton. I also can relate to the challenge of having to find good paper that lends itself to pen and ink, as well as watercolor techniques! I really enjoy Cold Press paper, but do go for brands that offer Cold Press that's less textured. Even within the same kind of watercolor paper, textures vary SO much from brand to brand. Strathmore has great Cold Press papers that are 100% cotton which aren't very textured at all. I enjoy their Travel Pad and also the Ready-Cut Cold Press for pen and wash very much. Definitely not as textured as, say, Cold Press from Arches (which I love when I'm using only watercolor). Cheers!

The first suggestion I have for you is for your watercolor washes. I'm aware that the paper you're working on has a huge impact on this and can see that you're working in a sketchbook (it's sometimes hard to find sketchbooks that have good watercolor paper!). The color work, particularly in the red-purple and blue-purple flowers looks a bit heavy and I see some visual texture that I'm not sure you were intending to develop. By working petal by petal and painting quickly, you can ensure that the first layer of paint will still be wet when you drop in the next color. This will help you avoid any splotchiness that might happen when paint starts to dry. Again, though, this would be a wet-into-wet technique and, many times, some papers don't lend themselves for these techniques too well. The other suggestion I have is, to be careful with the perspective of your flowers (this is more related to drawing than painting). The two flowers on the bottom look great, but the yellow flower doesn't look like a coneflower, as coneflowers have petals that droop down (umbrella form). The petal area and central area in this one are drawn as if you're looking at the flower from above it, which means that the stem wouldn't be visible from this perspective. The stem is drawn as if you're looking at the flower from the side and not from above. And this is perfectly fine, it just looks like another type of flower. Perhaps like a sunflower? Hope this makes sense! Great job, Renee! Let me know if you have any questions on anything, and thanks again for sharing with us, and for inspiring the community to share, too!

Renee, your line and wash coneflowers turned out beautifully! Thanks so much for sharing both the drawing/pen and ink study, as well as the final piece. I really like your pen/line work in both, and can see that you have practice with this medium! Your line work has a nice line weight variation and isn't overdone. I also really like the variety of lines and marks that you combined in both pieces to both define shapes and describe textures in different areas (and even to add shading in the first study). I personally don't perceive stiffness in either piece, but perhaps developing an even greater line weight variation, where certain sections of your lines are even thinner/lighter and others are thicker/darker, will help create more looseness and make your pieces look more dynamic. Use the four key variables when drawing in pen for a greater line weight variation that I share in the class on pen and ink tips (angle, speed, pressure, and perhaps exploring thinner pens could be an option, or using a couple of different pen sizes, even). My suggestions wouldn't be for the pen work, as I think you're already doing so well in this area.

<img srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/cf8a85c98070a919631b9a5902efbdba/edea0ae9.jpg 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/cf8a85c98070a919631b9a5902efbdba/edea0ae9.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" src="https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/cf8a85c98070a919631b9a5902efbdba/edea0ae9.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="daffodils - image 1 - student project"><img srcset="https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/cf8a85c98070a919631b9a5902efbdba/cb8b0b5c.jpg 600w, https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/cf8a85c98070a919631b9a5902efbdba/cb8b0b5c.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 100vw" src="https://static.skillshare.com/uploads/project/cf8a85c98070a919631b9a5902efbdba/cb8b0b5c.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="daffodils - image 2 - student project"> Here is the finished composition. I'm open to any and all comments and critiques. 
Thank you!
Renee

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