My project for course: Contemporary Botanical Illustration with Ink

My project for course: Contemporary Botanical Illustration with Ink

The object and composing.

I’ve started by choosing the object. I wished to find something with fine texture and layered enough. The shape of this round vase is very simple, and I wanted to balance this with textured flowers.

Next, I tried a few compositions. I used monochrome photos and some primitive photo editing to make the process easier.

Thumbnails

This round vase seemed to be very impressive in the shop. But in reality, it wasn't easy to find any composition that worked. I’ve tried so many options before things started to work. Everything was too round. The shape of the vase and the shape of the flowers didn't create enough contrast.

Sketching and first versions

I’ve decided to adjust the shape of the flowers to make them less round. It was a crime to cut these beautiful flowers, so I had to do this on paper. Also, I considered using sharp lines to balance these soft round flowers.

I’ve tried a few inking techniques and figured out that I can use dip pens with washed ink to achieve the desirable effect. By the way, during this project, I realized that small ink stains can be removed with a gentle touch of very wet cotton pads.

The artwork

It was my first experience with dip pens, and I’m deeply impressed. Maybe someway I liked it more than drawing with brushes because pens give you more control. In the end I realized that gold cannot be scanned so I could only take some photos with my phone.

The final result is better than I planned, I’ve learned a few new tricks and fully enjoyed the course.