Pencil Rough

Once you’ve assembled your reference (preferably from life as it’s much easier than working from photos), draw up a pencil rough.  This needs to include all the botanically pertinent features of the plant species.  It also needs to look good, so take some time considering how to place the plant on the page, and the composition of your illustration.  (For more on how to do this, have a look at my blog on illustrating winter jasmine.)

I love mechanical pencils because you don’t need to stop drawing to sharpen them.  You just break the tip of the lead against the desk, and there’s a sharp new point.  I favour the Pentel P205, with an H or HB lead.

Having had a lot of trouble finding a replacement watercolour paper to work on (the quality of my go-to brand, Fabriano, plummeted), I now like Fluid 100 HP.  This hot press paper is available in the UK.

Plotting in the darkest darks

Next, I look carefully at the leaves.  I look for the areas of darkest shadows, and try and see what shapes these are.  Sometimes it can be hard to make out, so you need to use a little logic too.  Every shadow is there because something has cast that shadow.  Consider the bulges and uplifts of the veins and the leaf blade as you look for tonality in each leaf.

I also try to decide which side of each leaflet is darker.  This tends to be the one which has shadows right up next to the mid rib.

I mix a medium green, and plot in the shadows.  When you mix watercolour paint, be sure the consistency is right.  Too watery and you get no colour.  Too dry and your paint goes all all scratchy.  Unpleasant as it is, I say the right consistency is about the same as that of blood.

Also, when you use watercolour, be sure to follow the brush as you paint.  If you push upwards, the hairs bend and give a scruffy, messy line.  If you allow the tip of the brush to complete the line, that line will be crisp and clear.  I adore  Winsor & Newton series 7 brushes.  I generally have a number 2, a number 1, and a 000 on the go.  My default size is a number 1.  I love this brand because they not only hold their tips better than any other brush I’ve used, but they also hold quite a bit of paint, so you don’t have to spend your whole time re-filling them from the paintbox.

As always, when you paint, the harder you press the thicker the line.

This green is a mix of Viridian, cadmium yellow light, Cobalt blue, and yellow ochre.  I like to use Winsor and Newton pans, but will top them up from tubes.  If Daniel Smith or  Daler Rowney  have a better version of a colour, I’ll use that.  Whatever works best!

(More on mixing greens can be found in my blog).

Repeating steps across the whole plant

I like working across the entire plant, so complete each stage before moving onto the next.  This also makes sure that the colour mixes will be more or less consistent.  You also get a feel for how the illustration is evolving.

The picture below shows the False VA creeper with the darkest shadows of every leaf painted in, and allowed to dry.  Each leaflet has one side which is darker, and the margins of the leaves are clearly delineated.

Midtones

Next, I mix up a slightly paler and a slightly yellower version of my green.  This means adding more water, and a bit more cadmium yellow light.  Never be tempted to lighten watercolour by adding white paint, it entirely changes the colour and makes the paint thick and muddy.  Ugh.

I go over the leaves with this mix, painting over the areas which are already painted and dried, as well as creeping a little further into the white of the page.  You might want to make the transition between paint and clear paper a bit gradual.  You can do this with lots of tiny brush marks.  Be sure to follow the direction of leaf growth whenever you pop paint onto your painting.

Be careful not to cover all the white paper.  These areas are vital, they provide light and highlights; they give depth to the finished painting.  Painting the whole area green will give you a flat finished illustration.

Also remember that with watercolour you can always go darker, but you can’t make it lighter once paint’s been put down.

Allow the paint to dry fully.

Adding a top wash

Now I mix up a very dilute version of the mid-tone green.  This simply involves diluting it a bit, using clean water.

I pop this over the whole of the darker side of the leaflet, allowing the paint to be very wet and to dry on the page.  I also add some to the other side of each leaflet, but ensuring the white paper is still visible in the brightest areas of high-light.

Add a pale top wash

Once this wash has dried completely, mix an even paler and more watery wash.  Mine tend to have a lot of yellow ochre in them, and I apply them very wet.  They unite the entire leaf, and give an extra layer of colour and depth.  Often, this is the first time the veins of the leaves will have colour put on them.  If things have gone to plan, it’ll definitely be the first time your white paper highlights have had colour put on.

Pick out your darkest darks

Once the top layer has dried, you’ll almost be there.  You may want to get a little more depth into your darkest areas, though.

I mix up a very dark green, often adding winsor blue, purple, and vandyke brown to another green mix.  The colour tends to be somewhere between dark blue-green and purple.  With a very careful touch, pick out the tiniest areas of dark.  These are often the edge of the mid-rib, the tips of the teeth along the leaf margin, the apex of the leaf, and the base of the leaf.  Make sure you’re always using your reference to inform your decisions.

Be really careful not to overdo it!

Rubbing out

Once the paint has dried completely (err on the side of caution here.  I know from bitter experience what a nightmare it is to try and rub out paper with moist paint on.  It’s not an experience that I’d reccomend anyone to share…) rub out your pencil lines.

A lot of people are surprised that this works, and it does depend on what paper and what eraser you use.  I use a soft one, Factis seem to be my favourite.  You can rub the page quite hard and the paint isn’t compromised at all.  The pencil line will go.  (If you’ve got a lot of layers of paint on top of the pencil, or if you pressed hard when doing the pencil lines, it may not be as successful.)

Get rid of the rubbed out bits of eraser.  Some artists use a soft brush for this.  I use my hand, but please make sure your hand is dry and clean first!

Finished!

There we are, completed!  Below is a scan of the completed illustration.

It’s worth taking a minute to look for the areas of the leaf that were left as white paper for the longest.  With the pale top-wash on, they look pretty much like part of the leaf, but (hopefully) provide a bit of depth too.

For more of my step by steps, please check out the Botanical step by step category of my blogs.  And for more about the False versus the true Virginia creeper, take a look at my blog which will be published shortly.

The post Step by Step: False Virginia Creeper appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Illustrating voles

I’ve painted voles before, and I’ll be brutally honest and acknowledge that these illustrations have been far from my best.  Voles are small and fluffy, and they tend to hold themselves hunched up.  This makes them quite tricky to capture in an illustration as any defining features are hidden in curled up fur.

Embarassingly awful Field vole illustration done in the mid 1990s

However, this vole was going to look better.  I was fortunate in that a neighbour’s cat had brought in a dead Bank vole a few weeks before this commission came in, and I’d had the opportunity to do a decent sketchbook study of the animal, and especially of the way the fur lay on the vole’s body.  The colours in this study weren’t particularly useful as Bank voles are far redder than the Field vole, but in terms of structure the sketch was invaluable.  (I did return the vole to the cat once I’d painted it).

Sketchbook study of a Bank vole

Assembling reference and drawing up the vole

I was lucky enough to have access to some rather good photos of the vole in the wild too.  There are many benefits to being on good terms with wildlife photographers.  For me, being allowed to use some of their photos for reference is key.  It’s all very well having dead voles in the freezer (which I do, and these are vital for fur colour reference).  But these photos of the animals in the wild are extremely important too.

The first thing I do when working on an illustration is to draw the animal in atonal pencil.  Just a simple line drawing.  I love working with mechanical pencils like the Pentel P205.  I work directly onto the hot-press watercolour paper.  Ill be painting on Fluid 100 , a rather fine paper which I now use as a replacement for Fabriano.   For more on this please check out my blogs (blog 1, blog 2, blog 3) comparing watercolour papers.  They’re also available as Youtube videos (Video 1, video 2, video 3).

This pencil drawing is sent to the client who can give feedback and ask for alterations.

Pencil rough of the Field vole

Painting the background

Once I’ve been given the go-ahead, I tend to focus on the background.  I think it’s important to take the background as seriously as the subject of the painting itself, so I painted these grasses as true to life as possible, they’re all common British species.  Where they overlap and cast shadows on one another I use a shadow of purple and blue which helps clarify what’s going on in the illustration.  As always, when mixing greens I’ll use ready-made paints from their pans (such as Sap green) and mix in various yellows, oranges, blues, purples, and almost always a little yellow ochre.  I keep written and visual notes of these mixes so I can replicate them.

Field vole with background grasses illustrated

Painting the darkest areas of the fur

Moving onto the mammal, the first thing I pick out is the darkest areas of fur, I use little strokes, and try to give the animal form by plotting where the darkest areas of fur are.  I always use a Winsor and Newton Series 7 paintbrush (normally a 1 or a 00) because not only do these brushes hold their sharp and accurate tips, but they also hold enough paint to allow me to paint a fair amount before having to pop the brush back into the paint mix and thus disrupt the flow.  For the vole, I used a mix of yellow ochre, purple, brown, and a touch of cadmium orange light (I tend to use Winsor and Newton watercolours, but am happy to use other brands too.)

Painting in the darkest fur on the Field vole

I build into the darkest regions with repeated little brush strokes, especially around the eye, ear, and rear of the vole.  I also mix up a slightly grey pink and, using a watery tint of this colour, I pop down the pink that you can see around the eyes, on the tail, on the paws, and on the nose of the animal.  It’s important to blend this is a little, there’s no sharp definition between these areas and the fur on the vole itself. The illustration has to echo this.

Ears, paws, eys ring and tail plotted in

Painting the fur

Next, I mix up a slightly lighter fur colour.  This mix includes a higher ratio of yellow and yellow ochre, and is a little paler than the initial brown.  I layer this on top of the first layer, and make sure the length of my brush strokes relate to the length of the fur on the animal.  Very short strokes are required around the muzzle of the vole, longer ones on the body.  This colour is also useful as you can layer the fur along the tail, thus easing the visual transition between the fur and the skin of the tail.

The chest area is leaf white as Field voles (like many mammals) have paler stomach and chest regions than the fur on their backs.

I now do what I almost always do: get carried away and forget to take progression photos.  Apologies.

First, I work into that pale chest and belly fur, introducing areas of blue grey.  I continue these into the fur on the rest of the vole.  When you look closely at it, the vole’s fur is brownish above with a soft grey under-layer.  My painting tries to emulate that.

Next, there’s another layer of even paler brown fur that carries across the whole vole.  Yellow ochre and orange, and a light touch are required for this.

Finally, a very light and wet top wash covers the whole animal (and gets blotted off the stomach almost immediately).  This unifies the look of the creature.  I make sure the tail, paws, and ears are touched with this too.

Adding the final details

Finally, the minute details which help pull the illustration together.  Tiny claws, the eyes, the nostrils, and the whiskers.

Finished Field vole, Microtus agrestis.

A lot of illustrators will always do the eye first; if you mess up the eye the whole painting is destroyed.  I always leave it ‘til last, I’m not sure why.  I think I enjoy the “magic” of bringing an animal to life at the very end of the illustrating process.  Rather like painting the leaves and saving the flowers until last, I think doing the eye is the treat that makes the picture feel complete.  I guess it ties in with me always leaving the tastiest morsels on my plate until the end of a meal…saving the best ‘til last!

Hopefully this blog explains the steps involved in completing a natural history illustration of a small mammal.  I, for one, am much happier with this vole than with the rather embarrassing attempt shown at the top of this blog.  At least I’m getting better with age, what a relief!

For more animal step by step illustrations, follow the link.

The post Field Vole step by step illustration appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

For lots more of my botanical illustration step by steps, click here.  For more of my sketchbook illustrations, follow the link.

Choose your plant and draw up the flower

First, choose a plant whose petals have colours that you think you’ll enjoy working with.  Purples, whites, yellows and warm pinks predominate.  I was taken with this pretty plant, and it also allowed me to play about with both pale and dark petals.

Draw up the flower in pencil, as always I use a mechanical pencil (Pentel P205) LINK, an H or an HB lead.  Be sure to include plenty of information on the veins within the petals as well as the shape of each petal.

Painting the pale petals

Start with the white petals, and remember, with all pale subjects, less is more.  You can always make a colour darker but you can’t lighten an area of paint once it’s been applied.  (For more on painting white petals and flowers, look at my blog.)

I mixed up a pale mauve and a yellow from my watercolour box.  I could tell you the names of the paints, but sometimes I think a little experimentation is simpler, not least because everyone’s paints and selection of colours is slightly different.  My paints tend to be Winsor & Newton pans.

I mixed a tint, a watery paler version, of each colour.  Make a visual note of the colour you’ve used by dabbing a little of it on the paper you’re using.

I just used a little of these at the edges of the petals, then allowed it to dry.

I worked into the pale petals first.  I made sure to note the areas of shadow where shadows overlapped.  Picking these out with a mix of ultramarine and purple works well (any blue-purple will work) .   I also got the bright yellows at the throat of the flower plotted in.  It’s a good idea to get the lighter, brighter colours sorted out first.  I think it’s more a matter of keeping things clean and good housekeeping than anything else.  Painting with darker colours muddies the water, the palette, and the brush.

A darker yellow line at the centre of the flower helps give the flower structure.

Plot in the stem and petal veins

Plot in the stem. I tend to mix a green then draw two parallel lines.  The one on the right hand side is slightly thicker and darker than the other.  Once dry, put a watery wash of the same green over these lines.  This gives you your stem, with tonal information included.

With a steady hand, and referring at all times to your specimen, paint in the veins that network their way across the petals.  You need a sharp tipped brush for this, despite its cost the only brand I can rely on for this sort of fine work is Winsor & Newton Series 7 sables brushes (a number 1 or 00).

Show the petal edges

I build up the perimeter of the petals with a series of tiny brush marks.  These blend in with the veins, and also show the edge of the petals which tend to be darker than the body of the petals.

Laying colour over the veins

Next, I mix up a watery paler version of the purple (a tint).  Again, experiment with your own paints to find a good colour match, I think this one was purple lake with a little ultramarine and a touch of permanent magenta.  Since I made a colour note on my page, it’s easy enough to mix it up again when I need it.

Working from the veins outward to the petal edges, I lay this carefully onto of the veins and purple edges.  I keep it wet, and allow it to dry without messing around too much, this lets the paint give crisp slightly darker edges which I like.  This also softens the stark contrast between white page and purple veins, and will provide a structural framework for the top layers of darker purple to sit on.

Repeat the process for the spots on the petals.

Adding some darks and shadows

Work into the purples with a darker hue, using a less watery colour and adding some blue to the mix.  Again, apply the paint with care, following the line of growth and building up a textured area of colour, darkest at the petal edges.  Allow all of these stages to dry between layers of paint.

Using the same purple, plot in the shadow that falls on the stem.

Working into the purples

Make a watery wash of your dark purple and apply it to all the areas of purple.  Don’t overwork it, and allow it to dry fully. It’s a good idea to leave a tiny sliver of white page where the petals meet; you can knock this back later but it helps provide structure.

Side petal detail

Using the same dark purple, pop in the veins on the side petals.  Keep your hand steady!  Work into the centre of the flower looking carefully at the structures there with a hand lens and providing a couple of quite dark areas as this helps attract the eye.

Finished!  You can tweak the painting if you wish, but most of the hard work is now done.

The Structure of the pansy

At this point it’s well worth taking out a scalpel and looking further at the structure of these fascinating plants.  Make notes of their appearance in cross section, in side view, internally.  The more you find out about your flower subject, the better informed you’re drawing will be.

Here’s an excellent cross section of a pansy done by Ann Bebbington, which appears in her fabulous and incredibly useful book, “Understanding the Flowering Plants” which is a guide and something of a bible for all artists and illustrators involved in depicting botanical subjects.

Here’s my finished page of studies, along with my trusty tools of the trade.  It has to be said, an afternoon spent painting and examining one of these flowers is a perfectly wonderful way to pass the time.  It’s also a great way to get some useful reference gathering done!

The post Pansy step by step sketchbook study appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

I’d not seen this plant before, and was amazed by the big pink flowers, and the striking similarity to blackberry and raspberry.

Not surprisingly, I tackled painting the berries in a similar way.

Pencil Rough

First, I drew up the Salmonberry in pencil.  I like mechanical pencils like the Pentel P205, H or HB leads.  My favourite watercolour paper these days is Global Art’s Fluid 100 .  I draw directly onto the hot press watercolour paper, hoping that any alterations to the rough will be minor.  I feel some immediacy and dynamism gets lost if I draw up a rough, then re-draw the same image for the final.

Luckily, the illustration got the go-ahead with no alterations.

Leaves

The most exciting part of this plant is definitely the berries and the flowers.  I like to leave the best til last, so painted in the stem and leaves before tackling the fruits and berries.  (For more on how I paint leaves, check out: step-by-step painting of leaves-leaves/,  Tips on painting leaves, and step-by-step painting of an autumn leaf )

First step of the Berry

The first thing I do is figure out where my light source is.  Traditionally, this is top left.  Knowing where the light is informs the placement of highlights and shadows.  Without these, the berry will never look three dimensional or juicy.

Next, I mix up a good solid crimson.  This one is a mix of Winsor and Newton watercolour pans: Alizarin crimson, Cadmium orange dark, and a touch of cobalt blue.  I use this on the berry, leaving the areas which are touched with highlights white.  In practise this means putting a thin paint line around each drupelet (raspberries, blackberries and salmonberries are made of lots of individual druplets).  Within each druplet, a hook-like shape, or backwards “C” shape is plotted in.

I adore Winsor and Newton series 7 sable brushes; they hold their tip and make detailed work much easier.  I’m afraid it’s worth splashing out on a high quality brush despite the cost!

The unripe yellow berries are picked out with a mix of Cadmium orange light and Cadmium yellow light.

Plotting in the mid-tones

The mid tones are the areas which aren’t lit up with shine but are paler than the shadows.  It’s simple to mix colour here; it’s the same as your first mix but diluted to a paler tint with clean water.  You can take this mix up to the dark areas, and also down on the underside of each druplete.

Be sure to leave your brightest areas of highlight as white paper.

Darkening the shadows

The next step is to darken the shadows.  I mix up a darker and more purple colour for this.  Unless I’m using a watery wash, or a pale tint of a colour, I like to use my watercolour paint pretty dry.  The consistency of my paint is similar to that of blood (sorry!).

With the red berry this involves adding a touch of purple and of cobalt blue.  With the yellow berry, I emphasize its pinky tones by adding a touch of crimson.

Don’t overdo it, and keep the darks to the central area of the regions you painted to start with.  Once that’s done, you can pick out the shadows between drupelets.

Finishing touches

The last thing to do is to pick out the darkest areas of all, again with a slightly deeper colour.  Be really careful here, you don’t want to swamp the berry with shadow.

I also crack open the white gouache, and put a tiny white line on the underside of each drupelet.  This helps make each part of the berry look shiny and juicy.

The last thing to do is to pop in some shadows behind the fruit, so I use a mix of purple and cobalt blue.

Conclusion

Now the fruits are painted in, I move onto the wild pink flowers.  Once they’re done it’s a matter of sharpening up the shadows across the entire illustration.  Finished!

For more on painting berries please look at my earlier blogs: Step by step Blackberry, Step by step hawthorn, and step by step rowan berry.   In general, this technique works well for a wide variety of fruit, give it a go!

Here’s the finished berry and the residual sepals and structures left once a ripe berry has fallen; and below it is the entire illustration.

The finished Salmonberry illustration:

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