Lotus Flower lesson now back again
I'm finally coming down to the last few lessons that need to be passed to the new system. (Should I even be calling it “new”, since I've been using it for almost a year)? This time it’s the really cool Lotus Flower lesson, inspired by the Egyptian Lotus Flower.
These are tangled versions which look 3-dimensional, but very stylized. I love the fact that they are 3D, but not realistic. A little bit different than the usual doodle flower, for sure.
The lesson is a bit advanced, and covers the basics of how to understand and create foreshortening, an optical illusion used by architects and painters to indicate perspective and depth.
After practicing extensively with a single flower, we proceed to create a full bouquet of flowers, in different sizes, and using different types of tangled petals.
What I love about this lesson is that you can create different types of flowers, by simply varying the tangles used in the petals. You really don't have to copy my own designs, the fun part is coming up with new flowers using the same method.
You'll also learn how to colorize the background with watercolors and colored pencils…
…and to shade the flowers so that they look even MORE 3-dimensional!
Here's the final picture after colorized and shaded. SUPER COOL!
I think coloring is optional, the lotus bouquet looks cool even in black and white line-art:
You can find this lesson now, back again, at my lesson shop.
This color scheme was not my favorite when I finished the piece - what was I thinking! - but it's starting to grow on me. Here is Pickpocket (Tomàs Padros) and also a coiled ribbon pattern similar to Cadent with a lotus in the middle, found on Plate X (Egyptian) of the Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones, 1865. Ancient Egyptian ornament was mostly very geometric; flowing lines like this were very rare. Tangled with inktense and pitt artist brush pens.