OK, let's start at the beginning...
Scribbler wrote: Wed Feb 28, 2024 10:37 am
You can see how I made it in 2020. First time I ever tried to shade. I can see progress, and I am happy about that (2024).
Now, I have fastened the seatbelts - and ready to hear your unfiltered view.
Well, putting them side by side... there is so much improvement.
BELA-lily2.jpg
In 2020, I think you were either copying the reference, or drawing without thinking about
what you were drawing. There's no logic, and not even a fixed direction for the lighting. Take the two right-hand petals... compared to 2024, other than recognising they have lighter central ribs, neither conform to the lighting nor have any meaningful three-dimensional shaping. There is a positive side, however, and that is you managed to avoid using any outline, which was excellent.
Now in 2024 you're drawing what you know as well as see. You know the petals are curved and that each one will be brightest where it's facing the light. Again, you've avoided outline, and where line was necessary it reads as the thickness of the petal.
In 2024, I'm certain you
understood what you were drawing.
I'm a firm believer in only working on one thing at a time, so I'd work one petal to completion and then move onto the next. You can see that here in
SHADE AND BLAND A LILY. In order to draw realistically, you need to have a good mental picture of the element you're working on. It should live in your mind as you work. You can only do that effectively if you picture and understand a single petal in three-dimensions, along with its texture and other properties, such as thickness or sheen.
That way, the shading almost takes care of itself. Instead of thinking "I'd better make this edge rounded" you simply find yourself shading around a rounded edge that already exists in your mind. The light and shade required to do that suddenly becomes quite logical.
Inevitably, you will initially be thinking about HOW to draw it and which TECHNIQUE to use. But they'll gradually become second nature to you. Eventually, you'll find yourself drawing without ever having to think about how to do it.
I would begin with the darkest tone (in the throat of the flower) and then proceed up that petal, but it's a huge and dominant one, so I'd be quite inclined to break it into two sections. I'd treat the dark base as one section and feather the end about halfway up. Then I think I'd concentrate on the 8 o'clock petal and complete it. That petal would set the secondary element tonal range, so now I could complete the big petal without it overpowering the smaller one behind. Incidentally, I would also have established a strong cast shadow on the lower petal, as you have done. That shadow serves to sharply define the edge of the big petal and enhances their separation. From there, I'd work on whichever petal next suggested itself - probably the 1 o'clock petal, and then the 12 o'clock one behind the two just drawn. There's no fixed plan - just go with whatever you feel you need to establish next in order to better understand what is required with the other petals.
Incidentally, I think you blended and very effectively. There's just enough line remaining to suggest texture, but there are no edges where areas of shading meet or overlap. That said, I must warn you about blending for the sake of blending. Often an unblended area will succeed better because of its fresh and sharp quality, so just blend wherever you feel an area would benefit from it.
Finally, your treatment of the anthers (the blobs on the stamens
) is excellent. They're dark and sharp-edged, and the light gaps in between add a lot of contrast. All those obvious hard-edges work wonderfully well to make your lily look much softer. And, of course, the soft lily adds punch to the sharp anthers. Well done.
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