FuchsiaDrawing a Fuchsia in Coloured Pencil -- Michael Spillane

Botanical Illustration Lesson Plan

Finished drawing in coloured pencil -- 17 x 11 inches

Fuchsia reference photoI used a similar reference photo as the one shown above to produce the fuchsia drawing.

PapersAlthough for this project I used Arches 240 lb Hot Press watercolour paper (an excel-lent surface for working with coloured pencil), there are many equally good artist quality papers on the market to choose from. For botanical subjects that require a very smooth surface, Fabriano Classico 5 Hot Press (140 lb) watercolour paper is very popular with botanical artists. Winsor & Newton’s Hot Press 140 lb Watercolour Paper and Stonehenge white paper selections are also good choices.

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Materials

Graphite pencils: 2H & H •Selection of blending stumps and soft makeup brush•Kneaded eraser•Electric eraser (optional, but good to have on hand)•Mono Zero (Tombow) 2.3 mm round tip eraser •available from Above Ground Art Supplies

in Toronto or order on line.Workablefixative•Q-tip cotton swabs•

Prismacolor Pencils:Lilac 956 French Grey 20% & 50%Crimson Lake 925 Olive Green 911Scarlet Lake 923 Apple Green 912Carmine Red Warm Grey 50%Dark Green 908 Canary Yellow 916Magenta 930 Colourless BlenderWhite Sepia 948 Violet 932 True Blue 903Poppy Red 922 Caran d’ Ache WhiteImperial Violet 1007

Underlying Geometry (left)Before starting the drawing of the fuchsia (or any other botanical subjectforthatmatter),firstestablishthesimpleunderlyinggeometryof the subject. Draw in the vertical centre line to begin with and then sketch in the obvious simple shapes that you see (such as ovals, circles, triangles, cubes etc.), that represent the different parts of the plant. This is an effective way to think about the drawing process and to get down the basic form of the subject.

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Step 1 (above)Prepare a detailed line drawing of the fuchsia as shown. I used a few different reference photos to comeupwiththefinalfuchsiaflower.Whenyouhave completed the sketch, erase all the unwanted lines to leave a clear accurate contour drawing ready to be transferred onto the watercolour paper. (A line drawing is provided at the end of the project for transfer purposes.)

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Step 3 (right)Upper Red PetalsLeave a lot of the white showing through at this stage in the layering process.1) Apply a base of lilac (956) over the graphite and blend softly with a pointed blending stump.2) Add Crimson Lake (925), then Scarlet Lake (923) and burnish with a white pencil.3) Add Carmine Red over the previous tones and again burnish with the white pencil.4) Add Dark green (908) to the deepest shadow tones and blend with a pointed stump (do not burnish with white in the shadows).5) Apply Scarlet Red, Carmine Red and Magenta and burnish with white. For detailing veins and subtle tonal shifts, use a sharp point and a variety of the red pencils used above.

Step 2 (left)The graphite undertone drawing on the left was established with careful blending using 2H and H pencils, blending stumps and a kneaded eraser. This provides me with a solid foundation to build colour on and establishes a good value scale from dark to light.

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Step 3 (below)Stem and flower pod 1) Layer Crimson Lake and French Grey (20%) and blend with colourless blender.Repeat the process then add Dark Green and blend.2) Layer a 50% Warm Grey over the graphite areas of theflowerpodandblend.3) Layer Apple Green and Olive Green and burnish with Warm Grey. Repeat adding the greens. Use Olive Green for shadows and detail.4) Add Crimson Lake to the shadows and burnish with Olive Green.

Detail

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Step 4 (right)LeavesLeave a lot of the white show through asbefore.

1) Apply a base of Crimson Lake, then French Grey 20% over the veins and shadows; blend with colourless blender.2) Layer Apple Green over most of the leaf, then Olive Green over darker areas, burnish with white, especially in the lighter areas.3) Apply Canary Yellow to the highlight areas of the leaf, then Apple Green and Olive Green in the darker areas.4) Add Dark green (908) to the shadow tones and blend with a pointed stump (do not burnish with white in the shadows).5) Repeat the above process, blending andburnishing as you go.

See Step 4 -- Leaf Detail

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DetailA detail of the petals showing the burnishing effect achieved by applying heavy pressure with a white (or lighter colour) pencil to break down the surface layers (and tooth of the paper), The drawing is thenlightlyfixedwithwork-ablefixativeandanotherlayerthen applied to the surface. This process creates vibrant colour shifts of the various pinks and reds to produce a "painted" effect to the drawing.

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Step 4 (left) Leaf Detail

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Step 5 (right)Stamens & Leaf Stem1) Apply French Grey 50%, then Crimson Lake and burnish with white.Leaf stem only: Add Sepia (948) and blend.

Lower Violet Petals1) Apply a layer of Lilac (956), blend with white and add thin red veins with Scarlet and Crimson lake; blend once more.2) Apply Violet (932) then True Blue ((903),burnish with white; apply Lilac again and blend.

Step 1Violet Petals

Step 2Violet Petals

Steps 1 & 2

Steps 3 to 5

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6Step 6 (left) Finish the petals and leaves to completethefirstlayer.

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Step 7 (below) Second Layer(Lightly spray the drawing with workablefixativebeforestartingsecondlayer)Upper Red Petals1) Apply Poppy Red (922), then Scarlet Lake and burnish with white.2) Apply Crimson Lake; again burnish with white.3) Add Dark Green into the shadow areas and blend with Crimson Lake. Repeat the above, vary-ingthevaluesandfinedetaillines(veinsetc.).4)Addveryfinedetaillinesandhighlightswithasharp pointed Caran d’ Ache white pencil.

Step 7 (right)Stem and Flower Pod1) Darken with Crimson Lake, French Grey (50%) and Dark Green, then blend.

2) Apply Apple Green and Olive Green and burnish with Warm Grey. Use Olive Green for shadows and detail, along with Crimson Lake and Dark Green.

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Step 7 (above)Lower Violet Petals1) Apply another layer of Violet and burnish with white.2) For darker tones and petal veins etc. use Imperial Violet (1007).3) For shadows carefully apply Canary Yellow (916) then Imperial Violet and blend with a blending stump.4) For darkest shadows add a little dark green and burnish with Imperial Violet

Step 8 (above)1)Lightlyspraythedrawingwithworkablefixativebeforestartingthethirdandfinallayer.2) Continue with the same colour mixes as before to deepen the tones, brighten highlights and darkentheshadows.Addfinaldetaillinesandhighlightsandspraywithfixativeonelasttimetocompletetheproject.

Third Layer

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