Composing and Transferring the Final Graphite Drawing

When you reach the final tonal drawing stage of the graphite module there will be a number of challenges to overcome. The final drawing assignment will require you to pull together all of the skills learned previously in the course - most importantly the task introduces the composition into the mix, which can be the most daunting aspect. This post is about the final graphite drawing but it also relates to the process of creating any composition.

Final composition of Ludisia discolor, with multiple stems showing different stages of the plant and flowers enlarged x2 . The drawing is 29 x 44cm, on Stonehenge Aqua 300 gsm HP paper using Faber Castell 9000 pencils grades 6H to 8B

RESEARCH & PREPARATION

Look at other examples

There are numerous ways of illustrating a plant in order to show off its key features and this can be done a relatively simple or complex composition. First of all, I recommend looking at how other artists have interpreted the same or similar plants. the website: Plant Illustrations can provide some very good results of historic illustrations, the link takes you to a page for Helleborus niger as an example. Also, simple Google image searches will usually yield a number of results. Looking at how other artist present a plant shows the range of options and can help you to develop your own ideas. Some plants are more popular than others with illustrators so how much material you find will vary from plant to plant.

The Study Page and other preparatory work

All of the work that you have done up to this point will prepare you for the final tonal drawing, you have worked on measured line drawings of leaves and flowers with skeleton drawings that include several elements, as well as making a tonal strip, so that you understand which grades of pencil to use for each part of a drawing, and you should also have a good grasp on the tonal techniques for such a drawing.

Your work on the study page is the most important part of the process because it has enabled you to research and understand the plant that you want to illustrate by drawing the different parts of the plant and you should understand more about its growth habit.

The study page also gave you the opportunity practice with the tonal values and to explore light and shade across the plant.

Typical study page, measuring and drawing part sand working out tonal values and technique. Additional small sketchbook studies were also made of leaves and flowers in monochrome and colour. Make as many studies as possible, but don't spend so long on the studies if there is a risk that the plant might die.

Photographic Library

You should also have a good photographic library to help you, especially if your plant has changed or started to wilt. This shoiuldinclude a comination of full plant shots and images of details with close ups. Time is always of the essence and you will be working against the clock to complete the drawing whilst you still have some fresh plant material available.

If you have put sufficient work into your study page and reference material, the composition will be easier for you because you will already be familiar with the main features of your plant, conversely, if you haven't put enough work in you will find yourself struggling - but don't worry too much about it at this stage, whats most important is that you learn about the process of research.

A small selection of photographs taken of the plant parts. I used two potted plants to compose the final illustration, one with open flowers and the other with buds. Note that a white, grey or black background was used behind the plant for clarity.

COMPOSITION PLANNING

The first task is to arrange the subject on paper to create you own composition. This is arguably the most challenging part of the process because it involves multiple parts of a plant within a limited space. For any larger piece of work, it will take time and usually numerous revisions are needed.

There are several 'compositional rule's', such as, the rule of odds (e.g. odd numbers of stems and flowers etc.) and the rule of thirds (the positioning of key parts on the page ) but these 'rules' are merely guidance and there are compositions that work and compositions that don't work, it is best to be aware of rules but not to be overly constrained by them - you will probable find excellent examples that don't follow these rules. So, remember that guidance is helpful but is never written in stone.

If you find it hard to put several elements onto a page, you don't have to make an overly complex composition, you will study more on composition later in the watercolour module. It's relatively easy to make a drawing or painting of a simple subject, such as a single flower stem or other plant part but arranging several stems in plant drawing is more complicated process -because we need to consider, which parts to include in order to to show the key parts of the plant whilst making the composition aesthetically pleasing too. In the example shown iof the Jewel orchid, I could have just used the main flowering stem and flower enlargements but I chose to use several stems which is more difficult but there are several options as shown below.

From a simple stem, to multiple stems revealing more aspects of the plant, all are acceptable approaches

DECONSTRUCTING and REARRANGING

There is a popular misconception in botanical art that we should draw exactly what we see in front of us - but this isn't the case, yes, all of the parts have to be accurate in size and scale etc. but it's inevitable that we have to make adjustments and rearrangements to show the key parts of the plant, and avoid too much repetition and within the limited space on the page.

You may feel daunted by the complexity of the plant sitting before you and may not know where to begin. I find the best way of dealing with overlapping stems and parts is to make separate drawings of the flowering stems that I want to include. I make drawings of each part on tracing paper - as shown above, then play around with the arrangement, until I'm happy with it, when I have decided on the final arrangement I trace the whole drawing onto one sheet of tracing paper.

In the video below you can see how, I used the separate drawings of all of the component parts and moved them around to check positioning. It can be helpful to take photographs of different arrangments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajoxtQxlsB8

I'n the video, I've also included to methods of transferring the final drawing onto the watercolour paper - either by drawing onto the back of the tracing or using a light pad, which is the final part of the preparation for any drawing or painting. Its imperative that the paper remains clean from smudges and that the outline if very lightly drawn.

Once the drawing is transferred to the paper, the tonal work can commence. The study page be beneficail for this process but you will need to make sure that lighting is consistent across the whole drawing.