Bringing Florals to Life: Drawing Curves & Folds into Leaves & Petals

Welcome!

In this class, we are going to dive deep into a topic that many of us stumble over: drawing leaves and petals with curves and folds. In this class, I will take you step-by-step through the tips & tricks of the trade for creating realistic folds and curves into the leaves and petals of your florals. 

Adding curves to your leaves and petals brings your paintings and drawings to life by bringing depth, perspective, and movement to your artwork.  Taking a 3-dimensional flower and translating it onto a 2-dimensional space does not mean we need to lose the vitality of the real-deal floral. In fact, we can breathe life into our work not only with our own unique style and view of the world, but by bringing in touches of realism.  Flowers are beautiful, flowing subjects ~ let's make sure we bring that to the page too!

What to Expect from Class: 

In this class we will look at important aspects to consider when viewing a flower, and how to translate what you see onto the page.  I've broken the class into two sections: petals and leaves.  Each section is broken into smaller videos for one particular aspect that you need to really grasp to draw curves and folds into your florals in a way that adds to your painting, and doesn't detract from it. 

Class Topics:

- Draw what you see

- Drawing those pesky front petals (aka: foreshortening)

- Leaves! What to follow to draw leaves that make sense

Patience is key. These are hard! This is a skill that will take time (and you will always be practicing!). Don't be discouraged.  The goal of this class is to give you the tools you need to view and observe your floral subject, so you can go forth and practice (and practice and practice). 

As always, be sure to leave a review & upload your class projects! This helps me as a teacher here on Skillshare, and it also benefits YOU the student - I will provide real-time feedback to your projects, and am always happy to answer specific questions! 

Before taking class

Be sure you download the PDFs for the class. These are located in the Projects & Resources section of your class.  

Here you will find: 

- A PDF image of the leaves you will draw for your class project (and that we use in class)

- A PDF with close-up images of the leaves & lily we draw together in class for more accessible viewing

- A PDF with images of my class project (the leaves in both graphite only and also with watercolor). You can use these to help you with your lines if you get stuck.

Materials Needed

All you need to utilize this class is a pencil, eraser, and paper! That's it. If you want to add color to your final class project, you can use whichever medium you prefer! 

How to Succeed in Class

The best way to succeed in class is to practice! Here are some tips to get the most out of this class: 

Struggling with how to draw florals? Be sure you take my Learn to Draw Flowers course.

Wanting to understand lines and shading? My Shading 101 class will help you build confidence.

Wanting to add watercolor to your class project? Learn how to Control Water & Color for a vibrant effect.

You can always reach out to me on Instagram @poppyandgrayco, ask questions in our Class Projects section of our class here, and be sure to tag me @poppyandgrayco on IG if you post anything from class!

• Intro/Trailer
• Materials
• Flowers: Draw What You See
• Flowers: Widening Petals
• Flowers: Shortening Petals
• Flowers: 2-Sided Petals
• Flowers: Foreshortening Walk-Thru
• Leaves: Subtle Tilting
• Leaves: Following the Mid-Vein
• Leaves: Where I Went Wrong
• Class Project
• Final Thoughts