Oh my dear patient followers. I have been up to my eyeballs in finals for about a month (don't give me that look, one of them at least was a REALLY big deal). Here is a multi-part reward for being so wonderful and still following me even though I'm neglectful: the step-by-step process of this botanical plate, which was one of my finals for my botanical illustration class. The captions describe what step is shown in each photo, but for those of you on mobile (which I don't think shows captions), here it is in list form. <3
- Finished pen and ink white pine cone with all my other specimens, when they were still fresh, laid out on the page so I could start thinking about how I wanted to arrange them. I could not have done this step if I hadn't decided to draw everything at actual size.
- My larch sprig with cone and illustration.
- The lacebark pine cone, sweet gum seed ball, and dawn redwood cone and my sketches of them.
- The coast redwood frond and cone, with illustration.
- The next two photos show the step where I trace the value study illustration using a blue-leaded pencil. In the next step (not pictured, sorry), I use this tracing and a piece of transfer paper to transfer the drawing onto the plate. I used blue lead in the last step so that, when I trace over it to make the transfer with a regular graphite pencil, I can easily see which parts I've already done.
- All my blue tracings, arranged (and rearranged, again and again) on the plate, trying to find the right spot for them.
- The very final final!
So much more to come! I'll try and spread it out so as not to overwhelm any innocent feeds.
<3