Sunflower in Navy Blue and Yellow

I recently posted pics of this 5"x7" colored pencil drawing on Instagram - and added it to my Etsy site - so you might have seen some of these already. But I wanted to give the opportunity to see more images and hear about the process for those who are interested.

"Sunflower in Navy Blue & Yellow" - 5"x7" Colored Pencil Drawing by Andrea Arbit
(8"x10" white Crescent mat included)

"Sunflower in Navy Blue & Yellow" is available for purchase through my Etsy shop for $39.

I used Strathmore toned tan paper and Prismacolor colored pencils to create this drawing (as I do for most of my colored pencil drawings).

The source material was a personal photograph taken of a mixed sunflower bouquet with yellow and red sunflowers. (I switched out the red color for blue to emphasize the cool shadows on the light petals.)

I chose a limited color palette of only 3 colors - white, navy blue, and yellow. As you can see, my white colored pencil was getting very short, so for this drawing I used a fancy "pencil lengthener" to hold the little stub in place so that I could use the last shavings of white available.

Step One

I often go color by color for these types of drawings, doing all the white for the whole drawing, and then a layer of blue, etc. - but this time, because the shading of the flower and the (very) limited number of colors I was using, I just did them all at once.

Because I'm a righty (and because I decided to center the sunflower image on the right side of the drawing), I started in the upper left corner - so that as I worked my way to the right I wouldn't smear my hand against the parts I'd already done.

Step Two

Step Three

Step Four

Step Five

Step Six - Finished!

Here are some detail shots of the process:

Finally, here is the finished drawing, with the 8"x10" white Crescent mat attached -

And some details of the final product -

Don't forget - this drawing is available for purchase on Etsy!