"Fame" Colored Pencil Drawing

This 8"x10" colored pencil drawing on red paper is a continuation of my flower attributes series, where I draw a flower and give the drawing the title of the flower's symbolism. This one is of trumpet flowers, and is called "Fame."

I started with a light sketch of the flowers to stake out where I wanted them to sit on the page.

Then I started working on the leaves. Often I do these drawings the other way around (flowers, then foliage), but because these flowers are red on red paper, I thought it would be easier to do the high-contrast greenery first, so I knew exactly how light or dark to make my flowers in comparison.

I went around the trumpet flowers and, using a few different green colored pencils, gave the background leaves some depth and dimension.

Once the leaves were finished, I started adding depth and dimension and detail to the flowers. I used white and yellow pencils for highlights, black and dark purple for shadows, and pink and red pencils to blend them all together. The red colored pencil I used was almost exactly the same color as the red paper.

Here is the finished drawing:

I love how the red flowers look against the green leaves against the red paper! Red and green are complements on the color wheel, so they always work together.

"Class Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Progress 7

This colored pencil drawing uses flower symbolism to represent the entire spectrum of social class from poverty to wealth and everything in between.

To read about capitalism and the growing disparity between the lower and upper classes, visit this blog post.

To read about the symbolism of each flower used in this bouquet, visit this blog post.

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It's time to finish up this colored pencil drawing! Today's blog post will focus on the step-by-step process of completing the last six plants.

For these white angrec flowers, I used seven colored pencils - black, blue, two shades of green, yellow-green, cream, and white.

Though not a flower per se, lettuce is considered part of the "language of flowers" and has symbolism attributed to it ("never give up"). For this small bunch of lettuce, I used the colors black, blue, three shades of green, yellow-green, and white.

For the thyme flowers, I used red-violet, light purple, blue, green, light green, and white colored pencils.

These orange trumpet flowers were colored in with white, peach, magenta, red, and orange - with yellow-green used for the viney leaves and stems.

These edelweiss were finished with white, yellow-green, light green, medium green, dark green, medium blue, and black pencils.

Only one flower left! For these bright poppies, I used two shades of green, white, cream, three shades of red, and black.

I also added some color and dimension to the vase, to give it the appearance of glass. Check back in a couple days to see the final blog post - pictures of the entire finished "Class Bouquet" drawing!

"Class Bouquet (Stronger Together)" - In Progress 3

This colored pencil drawing uses flower symbolism to represent the entire spectrum of social class from poverty to wealth and everything in between.

To read about capitalism and the growing disparity between the lower and upper classes, visit this blog post.

To read about the symbolism of each flower used in this bouquet, visit this blog post.

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Earlier this week, I posted "in progress" photos of the first twelve flowers being lightly sketched onto black paper. Today, I'll be finishing up the sketch with the last twelve flowers. Once the whole bouquet is sketched in, I'll be able to move on to adding in more layers of color, dimension, and detail, and putting the other final touches on the drawing.

Here is the sketch of the purple lupine stalks:

Next to that, I added in a few yellow sunflowers:

Off to the left side, next to the hibiscus I'd already drawn, I added in some bells of Ireland.

Filling out the top of the bouquet is this red/pink hollyhock plant:

At this point, I went back to the bottom of the drawing and starting sketching up from where the vase would go in. Here is the green lettuce, which will be just peeking out over the lip of the vase:

On the right side of the vase is a group of red poppies:

Next I added in some purple thyme:

And some orange trumpet flowers:

A stretch of white evergreen clematis flowers was sketched in next:

Followed by a symmetrical stripe of pink orchids on the right side of the bouquet:

There are only two plants left to sketch in. These edelweiss flowers on the right side:

And white angrec on the left side:

Here is the drawing so far, with the first step sketch complete (other than the vase, which is still only a graphite outline):

The next step is start going through and adding more color, building up layers of colored pencil pigment until I get the saturated, bright colors I want.