stylised drawing

Two Seed Pod Posies

Angela Porter2 Comments

This morning I finished the posy to the right, and I thought it would be interesting to post both versions together.

The version on the right was actually drawn before the one on the left; it was the inspiration for yesterday’s drawing tutorial video on YouTube. I decided to add colour to it yesterday evening, and I added the subtle background pattern this morning.

I like both and would find it hard to pick one as a favourite. There are pros and cons to each for sure.

What do you think? Which do you prefer?

Whimsical, stylised Seed Pods #ComeDrawWithMe #DrawWithMe

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I love seed pods! They are often so architectural in nature. They lend themselves to whimsy and stylised drawings so well too.

I love giving them sturdy stems with tops that look like column capitals. The leaves on these are inspired by medieval illuminated manuscripts, something else I absolutely love!

For the panel behind them, I decided to keep the pattern fairly simple – Tripoli, a Zentangle tangle pattern.

If you’d like to draw your own seedpods, then take a look at the accompanying draw with me tutorial on YouTube.

Whimsical Flowers – Creating Variations

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Please click on the “Watch on YouTube” button to view in Youtube. Cheers!

Flowers are things I really enjoy drawing, particularly whimsical and stylised ones. So, today I drew a few for a drawing tutorial YouTube video.

“Thistle” – An Art Nouveau Inspired Drawing

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I’ve spent some time over the last day or two looking at Art Nouveau flower designs. I was particularly fascinated by a thistle design.

This is my interpretation of the design drawn with Copic Multiliner SP pens (0.1, 0.25 and 0.5) on paper. Then, after scanning the drawing, I added colour digitally using Clip Studio Paint. So, this counts as ‘tradigital’ art!

I chose a simple colour palette; I was inspired by William Morris, the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau. And, the colours are more mellow than is, perhaps, characteristic of my work.

The version on the left has just flat colours, no shade or highlight; I let the contour lines suggest volume. This is more true, I think, to the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau.

To the version on the right, I added some shadows and highlights, but subtly for me. And even though they are subtle, they have a distinct effect, which surprised me.

These show just two of the many coloured backgrounds I tried out. This is why I love adding colour digitally! It’s so easy to try out different colour combinations, methods of adding colour, and so on.

Which version do you prefer?

I like them both, but I think the one on the right is my favourite; I like the stronger background colour which allows the flower to ‘pop’. I also think the subtle shadows and highlights do add a little something to it too.

William Morris Inspired Botanica

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Click on this link to view the accompanying Draw With Me tutorial video on YouTube.

William Morris, one of the primary founders of the Arts and Crafts Movement, is one of my favourite artists. I love the ornate botanical and nature-inspired designs of quite stylised motifs. I also love the way that colour is used simply in them. That is definitely something I can learn from!

It can take a while for pennies to drop with me, and I don’t know how it has taken so long before I took a look at Morris’s work.

Like myself, Morris was inspired and influenced by Medieval manuscripts. That explains a lot!

I use some motifs from Morris’s designs in this drawing. I applied colour with chalk pastels to the pen drawings, with subtle white highlights from white charcoal. I’m quite happy with the result; I’ve not decided what to do about the background.

Where is this study going to take me? I don’t really know! But I know it’s going to be an interesting one. I’m particularly interested in how Morris used colour, and I hope that will make me comfortable with my own simple way of adding colour to my art.

Exploring Stylised Flower Motifs

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View the accompanying #DrawWithMe video on Youtube by clicking on this link.

This morning I wanted to do something fairly simple, soothing and relaxing. So, I chose to look at some variations of a stylised flower motif.

The version I started with is in the centre bottom of the design.

I used various Distress Watercolour Pencils and a water brush to add colour.

The white and gold highlights and patterns were added using gold and white acrylic ink and a dip pen.

Finally, the more intense shade was added using a graphite pencil and a paper stump. I even put some graphite around the gold foliage surrounding the design.

Overall, I’m quite happy with this one. I like the mostly monochrome blue/teal colour scheme on the grey tile. I wasn’t sure bout the gold patterns, but now it’s finished, I think It’s turned out just fine.

A Sunflower and Wheat Mandala

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I decided that I’d like to turn the sunflower and wheat elements of yesterday’s drawing into a mandala. And this is the result.

I’m fairly happy with it, though I think some parts lack contrast to really give them some visual volume. But it will do, for now. I like the hint of a suggestion of the whole mandala being sun-like. it also reminds me a little of hand-coloured etchings or prints. It would have looked more like a woodcut if I’d used heavier lines and more texture. These are things to try to remember and put into practice in my next mandala like this.

Sunflower and Wheat – Lammas 2022

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Click on this link to see the ‘draw with me’ video on YouTube that goes with this design.

Strictly speaking, Lammas, or Lughsanadh, was yesterday, but I was busy getting all the work for ‘Fanciful Birds’ finished. I know I have a break before my next colouring book contract, and my attention will be on a couple of projects I’ve already started.

Back to Lammas. Lammas comes from the Old English hlafmæsse, which translates as ‘loaf mass’. It was a mass where the first loaves baked from the first wheat harvest were consecrated in thanks for the harvest. This celebration probably reaches far back in time to the first farmers. Having a good harvest was important so that people, and livestock too, had enough to eat through the dark, cold, lean times of winter.

So, I included some ears of wheat in today’s drawing, along with a happy sunflower, which just goes with the start of August and the height of summer.

This drawing isn’t quite finished. Shadow is needed, and colour. I’m likely to do that digitally. I also may use this drawing as the basis for a mandala design as well. But not now. I need another big mug of tea before I tackle that!

Entangled Botanica, Part 3 – Inking all done!

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Click here to view today’s draw with me video on YouTube for part 3 of this design.

This morning, I finished all the pen drawing for this design. And filmed it for YouTube!

I’m fairly happy with this design because I felt myself breathing out and relaxing into it. I found myself smiling as I drew. And I felt creatively comforted as I returned to something that is so part of my arty heart – entangled, intricate, abstract, stylised botanical drawings.

Next step? Colour, shadow and/or highlight. But I’m not sure what media to use, or colours! So, I’ll need a bit of time away from this particular drawing to figure that one out!

Template Thursyay Colouring Page

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This week’s colouring page (or template) is a rambling one, full of clusters of botanical motifs. There is no right way up for this design, despite me having included my initials somewhere.

I’ve gone for fairly pastel colours for this design, but the possibilities for colour palettes are endless.

If you’d like to download and print the colouring page, you need to visit and join the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans Facebook group. It’s totally free to join and the template is free to download too.