BOOtanical Sketches

BOOTANICAL SKETCHES

Walk around the Alaska Botanical Garden or your neighborhood and choose a monster, scarecrow or some other display you see that you would like to draw. Or use the photos provided to draw at home. Materials: Colored Pencil, Paper

1. Use a viewfinder or your thumb and forefinger held up in front of you to make a little frame around what you see. Move your “frame” around to try and choose what you want to draw. Or if you work from a photograph pick and choose what parts of the photo to include in your drawing, and or exaggerate.

2. Draw the outline of your monster. To draw the outline, imagine there is a string laying on the outside edge of your monster, draw where you would see that string line.

3. Simplify what you see by just looking for overall shapes.

4. Next draw the inside lines and shapes of your monster.

5. Look for light and dark areas in your monster or scarecrow. Squint your eyes if you need help seeing the light and dark areas better.

6. Use colored pencils to color in your line drawings. For darker areas use more pressure when applying the colored pencil. For lighter areas use less pressure when applying the colored pencil.

7. You can also use darker colors like blue, green or even dark red for shadows.

8. Layering colors will allow you to mix new colors. Red and yellow layered will make orange, red and blue layered will make purple, yellow and blue layered will make green. Layering opposites like red and green, blue and orange, yellow and purple will make browns and grey out your colors.

9. Adding a white layer will lighten your colors, adding a black layer will darken your colors.

10. Add details to your drawing like texture, variety, and or repeat shapes to add movement. 11. Consider adding a background of sky, plants, trees, or garden trellis or fencing to your picture. Try to match the colors you see or invent colors to create a sense of mood.