Poppies and Lupines: how I create…

Here are the steps I took to create a colored drawing of lupines and poppies. You can use this image to inspire your own sketch or find an image of the particular object that came to mind when you journaled. Do a simple sketch in your journal or take it further and add color.

Step One: Do a light pencil sketch of the outer shapes you are including in your sketch. Simplify at first like how the lupines are triangles at first, and then add a little detail just to make sure your first shapes are the right size.

Step Two: Using a 0.3 felt tip, permanent ink pen, outline the shapes of the object that is closest to you (in the foreground) and highest on the page. Rely upon your contour skills to follow along the edges but stay within your pencil outline.

Step Three: Add more shapes to the image with an ink pen. I love the leaves of the lupines just as much as the flowers. I grabbed some of the leaves from the photo and added them wherever I thought it needed it. Don’t forget to overlap some of these leaves with other leaves.

Step Four: Look for interesting elements in your photo. Poppies close up every night. There is an interesting little pod that develops after they have been spent. I really wanted to add one of those to my sketch.

Step Five: Keep adding leaves and other interesting shapes. Try making one of the leaves a slightly different symbol just to add variety to your sketch.

Step Six: The Lupines look daunting but just start and the top and work your way down. Follow the contour edge of each shape and see where it takes you. If you notice, my sketched lupine only has about half of the flowery elements but because I followed the contour shape of the flowers, it looks accurate.

Step Seven: Add another poppy behind the first poppy. Overlapping is such an important tool to show depth in a sketch. Overlap and slightly simplify the poppy behind. Again, I just grabbed a poppy from the photograph that I likes for this purpose.

Step Eight: Finish off the sketch with another leaf or two to balance out the composition. I thought of this composition as symmetrical so I thought I needed another small leaf on the left.

Step Nine: You can finish this image off without using color to contrast, but use line weight instead. Use a 0.5 felt tip pen to widen the edge lines of the flower that is in the foreground. Pick a few leaves to do the same. Don’t overdo this! Do about a third of the drawing with darker lines so they contrast with the thinner line shapes.

Step Ten: If you have done this sketch in your Creativity Journal that accompanies my journaling, you will need a dry media to add color. Prismacolor colored pencils are awesome for this.

Step Eleven: Prismacolor pencils are a slow controlled medium which makes them great to use when you're unsure of how your color should look when finished. Start with the lightest color that you see in the color from your photograph. With the poppies, there is a beautiful golden undertone, so I color the yellow in first, especially along the edges.

Step Twelve: Build the colors slowly moving towards the darkest color in the objects and then blend that color with the lightest color. I used the yellow on the top of the poppies, pressing firmly to mix the orange the Sienna colors I used to make the dark shadow colors.

Step Thirteen: Build the colors slowly on the lupines as well, using a light blue for the undertone of the lupines.

Step Fourteen: Add light and dark purple to your lupines and then add a yellow to the edges of your lupine leaves! Voila! You did it!!

Buy my Creativity Journal on Amazon and fill your book with all ten projects! There is space for journaling, ideation and to create the final project. The QR code in the book links you to the journal so you can take it with you and be creative anywhere you go. You just need a pen, curiosity and joyful effort!!