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Art For Sale - Saint Michael Miniature Pen and Ink Drawings
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Marians Of The Immaculate Conception
Stippling An Opuntia
A work in progress
Image size: 10 inches x 9-3/4 inches (image size)
(Please be patient while images load)
| Crescent Hi-Line 218 hot press illustration board |
| Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pens, stainless steel nibs |
| Hunt Crowquill nib |
| Rotring Artist Color Acrylic and FW Acrylic inks |
Pens/Colors currently in use on the Plant portions of this drawing - colors are shown on a standard index card.
(Colors/Pen nibs used for flower can be seen on the page for the Flower)
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Nib size |
Color |
Sample |
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2 x 0 |
FW Process Yellow |
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3 x 0, 4 x 0 |
laeom Ink Mix "Geranium Green" |
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4 x 0 |
FW Light Green |
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3 x 0 |
Rotring Artist Color Raw Yellow Ochre diluted by half with distilled water |
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6 x 0 |
Rotring Artist Color Process Magenta diluted by 1/3 with distilled water |
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| 6 x 0, 3 x 0 | FW Olive Green diluted by 1/3 with distilled water |  |
| 4 x 0 | FW Sap Green |  |
| 3 x 0 | FW Flesh Tint |  |
| 4 x 0 | FW Olive Green and FW Process Yellow mixed in equal parts |  |
| Hunt crowquill nib | Artist Color Raw Sienna |  |
*Rotring Artist Color is no longer made - click here for more information on them. FW inks are an excellent replacement ink line.
The flower of this drawing was completed as another work-in-progress, click here to view that page. Now I am completing the rest of the plant in the drawing by stippling in colored inks.
Stage 1
This was a scan with the plant started, using FW Process Yellow to stipple the first layer.
Below is the drawing with the initial yellow layer complete. To get to this point took about 5 and a half hours. From here, I had gone on to complete the flower, which took several hours.
Below is the drawing at 29 and a half hours, including the hours spent on the flower. I am using FW inks in the colors of Process Yellow and Light Green. I am also using an ink I mixed myself that I call Geranium Green. Yellow Ochre and Process Yellow was used on the base of the plant.
Below is a detail of the drawing at 30 and a half hours. As I started working on this drawing again, I at first used a 3 x 0 nib size with Geranium Green ink in it, and the difference in point sizes can be seen in the photo below, better in the second photo. This demonstrates how either a subtle change in ink color or point size can greatly affect the drawing. In this case, this area will be gone over with more layers, enabling a blending, however, the more even all layers are, the better for the finished drawing. This is of course, unless a certain tonal variation is desired and done on purpose.
Below is a scan of the drawing at 36 and a half hours. Since the scan shown above, I have switched to a 4 x 0 nib and am using FW "Light Green" ink. This shows the delicacy available with small nib sizes. It takes more time to use small nibs and light colors when layering, but the depth of color this achieves in a finished drawing is well worth it to me. This would be similar to doing very light transparent washes if working in watercolor. The "advantages" (for me) in using pen and ink instead of watercolor washes when depicting plants, is what I feel is more control over the amount of white allowed to remain, and the permanence of acrylic inks. Also, Opuntias (and other plants) are made up of semi-transparent cell walls. Although when one is looking at a plant, they usually see the "flat" color of the plant, if you look very closely, you can see that it is really a million layers (or so) of semi-transparent cell walls that make up the overall color. Perhaps I see that more readily as a horticulturist, but as an artist, I try to look at any subject and see how many different colors make up the main color appearance. Another example of this would be that when one is looking at snow, there is actually very little true white - there are usually purples, blues, greys, greens and yellows that surround and shape any true white areas. When painting or drawing snow, one actually uses all the other colors to define it. It is somewhat the same with layered stippling - one uses many colors or multiple hues of one color to define the tonal values and final color of the subject. (Pointillism would be placing dots of different colors near each other to distinctly allow the eye to visually blend the colors, and that is different from layered stippling, although some pointillistic effects happen with layered stippling).
I will continue working with this nib and color until the entire plant has one layer of this color.
Below is a scan of the drawing with the initial layer of light green over all parts of the plant. In some areas, I will go over it again, but my next step really will be to start going over all of the plant parts with a 3 x 0 nib and Geranium Green ink. One nice thing about Opuntias, or "pad" plants, the time-consuming veins are not present. However, as I continue with the drawing, I will be placing areas that depict dappling of colors in the pads and details such as ripples and puckers in the pads' surfaces.
At 40 and a half hours (horizontal pale stripes are from the scanner and are not on the drawing.)
Below are two photos of the drawing at 41 hours. These are not scans, and the digital camera doesn't pick up as much detail. However, I am posting these photos to show how I am starting to think of shadowing, even though I am still doing more or less even layers of color. I have not yet started to work with a 3 x 0 nib, but instead am going over all the pads with the 4 x 0 nib and the ink Light Green again. In the photos you will see that as I do that, I am now working in sections, so that when I do move to the next color or nib size, the areas I plan to have shadows will already be in place.
The shadow areas are best seen over on the right side of the drawing. I really like the "fineness" that the 4 x 0 nib allows, and in the next stage I may use a 4 x 0 instead of a 3 x 0 and simply switch to the slightly darker Geranium Green ink. The camera makes the drawing look slightly more yellow than it is - the scans above are more accurate for color.
Below is the drawing at 50 hours. I have finished stippling a layer of Light Green ink over all of the pads. Prior to doing that to some areas, I had placed a layer of Geranium Green that will be shadows. The detail scan (below the first scan) shows how the layers look close up. Before I continue darkening the pads with more Geranium Green, I will use some diluted Magenta in the shadows. This will better define the shadows from the rest of the pads.
Something to note: plants are usually depicted with an "imaginary" light source that would be to the left of the subject, and it is for this reason that the shadows are to the right of whatever is casting the shadow. These types of shadows give some form and depth to the plant, making it look more realistic. Generally, such shadowing and details are not refined to the point that the subject looks fully three dimensional in this type of illustration, but they are refined enough to "model" the plant correctly. Botanical illustration is geared toward rendering the plant in such a way that a specimen can be accurately identified or compared to other plants for plant details. One example in this drawing will be the glochids, the tiny spines that will be in small clusters. On my O. humifusa plants, the glochids are reddish yellow, but cacti, and Opuntia in particular, have many variations. It is more important in this instance to have an accurate depiction of the glochids than it is to have the plant shadowed in such a way that it looks like a fine art painting. Of course, the goal is really to have a balance between accuracy and aesthetics, while maintaining the scientific (as opposed to creative) nature of the drawing.
At 50 hours
At 50 hours, detail
Process Magenta ink is a very vibrant color and alone, it would be too vibrant to place in the shadows at this time. So, I am diluting it with distilled water by about 1/3 (1/3 water to 2/3 ink) and using a very small nib. I don't want a viewer to look at the finished drawing and immediately see Magenta in the shadows, although through this stage that may be the case. I am using the Magenta as a complimentary (opposite on a color wheel) shade to the green and this adds a depth and realism to the shadows.
Below are two scans - the scan on the left has the shadow areas with Geranium Green, but no Magenta, and the scan on the right shows the Magenta added. The shadows look more realistic with the Magenta. The Magenta dots are not exactly evenly spaced, and this is because some areas of the shadows will end up darker than others.
Below are detail scans from above
Below is a scan of the drawing at 51 and a half hours. I have started putting in the layer of Geranium Green with a 4 x 0 nib. This will better define the pads. Opuntia pads have wrinkles because they shrink up over the winter or when there is little water available. In the summer, they generally plump up full again, but because the wrinkles are an identification key, they are included on these pads, although not as extensively as they would be if the plant were depicted as dormant for winter. The wrinkles are created by lines of dots and will be adjusted or added through to the finishing of the drawing.
In the scan below, you can see how I am working left to right, adding the layer of Geranium Green with a 4 x 0 nib. The image is more of a "bright" green than I want it at the finished state, but it is exactly the shade it needs to be now. Opuntia pads range in green from a yellow-ish green to a dark olive - I want a blue-green underlayer, but final layers will be added in FW Olive Green and FW Light Green, using 6 x 0 nibs. This will enable the finished drawing to have depth in the green areas. Also below you will note that on the center pad I am working the pad top to bottom in order to have the natural flow of my work the same direction as the growth of the pad.
Below is the drawing at 58 hours. I have gone over all of the pads with a layer of Geranium Green, as well as starting the wrinkles. Close up, the drawing is still showing the white of the paper, and although that's not a problem (and in some drawings, is desirable), in this drawing, I want the pads to look more solid and will be adding more layers. Before I move on to adding Olive Green to the pads, I will go over all of the pads again with a layer of Light Green. Light Green is the perfect color to use at this point - it is slightly more opaque than it is transparent, and as well as giving more solidity to the pads with adding to much tonal value, it will actually make the wrinkles look more like they belong where they are.
Below is a detail scan of the drawing at the same stage as above. I wanted to point out how what might appear to be a mistake while a drawing is being worked on, might actually just be part of the process or can be corrected as the process continues. In the scan below, on the pad furthest to the left, I had started to add the Light Green to the top of the pad. Then, for a reason I don't remember, I added some Process Yellow to one small area. The Process Yellow over the layers of green made the one small area look very "solid", and at this stage it would appear to be an error.
The area I am pointing out is just to the right of where the glochids will go in the center area of the scan above. This area, although more solid-looking than the rest of the drawing, does not have as many issues to fix as one might think. First, it will be surrounded by the additional layer of Light Green I will be adding. Second, after I add the glochids later on, I will be adding slight shadows to the right of each cluster of glochids, which is exactly where this one spot is. And third, I will also be darkening areas of the drawing with Olive Green, so this may actually end up looking like a lighter area in comparison to the rest of the plant. I'm pointing this out to demonstrate that with color stippling, even what seems to be an over-worked area can very often be blended back into the drawing as the areas around it are completed. Also, this is a good example of how Process Yellow, or any other yellow shade, even though light in color, will change the overall appearance of an area in more ways than just adding the yellow shade. The area just to the left of the arrow in the scan above has dots that are more blended, with each individual dot less visible. If I planned to have yellow as my next layer over the whole drawing, this would not even be an issue because the whole drawing would have this same appearance.
Below is a scan of the drawing at 65 hours after a layer of Light Green has been added to all of the pad parts. This has given the plant a slightly more "solid" look and brought cohesiveness to the plant. The next step is to develop certain areas using other greens and in a few areas, Magenta. These next steps will be enhancing the depth and detail of the drawing.
In the scan below, at 70 hours, the four pads on the far right have been stippled in some areas with a 6 x 0 nib and diluted FW Olive Green ink. Although the scan might not show it completely, these pads have more detail, but they also have a subtle shift in hue that the Olive Green brings closer to the truer color of the plant. In addition, I have used a 4 x 0 nib and FW Sap Green ink in some of the shadow areas. I knew the Sap Green would be the darkest green so far, and by starting in the shadows, if it had turned out to be too dark when used full strength, it would not be an error, just dark. Had I used it on the lighter areas of the pads first, it would more than likely have created an error that would have been difficult to fix.
Below is a scan of the drawing at 74 hours. I started having problems with three of my 6 x 0 nibs. This does sometimes happen to me when the humidity levels in the air fluctuate, as strange as that sounds. All three of my empty 6 x 0 nibs would work for a while and then quit, and as I had cleaned them in an ultrasonic cleaner, I know there's something else going on. My ink could be too thick, except I was using FW diluted Olive Green, which was a fairly thin ink. I wanted to keep working on the drawing, but didn't want to take extensive time to get the nibs flowing. So, I put the diluted Olive Green in a 3 x 0 nib and stippled the areas in the left of the drawing I wanted to use that color on. I knew this change of nibs would give me a different effect - the left side of the drawing was slightly lighter in hue, and the combination of a larger nib on a lighter area would give me more prominent dots in the diluted Olive Green. I plan on going over most of the pads again with a small 6 x 0 nib and a green that I haven't decided on yet. I find that as long as my uppermost layer is the smallest nib possible, the fineness of the smaller nib gives a finished effect to the drawing.
In the scan above, the slight difference in dot sizes is not really apparent, but it is more apparent in person. So, knowing I have to mix a final green color to use in a 6 x 0 nib on the pads, and wanting to take time to decide on the green, I decided to work on the lower dried portions of the pads. Below is a close-up of this area.
On the left, I have gone over my base layer of Yellow Ochre with a darker layer of Artist Color Raw Yellow Ochre, which is really a brown. I then used a layer of FW Flesh Tint to finish the area. Even though the bottoms of pads have viable roots growing from them, they often turn brown as they age and the epidermis becomes hardened and yet will peel in some areas in layers. This leaves different colors of yellow-brown on the lower areas of the pads. The right side shows how I have started adding these layers to that area. I used and am using a 3 x 0 nib for each of these layers.
Below is a scan of the drawing- finished at 89 hours. The brown areas of the pads were finished and then the roots were darkened slightly using the Raw Yellow Ochre. A Hunt crowquill nib and Artist Color Raw Sienna was used to darken some of the glochids on the brown areas of the pads. The rest of the glochids were done by first stippling with Process Yellow in a 2 x 0 nib, and then stippling with the Raw Yellow Ochre in a 3 x 0 nib, with some areas being lightened with FW Flesh Tint in a 3 x 0 nib. For a final green layer, I mixed FW Olive Green with FW Process yellow, and then because the color was fairly light, I decided to use a 4 x 0 nib to finish the drawing. You might notice the area on the left pad that had been mentioned above as a potential "error" - with the final shading it is barely noticeable.
Here is a photo of the entire drawing:
Thank you for viewing this!