Scribd
Upload
21 views4 pages

POBD 2017 Lesson6

Uploaded by

kentruantw
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
21 views4 pages

POBD 2017 Lesson6

Uploaded by

kentruantw
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Understanding Roses

Lesson 6
Old botanical illustrations and chintz fabrics of cabbage roses can be quite enchanting due to the use of
dramatic light and shadow. Consider Googling them as reference for this lesson. Before beginning to draw
a rose, understand a bit about the structure and botany of this romantic plant. Look at drawing the rose as
a life long pursuit toward capturing the elegance. Remember to ‘smell the roses’ as you draw and study. This
lesson is an exploration of the rose structure.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROSE FAMILY


Genus: Rosa Family: Rosaceae
A rose is a woody perennial flowering plant. There are over a hundred species and
thousands of cultivars. They grow as erect shrubs, climbing or trailing plants.
Identifying Features– Multiples of Five: Sepals: 5; Petals: 5;
Stamen: Numerous; Leaves: typically oval with serrated edges.

FLOWERS Flowers vary in size and shape, typically large and showy in a wide
range of colors. In the Rose family, the petals are separate and the numerous
stamens are distinctive. Rose species hybridize easily, resulting in a wide range of
garden roses bred to have the desireable high number of petals.

Petals grow in a spiral arrangement


often visible when looking at the top of a
blossom.

LEAVES The leaf stems emerge from the main stem alternately. In most
species the individual leaves are 2”–6” long, pinnate (feather shaped),
with 5–9 leaflets that usually have a serrated margin and often a few small
prickles on the underside of the stem. The term for rose thorns is prickles –
outgrowths of the epidermis. Rose prickles are typically sickle-shaped hooks,
which aid the rose in climbing on other vegetation. Many of the newer
domestic cultivars
do not produce hips
because flowers are so
tightly petalled access for
pollination is impossible.

FRUIT The family includes many edible fruits, such as: apple,
strawberry, cherry, blackberry and rose hips (shown here).

27

© wendy hollender 2016


Drawing a Rose in Color
Lesson 6 part 1
Practice using dramatic lighting on a rosebud to emphasize and capture the overall urn-shape and rolling petals. Start by
considering the overall form and the way petals hug to the form and then how they peel away in shapes that can be rendered
as cylinders. Give close attention to the details of overlapping petals. One of the most delightful benefits of drawing a rose is
smelling the sweet aroma.
#167 Green Olive
#168 Earth Green Yellowish
#205 Cadmium Yellow Lemon
#175 Dark Sepia
#194 Red Violet
#125 Middle Purple Pink
#103 Ivory
Gray Verithin
Black Verithin
Step 1: Set up light source, draw thumbnail sketches to understand form, test color swatches. Think about the light on a
cylinder for the petals that roll and curve. Draw one individual petal to practice color and shape. Note: This rendering was
done with a light source from the upper right. This is used by left-handed artists. If you are right-handed, set up your light
from the left side. Refer back to Page 6 “Upper Left Light Source.”

Step 2: Draw the life-size Step 3: Begin toning


outline in graphite pencil. Tone overlapping areas with color and
the shapes. maintain highlights.

Step 4: Add saturated color and detail.


28 Step 5: Evaluate your drawing.

© wendy hollender 2016


Drawing a Rose in Color
Lesson 6 part 2

DRAWING A LARGE OPEN ROSE IN COLOR


Roses with many tightly-packed petals can be challenging to draw. Often
there are so many petals that drawing this subject can be dizzying. To start,
focus on the overall shape of the whole flower. Set up your subject to give a
good view of a rose blossom with lots of contrasting dark areas of shadow
versus areas highlighted by light source. The shiny leaves have a curvy
surface also creating contrasting lights and shadows.

English Rose
by RedoutÉ for
inspiration

29

© wendy hollender 2016


Drawing a Rose in Color
Lesson 6 part 2
Collect several roses so that some of them can be deconstructed for close examination of the various parts.

Step 1: Start with a petal or a few petals of varying


sizes from the inside and outside of the flower. Develop Step 2: Create concept drawings for
correct color and overall shape and note the irregular tonal variation with correct light source to
edges. get the overall feel.
If you decide to go further and tackle a whole rose, get ready to take days for this drawing. Sometimes this
becomes a difficult task as the rose keeps changing. Putting your rose in the refrigerator can help slow the
opening. To get an overall sense of the rose, do some loose concept sketches to check light source, and do a
few detailed petals. Take breaks as needed.

Step 3: Measure an entire rose flower Step 4: Do a layer of toning Step 5: Apply a layer of watercolor to
and outline it using graphite pencil. emphasizing the overlapping petals. If color the flower leaving the highlights
your flower is a pale color, start with as the white of the paper.
light toning to keep your colors fresh.

To create pleasing
contrast around a pale
flower, emphasize the
dark, shiny, serrated
leaves.

Step 6: Continue to layer color remembering to maintain strong contrast on Notice how the petals appear to
the light and dark areas. Add details and sharpen. be rolling and that there is an
overall cup shape to the flower.
30

© wendy hollender 2016

You might also like