So now I had all the ‘stuff’ and I had done a few initial pencil sketches, I had coloured in lots of squares and read a few books. Now what? Well, dear reader, I copied a picture – shock, horror! Actually, it is not so bad, lots of artists copy/copied other artists, it’s a great way to learn, at least you know what you are trying to make it look like, which is a help. Back to my trusty ‘Colored Pencil Solution Book’ where I found helpful instructions on how to colour a day lily (Hemerocallis).
In the back of the book there was a line drawing to photocopy and I then used tracing paper to transfer it to drawing paper.
Interestingly, the dark values are applied first which was a surprise to me, and then gradually lighter and lighter colours are applied, until a final going over with the palest colour (leaving the highlights uncoloured).
It was interesting to follow instructions, and I learned loads. It is really important to look at the values and to establish the darks and lights against each other.