When you are working on the initial stages of a watercolor and Ink floral you might be wondering where to actually put your ink.
Well there is a bunch of things the ink lines help us with so let’s have a look at those.
Creating shape and shadow
First of all we use the fineliner to show the shape of the flower. It might sound obvious but it’s not really. Because the shape doesnt just mean the outline of the petal. It also means the 3 dimensional shape with all it’s curves and bends. Here our Fineliner can help. When you draw a curved line it will instantly change the shape of your flower. Also if you add a thicker line or may thin lines close to eachother they will give an impression of shadow.
Texture
Often flowers have a lot of texture. Like this stunning Anemone. The inklines can be used to show that texture in a way that the watercolor wash couldnt do. Just make sure you vary your strokes so they are both thick and thin and keeps them sketchy. I promise it will be beautiful.
Stunning and interesting outlines
The final thing that the fineliner does really well is help us create a beautiful outline. I know I just said that we dont want to outline everything. And I stand by that! But check out the edge of this Tulip. Its beautiful and ragged and would be extremely hard to do in watercolor. That’s where our fineliner comes to the rescue once more. Use the ink on the outline with a soft hand, make sure to break up your lines and keep the line both thick and thin. Then you will have a beautiful edge in no time.
The final advice
When you add your ink to your petals make sure to either go from the centre and out or from the edge of the petal and towards the center. Dont start in the middle with nowhere to go. And also (and this is important!) make sure you trust yourself when you do your outlines. Fineliner is unforgiving because it cant be erased. So practise practice practice and and then trust yourself and your own hand.
And if you didnt know I have a few classes on flowers in watercolor and ink. You can find those here:
5 Flowers in watercolor and Ink
Flowers in watercolor and Ink
And btw I just made a small video for Youtube so you can see the drawings realtime. You can find that here(Make sure to subscribe if you want more videos)
