INTRO

Hi and Welcome to my first Clip Studio Tutorial!

My name is Arija and I'm here to teach you how to draw flowers with depth and how flowers can actually help the mood you want to achieve in your artworks.

 

You can either watch my video tutorial to see how I personally do my artwork or read my tutorial below!

Youtube Video

1. Simplifying The Flower's Form

Familiarizing yourself with the form of the flower of your choice is the first step to drawing a flower with depth. You need to have an idea of the 3-dimensional form of the flower and take its simplest form to use as the base.

 

Here I have taken a Cosmo flower's simplest form:

Rose's simplest 3D form:

Tulip's simplest 3D form:

Sunflower's simplest 3D form:

1.2 Utilizing Base Form In Different Angles And Perspective

Our base forms will serve as our guide for the structure of the flower. With this simple shape, it will be easier for us to visualize the structure of the flowers at any angle relative to its perspective.

Cosmo Flower:

Rose Flower:

Tulips:

Sunflower:

2. Petals And Their Folds

Now that we have our base, it's time we add the petals for our flowers.

Each flower has a unique petal from shape, size, firmness, softness, and amount in numbers. Look back on your reference image of the flower and study its appearance and how it folds on the flower.

Here are examples of 2 simple shaped petals and to help you visualize how petals look like with the folds.

Most folds I add to petals that are closer to the viewer to imply foreshortening and the petals that have a profile view (by profile view, it means the side view or something which can be observed partially or from a side).

2.1 Adding The Petals To Our Base Form

Cosmo Flower:

For the Cosmo Flower, our petals will follow along the form that we have made previously. Imagine a paper going along the insides of a bowl-like figure.

Petals along the side that is closer to the viewer are curled to show the back side of the petal.

 

This is a way to emphasize a "Perspective Foreshortening".

(Foreshortening is the visual effect or optical illusion that causes an object or distance to appear shorter than it actually is because it is angled toward the viewer. Additionally, an object is often not scaled evenly: a circle often appears as an ellipse and a square can appear as a trapezoid.)

Rose Flower:

Tulip Flower:

Sunflower:

3. Flowers And How They Add Spice To Your Artwork

Mood in art is the overall atmosphere of the piece or the sense of emotion that it brings to the viewer. The mood of an artwork can vary in many things and can be influenced by the tones and the colors that you use in your art piece.

[The following art samples below are all my original work]

Energetic and Happy

Chaotic and Evil

Calm and Tranquil

3.1 Flower Artwork Sample #1

Flower of choice: Japanese Chrysanthemums

For this artwork, I am going for a scary mood that portrays death and impending doom.

As you can see, I have used dark and dull tones and a pop of color red to help me achieve this mood.

 

I have chosen to add this flower since it is widely used in Japan because of its auspicious meaning.

I did not necessarily choose this flower for it's meaning, but I wanted to add one more Japanese element into the piece since the subject is already wearing a kimono.

 

3.1.1 The meaning of the flower isn't always necessary

In some cases, the meaning of the flower you have chosen to add into your artwork will not necessarily affect the overall mood that you want. What is important is how you portray them in your scenes VISUALLY.

Let's take Flower Artwork Sample #1 as an example.

 

Red Chrysanthemum flowers in Japan are usually given as gifts to people who are loved and respected.

However, I have chosen to use the color RED for my Chrysanthemum since this color can also be associated with feelings of anger, power and danger.

3.2 Flower Artwork Sample #2

Flower of choice: Sunflower

For this second artwork, I am going for a more cheerful and happy mood.

I am using light, warm tones and vibrant colors to achieve this. Since the sunflower always has this warm colors and is usually the flower of the summer, it is perfect for the mood.

However, if you want a quick flower fix to your artwork you can actually paint over existing or your own flower images.

It is important to understand the basic structure of the flower to be able to have the knowledge where to add your shadings, highlights, petal folds and many more.

 

You can check out my video tutorial how I paint over a sunflower image, using only built-in brushes in your Clip Studio paint.

OUTRO

So there you go! Hope you have learned something in my flower tutorial and draw flowers with depth without reference images and have the artistic freedom to add them in your artwork.

 

Thank you so much and have a flowery day! C:

Happy to help, Arija.