ACEO Flower No. 18: Stage 7 and a Few of My Tools

Here the drawing is almost complete, just a little more at the bottom. Again, the background is done as a bokeh - seems like I'm getting addicted to it. I found that using a nylon brush with its bristles sort of dulled down from extensive use, like the second one in the picture below, produces rich darks making it perfect for creating bokeh.

From the top: a small, flat brush; dull #2 nylon brush; #4 Reeves brush; #2 Reeves brush; #000 Berkeley round brush and a #13 (I think - the number has faded out) Reeves mop brush

A couple of posts ago, I said I'll snap some pictures of my tools and share them with you here. Okay, here it goes: the one on the top is frequently used for general applications of graphite or charcoal, making it my main brush. The third, fourth and sixth are pony hair brushes which I use to lay initial layers of tones. The smallest one, I use to render small areas.

 

From the top: 8B Goldfaber Faber-Castell pencil; 8B Mars Lumograph Staedtler pencil ; 0.5 mm mechanical pencil loaded with 2B Faber- Castell lead; 0.5 mm mechanical pencil loaded with 2B Dong-A lead; Medium Faber-Castell charcoal pencil; empty felt-tipped color pen and two kinds of erasers, a kneaded eraser and stick eraser

I scrape the 8B Faber-Castell pencil to make the powder I use to apply to my drawings. In addition, I use powder from the Staedtler pencil to produce the darkest darks in graphite or charcoal drawings. Since it has very little glare compared to Faber-Castell's 8B, I also use it with charcoal to push the dark values even further. Two 0.5 mm 2B mechanical pencils loaded with the same grade of leads but different brands are for general detailing. Dong-A's 2B lead makes dark tones similar to a Faber-Castell 8B wooden pencil. Next is a medium charcoal pencil. I do the same with it, scraping it down to a fine powder. Most of the time I use a brush for blending, but for rendering edges or very small areas, I found blending with an empty felt-tipped pen works well. Finally, two kinds of erasers are in my drawing tools, a kneaded eraser which is quite handy to reach those edges or small areas that need highlights or erasing and a stick eraser in a dispenser which could be used to create larger and sharper streaks of highlights.

There you have it, these are basically all the tools I use for my drawings. Have a nice day!

ACEO Flower No. 18: Stage 6

Just a small update on the drawing: Worked some more on the same petals and using a kneaded eraser, create streaks of highlights on them. Some of the highlights and the lines of tones that were left between them suggest the veins on the petals. I'm about halfway done here.

ACEO Flower No. 18: Stage 5

I took a short pause on this piece to give my work table a much needed clean up. But back to the drawing, I started on the two petals applying initial layers of graphite powder. With an empty felt-tipped marker pen which I used as a blender, I trace along the outline of the petals lightly. This creates a shadowed line outside the petals that will add depth and sharpness to the flower.

ACEO Flower No. 18 - Stage 4

Here's the fourth installment. Started working on the three outer petals and added another drop of water. Again, a small mop and flat brush and a 0.5 mm 2B (Faber-Castell) mechanical pencil were used. The clutch pencils I use are just made of plastic making them really affordable, but nonetheless strong enough to withstand rough handling, that is including accidentally being dropped countless of times. Maybe one of these days I'll take some pictures of my tools and post them here.

ACEO Flower No. 18 - Stage 3

Not much progress on this update apart from the two water droplets. Before, I would usually shy away from drawing still life arrangements and flowers with dew or drops of water. I never thought they would be quite easy and fun to do.

ACEO Flower No. 18 - Stage 2

I'm in the second stage working on the inside petals with brushes and two 0.5 mm 2B (Faber-Castell and Dong-A) mechanical pencils. As you can see, I work on one or two petals at a time not all over the flower. I use a small mop brush to apply the initial layers of graphite tones. Then with a small, flat brush and the mechanical pencils, I applied the succeeding layers, smoothening them out as best I could. Using an 8B Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencil, a few strokes are applied to the shadows on the center petals.

ACEO Flower No. 18 - Work in Progress

I thought I'd share progress scans of the 18th entry into the ACEO flower drawing series. The 13th rose in the line up. I forgot to scan it in the outline stage, but anyway here is the first stage.

Since the time I've started drawing seriously, roughly about eight years ago, my sister, artist Faith and I have gathered quite a handful of artist's pencils in a
variety of grades and brands - from 6H, the hardest to 8B, the softest. Despite all these drawing instruments, I often times use only two 0.5 mm mechanical pencils
loaded with different brands of 2B leads (one creates darker tones similar to an 8B grade pencil), graphite powder shaved from soft pencils like Faber-Castell's 8B and a variety of brushes for blending and applying tones.

A favorite tool of mine is an empty marker pen which, other than to blend, I use to apply graphite or charcoal powder on the smallest areas or edges that needs to have darker tones, like in this drawing, the inside petals.

Old Tradition - Stage 6

I'm now near the home stretch - just have to finish the wood surface and a few finishing touches here and there and -- I'm done. I really enjoyed rendering the puddle and the reflection of the base of the teacup on it. I love how the drawing turned out!

Old Tradition - Stage 5

Started to work on the wooden surface. I had so much fun doing the wood grains and adding that tiny water drop on the teacup. I think I'll probably add a couple more droplets to the side to give a little more character to the cup.

Old Tradition - Stage 4

I wonder what acid-free paper other pencil/charcoal artists use - I always use the smoother side of a Canson  C' a Grain paper. At times, it can be frustrating to work on as it can become somewhat rough after reworking an area with a kneaded eraser a couple of times (I usually do this when I'm not satisfied with how it looks) but it's the only acid-free charcoal paper I can afford at the moment.

Old Tradition - Stage 3

Here, I started rendering the pouring tea and spout (part of a genuine looking Chinese teapot). The teacup is actually from a tea set including four or five other cups, the teapot and a tray. I'm not quite fond of drinking tea, but the utensils used to serve it really make interesting subjects.

Old Tradition - Stage 2

 Charcoal on Canson Grain paper

6 x 8

Before I forget, like in the previous post, this is my little interpretation of "Challenge No. 2". The background is a concrete wall - at least, that is how I hope it will look like. I think, cracked, unpainted concrete seem to have more character and drama than perfect, white ones. And adding some random scratches and patches of dark areas to it further contribute to the oldness of its appearance.

The drawing's title sounds fitting for the the subjects - crackly concrete wall and tea being served in a small teacup...hmmm...

Old Tradition - Stage 1

 Charcoal on Canson Grain paper

6 x 8"

This is a work in progress of the piece I'm currently working on. While still in the outline stage, I adjusted the marks of the pouring liquid since mom said that a thinner stream of liquid (actually, it's tea) looks much better than a thicker one ... hope you can see the ghost pencil strokes of the previous outline.