Step 1: Basic line drawing
I take accurate measurements of my live specimen. To do this my plant sits behind a clear acrylic screen to provide a flat surface to measure on, which helps with getting the perspective right. Whilst I have my live specimen I also record any colours that I need to and take photos. I will do my line drawing in one sitting. Shading and colouring take a lot longer and I rarely do these with the specimen in front of me, so I work from the photos.
If I'm dealing with a plant what wilts quickly or I simply don't have the time I stage the specimen under light a take a series of photos and then work off my tablet to make the line drawing. I can also work off photos that are given to me or I have taken while out.
Left: Live specimen photographed in front of white background under light
Middle: The stand that I made to hold up my A4 sheet of clear acrylic screen. This sits in front of the specimen to take measurements.
Right: Line drawing of the sunflower
Step 2: Graphite Sketch
I transfer the details from my line drawing to a new sheet of paper, using my light board or tracing paper.
I convert my images to grey-scale and then use a standard HB graphite pencil to do the shading. This helps with visualizing light and dark areas. As I have gotten more experience working with colour I sometimes only do part of the specimen in this step or or just skip through to Step 3- Colour.
Step 3: Colour
I lightly transfer my drawing from the shaded drawing onto a fresh piece of paper and go crazy on the colour!
I normally work across the paper in sections, e.g. petal by petal, leaf by leaf
