So here we are with my 3rd vlog! I guess I'm officially an illustuber! It's very exciting because I have become more comfortable with recording everyday snippets of my life as an artist. I figured that it's important to relax and focus on documenting my experience rather than producing the most epic content ever. Hopefully you will appreciate this and maybe find some of it relatable.
I recently got an iPad because I was seeing everybody swooning over them and Procreate. I had no idea of the amazing things you could achieve with Procreate! If you're still curious or not sure I would definitely recommend giving it a try. The biggest advantage I have found is being able to draw ink illustrations and not have to worry about scanning and cleaning up the background afterwards. That is a huge time saver! It's not to say I have said goodbye to good old paper and microns, but when you're in a time crunch and you need something to be digitized it's definitely the way to go.
In this vlog I share a little bit of my process for making a new botanical illustration. I found this method to be the most effective! I'm lucky because I have access to the majority of florals, leaves, and botanicals right in my backyard. So what I usually do is go scouting, scissors and camera in hand, and pick the prettiest ones I find. I do have to say…I don't always cut the flowers I like. That's why I take a camera. I take a picture because I honestly feel a little guilty cutting them.
After collecting some beauties I go back home and this is where the analog fun and magic begins to happen. I get some paper and draw out the shape that's going to contain all of the flowers. In this video you will see me making a floral heart. So I draw out a simple heart and then tape the flowers right on the paper. It's lots of fun to be able to create a 3D collage of some sort.
After playing around with the composition I am ready to take a photo of it and then export it to Photoshop where I will mess around with levels. Then I will take that photo (in black and white) into Procreate and then begin a whole new process there. I will use Procreate until I finish inking and coloring the entire botanical illustration.
I hope you like my process and a little bit of my mundane weekly art journey. I would love to hear from you if you try this botanical illustration method out, let me know in the comments!
Love and Light,
Catalina