botanical illustration workshop

STEP 2 : outlining

 Here comes the fun part!!! This is where your drawing really comes to life! You now have your observational pencil drawing done and should have a very clear idea on what your plant should look like. You have studied your plant and translated it onto a 2D piece of paper! WOW! Well done! Now grab that extra fine 005 fine-liner pen and begin outlining!

I currently use Pigma Micron fineliners. For outline drawings I use the smallest size 005. Aim to keep your lines thin by not pressing too hard on your paper. This is an outline of your drawing not a final render. We don’t need any thick hard lines at this stage. Also remember to practice drawing with a piece of scrap paper under your drawing hand, to stop oils from your skin marking the paper. You can check the material list for artist quality fineliners: https://www.jessicajaneillustration.com/materials

This is an opportunity for further study and observation of your plant whilst outlining. As you draw over your sketch double and triple check your plant to make sure you have the best representation of your plant that you can get. Start with soft faint lines or even stippling your outline of the leafs, branch and stems. You will notice in the video at about 15 seconds in I wonder off from my initial sketch. This is purely an aesthetic decision. Were the leafs overlapped, I chose to change placement too what I thought looked nicer on paper. If you want to change things up as-well go for it, just make sure it will still look like what it’s meant to look like ( I moving the placement of my leaf not turning it into a flower!).

Once your outline is complete and ink is dry rub out over the entire drawing. This will remove all those messy pencil lines. Grab a large clean brush and wipe off excess rubber. Repeat if needed. After the outline is done, still using the 005 fine liner I make small parallel lines within my drawing across all outlined areas. This is the beginning of your rendering stage and adds more definition to your outline (See reference image).