Mastering Chinese Drawing Techniques: A 5-Step Botanical Art Guide

Step 1:

Light ink is used to outline the flower heads, using the middle of the brush tip. The lines need to be smooth and lively, with attention to detail in the smaller parts. The strength of each stroke should extend to the end, with most lines having a slight returning motion. Considering the coloring later, the stamen and pistil parts are not outlined.

The main veins of the leaves, especially where the three main veins overlap at the base, should be drawn more firmly. The leaf tips should not be too sharp and can be slightly drooping. The lines for the bracts should be charming and lively, while thin, trailing lines are sufficient for the stems, with no obvious pauses or emphasis in the stem lines.

Step 2:

The flower heads are flat-washed with white powder, and the back of the leaves and the flower base are flat-washed with light prussian blue. The front of the leaves is flat-washed with phthalocyanine blue mixed with prussian blue.

The background is entirely shaded with light blue (phthalocyanine blue + verdigris), with the bottom left corner finally shaded with indigo. It is best to use a textured brush for shading, focusing on the overall effect and not being too concerned with the details of individual flowers and leaves.

Step 3:

The flower heads are uniformly shaded twice with light yellowish-green (gamboge + phthalocyanine blue + a little emerald green), mainly concentrated around the flower base, and the outermost petals can be left unshaded. The background is further uniformly shaded with indigo. The edges of the petals can incorporate the background color, spreading out in a large area towards the middle of the flower heads to prepare a base color for highlighting the outer petals with white powder later to show transparency. After the base color dries, use white powder to highlight from the light areas to the dark areas. The highlighting area for the middle petals should be larger, and the highlighting area for the outer petals should be smaller.

The front of the leaves is uniformly shaded with dark blue-black, and the back of the leaves is uniformly shaded with bluish indigo. The flower base is shaded with dark blue-black (indigo + ink) from the base to the tip. The base of the bracts is shaded with light indigo. The stems are shaded with light indigo from both sides towards the middle to create a cylindrical sense of volume. The front of the stalks is flat-washed with indigo. The butterfly is flat-washed and shaded with light ink according to the changes in its markings. The blue markings are first shaded with a bluish indigo as a base color. The orange-yellow (gamboge + vermilion) markings are flat-washed with vermilion as a base color. The head is shaded with light ink, the thorax and abdomen are uniformly shaded with light ink, darker at the top and lighter at the tail. The eyes are shaded with light ink from the surrounding areas towards the middle.

Step 4:

The flower heads are shaded and highlighted with light olive-green (phthalocyanine blue + gamboge + a little carmine). The front of the leaves is shaded and highlighted with indigo. The back of the leaves is highlighted with light emerald green (verdigris + white powder) on the lighter areas. The base of the young leaves is slightly shaded with indigo, and after drying, they are back-washed with orange-yellow (gamboge + vermilion) from the tip. The flower base is treated the same as the back of the leaves. The stigma is highlighted with white powder and outlined with light orange-yellow.

The back of the stalks is slightly highlighted with light emerald green, and the stems are also covered with light emerald green, leaving the obscured areas slightly uncolored. The butterfly uses ink to shade its markings. The light spots are flat-washed with milky white (white + a trace of vermilion + a trace of gamboge), leaving the veins uncolored during flat washing and blending into the blue areas. The eye-like markings are flat-washed with medium ink. The head, thorax, and abdomen are shaded with medium ink from the tail towards the head. After shading the eyes with light ink from the surrounding areas towards the middle, milky white is used to slightly shade the lighter areas.

Step 5:

The front of the leaves is flat-washed with medium concentration phthalocyanine blue, and the leaves in the background need to be slightly shaded when coloring. After drying, the main veins of the front leaves are partially re-outlined with medium ink, and the back leaves are re-outlined along the edges with light carmine wash (carmine + a lot of water). The base of the bracts is re-outlined, and the edges of the sepals are re-outlined. The flower heads are dotted with light yellow (gamboge + white) for the stamens, and the filaments are dotted with white powder.

The stamen lines are re-outlined with light vermilion, and the auxiliary lines on the sides of the stamens are also drawn with vermilion. The butterfly uses heavy ink + phthalocyanine blue mixed into a matte coal black to draw the black markings, followed by white, light yellow, and flesh color (white powder + vermilion + a little gamboge) to draw the other markings. The blue areas are flat-washed and shaded with thick emerald green. The butterfly's eyes are flat-washed with ochre, and the thorax and abdomen are entirely covered with light brown (ochre + ink) from the tail towards the head.