Mastering Peony Art: A Step-by-Step Guide to Chinese Drawing Technique

Step 1:

Use light ink to outline the flower petals. Use medium ink to outline the back of the leaves, branches, and sepals. Use dark ink to outline the front of the leaves.

Use medium ink with a slightly tilted brush to outline the old trunk. The lines for the old trunk should be strong and a bit rough to show its woody texture.

Step 2:

Apply a flat wash of grass green to the front leaves. Apply a flat wash of sap green to the back leaves, young leaves, buds, and flower stems. Apply a flat wash of light ochre to the old trunk. Apply a flat wash of sap green to the flower center. Apply a flat wash of light white to the flower petals.

Step 3:

For the flower petals, apply a light wash of vermilion. At this stage, don't worry about the fine details on the petals. Focus mainly on showing the large areas of light and shadow and how the petals overlap. Apply about 4 washes to the front petals, and 1 or 2 fewer washes to the back petals.

For the back leaves, sepals, and the darker areas of the flower stems, use a light greenish-black (grass green + a little ink) for shading.

For the front leaves, apply about 3 washes of indigo.

For the darker areas of the old trunk, use a light bluish-black (indigo + ink) for shading.

Step 4:

For the flower petals, use vermilion mixed with a little rouge to shade the subtle structural changes, making them deeper on the front and lighter on the back.

Continue to use bluish-black for shading the front leaves and flower center. For the stipules, young leaves, and the edges of the sepals, use light rouge to wash from the edges towards the base.

Use indigo to shade the stems and petioles. Use grass green to shade the sepals and back leaves, leaving a waterline along the lower edge of the sepals.

Step 5:

On the bright edges of the flower petals, highlight with white powder. The white highlights on the back petals should be slightly stronger. For the base of the front petals, use a small amount of rouge for a vibrant wash. Use light vermilion to shade local structural changes along the edges of the petals.

For the back leaves, sepals, and stems, wash from the bright areas towards the dark areas with a medium concentration of four green (emerald green + white).

For the young leaves, shade with rouge from the tip towards the base. Apply an overall wash of grass green to the front leaves. Use rouge to define the main veins. Use light bluish-black to draw the fine leaf veins. For the back leaves and young leaves, use light rouge to redraw the outlines and main veins and draw the fine leaf veins.

For the background, apply multiple washes of light indigo as needed. For the old trunk, use medium ink for texture strokes, then re-outline some areas with dark ink. Add moss spots with dark ink and re-dot with emerald green.

Use powdery yellow (gamboge + white) with the raised powder technique to dot the stamens. Use white powder to draw the filaments, and light vermilion to draw the anther lines.