Leaf

For this assignment I had to draw a zoomed in view of a leaf that I found outside. I chose a leaf that had a lot of colors in it and cut out a rectangle from the middle to focus on. I decided to use colored pencils because they are easier to control than paints when there are so many color blended together. I also wanted to practice using colored pencils because I don't use them a lot. Before I found the leaf I was going to use a little plant with spiky looking flowers but I decided to use the leaf instead because it had so many colors.

I started the drawing with the stem going down the middle of the page and the started going up the right side of the paper. It took me a little while to figure out how I wanted to approach drawing the leaf and I started out with just the basic colors and the added details on top. It looked like something was missing but I figured out what it was when we walked around the room and looked at other people's projects. Some people had included the tiny scale like pattern that leaves have. I decided include that in my drawing with colored pencil instead of the pen that they were using to make it look more interesting. I t also help me blend the colors together and add darker values. I finished the right half in class and then took it home to do the left half. I don't know why I did it one half at a time but that probably wasn't a very good idea because I think the second half looks slightly different because I did it on a different surface. There were a lot of white spot in the drawing but I think I covered up most of them and darkened the drawing.

The elements of art that I used in my leaf drawing are line, color, value, and texture. I used line for the veins of the leaf and color for all the different fall color the leaf had in it. I used value to show the patterns and shadow on the leaf. I used texture in the scale like texture the leaf has.

The principles of design that I used in my leaf drawing are balance, pattern, and contrast. I used balance by making the middle vein separate two similar sides of the leaf. I used pattern in the texture of the leaf and contrast in the brown corner next to the brighter orange.

If I could change one thing in this drawing I would make the left side of the leaf darker and more detailed like the right side.