Learning Something New

Recently I was watching one of my favourite YouTube channels called Today I Found Out and they mentioned their sponsor Skill Share. I'd heard the host mention Skill Share a few times before, but this time they were having an amazing sale for a three month subscription, so on whim I signed up.

On Skill Share you can watch videos of instructors teaching a skill in easy to follow lessons. I randomly decided to watch one called Botanical Line Drawing all about drawing flowers and leaves. Considering my lack of skill at drawing, I figured what could I lose.

For comparison, this is an example of how I used to draw flowers before watching this video. As you can see, from left to right we have a lovely tulip, a rose, and a daisy. Just masterpieces. Hmm.

The first few examples I followed along and tried to copy what the instructor had done. I had to try a few times before I felt I had something I liked. Here are my first few flowers. I think you can see how each time I got a little better at it. Though my daisy (bottom left) is still pretty weak.

I'm not quite sure I'm into the first few designs on this next page, called lollipop flowers. And I tried drawing another set of roses the way I used to, using spirals, and that didn't go so well. But finally the daisies are starting to look decent.

Whoa. I can't believe I drew this next one. I'm really happy with how this turned out. Here we were copying from a real flower for reference. Ha, I mean, the instructor was and I just copied what she did. But I think I figured this one out pretty quick!

On this next one I'm messing around with my new skills. Roses are a lot better. Tulip looks great. Daisy, c'mon, get it together. Peonies are shaping up.

And then it was time to put it all together. The instructor showed how to make a wreath, and we were to just go to town filling it it. I love, love, love it. Seriously, every piece of paper in my house is about it get flowers drawn all over it.

And finally, I kept practicing by making a large bouquet. Ignoring a few smudges caused by a pencil eraser that wasn't worthy to be called that, I am very happy with it.

I am so pleased with how much my drawing has improved by doing this exercise. Honestly, it only took about 2 hours including watching the video and practicing. So yeah, totally recommended. I'm not sure what video I'll choose next, but I'm excited to see what else I can learn!

*The opinions in this post are totally my own and I have not been compensated for them*