Herbs: Parsley (Part 3 of 3)

Here it is! The final installment of “Herbs.”

Parsley turned out not to be as bad as I feared. With a sketchy initial drawing, I was still able to use paint and colored pencil to draw out some detailed leaves, which gives the drawing the loose realism I was going for. Did I mention that I did all three of these drawings standing up? It’s not something I usually do, and I might have defeated the purpose by not stepping back a lot, but it feels good not to be hunched over a desk all the time.

The sketch (plus blue brush pen ribbon and highlight):

I actually LOVE how it looked with just the watercolor, but I had to match it to the other two, since they will be displayed together.

The watercolor dried quickly, allowing me to start applying colored pencil pretty much right away.

In order to imitate the other drawings, I brought out some of the darkest areas to make the leaves “pop,” giving a more realistic and 3-D effect.

I think I used more colored pencil on this drawing than the previous two, trying to get the colors and contrasts right. I wish I had left a little more watercolor visible, to keep things looser.

Finally, I focused on getting a little more detail, using my white pencil to bring out some of the veins of the leaves, particularly the ones in front. My favorite leaf is the large one in the upper right—I think it came out the most realistic in shape, and, like in my Basil and Oregano drawings, it gives a pop of realism and crispness to an otherwise “relaxed” drawing.

I would say the hardest part—and the part at which I didn’t find myself successful—was getting the actual colors of the leaves right. But, luckily, I didn’t need (or want) the colors to be perfect, or exactly the same as in the other two drawings, so in that sense it worked out all right. The general greenness and the finishing touches of the blue ribbon and highlight bring all three drawings together, and I ultimately like that they are imperfect and not one hundred percent realistic.

Part of me does wish that I had been able to stick with the beautiful, loose watercolors, but I am not yet at the skill level where I would be happy with the results, so it made sense to add colored pencil. I still think I was most successful with the Basil, in which I left some undetailed leaves sticking out in the back of the bunch—which, ironically, bothered me a lot at the time!

All in all, I think that the drawings turned out well. I’ll try not to focus on the things I could have done better, and instead just enjoy the feeling of accomplishment of finally finishing these.

We haven’t yet hung the drawings, so the final step is going to be deciding what order to hang them in! I hope to eventually update this post with a picture of the drawings hanging up together, but for now you can see them side-by-side on the front page of my blog.

Thanks for following along!