: Critique: Veins on Flower I'm taking a jump into some digital painting and struggling with getting more defined lines to look right. I'm basing it entirely on this Flower from Unsplash.com and

@Sherry646

The light modulation on this flower is hellishly hard. You are doing a great job. Honestly you are on the right track, and I don't have as much of a problem as you seem to.

One thing you seem to be struggling with is the idea that the veins are separate from the structure. On the lighter petals, especially the central one, you can see that the petals are really sort of tubular facets bracketed by the veins. Kind of like sails. You (rightly) blocked in the petals as idealized shapes, but now it is time break them. You need to do some give and take with the lights and darks.

Note that the darker areas always read flatter. This is why you are happier with those areas. Baroque painters used the lit areas to define form. Contrasts of any sort (scale, color, tone) create depth and distance.

I had a really great teacher (Michael Rossman) who spoke about the 4 basic requirements for mark-making. I only remember 3: proximity, scale, texture,... (profit?). We would have to go around the city and take crayon rubbings, and then we cut them into strips and attached them to 3x5 index cards. Then we had to draw them.

If you get the marks right in spirit, without the source in front of the viewer, they will accept it. So don't get bogged down with hyper-accuracy (that's what cameras are for). Examine the structure and build your own version.

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