3 Composition Tips for Drawing
Composition is one of the hardest elements of the fine arts to master—because so much of it is theory and can be used or ignored, depending on the subject and the message you want to communicate in your piece. It can quickly grow overwhelming, but doesn’t have to be impossible! Today I’m sharing 3 of my favorite visual arts composition tips, that will help you to begin your next masterpiece with confidence!
First things first: If you haven’t taken my free floral drawing challenge yet, I HIGHLY recommend that you do so before going further. Even with a killer composition, if your drawing skills need work then your finished artwork will be sub par. Not fun! Start with quality, then play around with layout—you won’t regret it!
1: Work with Odd Numbers
Look around next time you are able to take a walk outside or sit next to your house plant. Odd numbers are the “default” for creation—which is actually wear we get all of our design “cues” from: the natural world around us! Leaves often grow in sets of threes or fives, petals usually have odd numbers, etc.
Now that does not mean that you can’t have a pleasing composition with an even number of subjects/objects, but it means that you miiiight have to work a little bit harder to get the composition to flow as naturally as it would if there were an odd number of elements.
2: Be Aware of Your Edges
If your artwork bleeds off one edge of you paper (goes off or “falls” off), be sure to repeat the effect in another area. This will make your “bleed” look more intentional and create unity through out your piece as a whole! It’s always a good idea to repeat elements like this so that it looks purposeful and thought out—even if the first bleed was an accident. ;)
3: Exaggerate with Purpose
Okay, this is HUGE and I never hear anybody talking about this! One of the most common things that I see with younger artists is when two items come super close together so that they are touching. In the art world, we call this “kissing” and it’s a big no-no! The little “X” that it creates becomes a bullseye that can be really distracting for your viewer! So when you’re drawing, make sure to avoid those kissing shapes by either exaggerating the overlap or the space between two objects.
Learning how to make your botanicals appear 3D has never been easier!
In this course we build off of the knowledge and skill we acquired in the Botanical Drawing Course (a HIGHLY recommended prerequisite) and explore the art of illusions and making our drawings come to live in a whole new way! We start at the very beginning and quickly dive into advanced drawing techniques that combine what I learned during my college courses and 10 years of experience as a professional illustrator.
Yes, this is college level content without the stress or hefty loans!
This is the BUNDLED Shading Course and includes both pencil AND ink shading** techniques.
Course Includes:
PDF with links to the 20 videos in this private YouTube course
Supply recommendations and descriptions
Warm up exercises/worksheet
Vocabulary
Multiple shading techniques for PENCIL and INK
Real time shading demonstrations
Blending pencil techniques
Intro to digital drawing and shading on Procreate
How to fix ink mistakes
This is NOT a step-by-step tutorial series on any of the drawings featured, but rather an in depth course on shading techniques specifically for pencil and ink pen. The video lessons DO feature the drawings in the images and we work on different parts of them in the video lessons.
This fine art course specifically focuses on shading techniques using a pencil—also known as “clean line shading” (if you are also interested in ink shading techniques, my bundled course may be a better fit for you!).
In this course we build off of the knowledge and skill we acquired in the Botanical Drawing Course (a HIGHLY recommended prerequisite) and explore the art of illusions and making our drawings come to live in a whole new way! We start at the very beginning and quickly dive into advanced drawing techniques that combine what I learned during my college courses and 10 years of experience as a professional illustrator. Yes, this is college level content without the stress or hefty loans!
You can continue to struggle and fight to create beautiful, three dimensional flower drawings, wonder why your paintings always appear flat or lifeless and save your favorite ideas for when your skill catches up… OR, you can skip the overwhelm, learn the techniques that the masters use every single day and gain the confidence to explore art in a whole new way!
This fine art course specifically focuses on shading techniques using an ink pen (if you are ALSO interested in PENCIL shading techniques, my bundled course may be a better fit for you!).
In this course we build off of the knowledge and skill we acquired in the Botanical Drawing Course (a HIGHLY recommended prerequisite) and explore the art of illusions and making our drawings come to live in a whole new way! We start at the very beginning and quickly dive into advanced drawing techniques that combine what I learned during my college courses and 10 years of experience as a professional illustrator. Yes, this is college level content without the stress or hefty loans!
You can continue to struggle and fight to create beautiful, three dimensional flower drawings, wonder why your paintings always appear flat or lifeless and save your favorite ideas for when your skill catches up… OR, you can skip the overwhelm, learn the techniques that the masters use every single day and gain the confidence to explore art in a whole new way!
Course Includes:
PDF with links to the 11 videos in this private YouTube course
Supply recommendations and descriptions
Warm up exercises/worksheet
Vocabulary
Multiple shading techniques
Real time shading demonstrations
Intro to digital drawing and shading on Procreate
How to fix ink mistakes
This is NOT a step-by-step tutorial series on any of the drawings featured, but rather an in depth course on shading techniques specifically for ink pen. The video lessons DO feature the drawings in the images and we work on different parts of them in the video lessons.
Ever start on a piece and suddenly freeze ?
Unsure of where to go or how to continue, you put the piece to the side to “finish later” but it ends up collecting dust instead.
Composition is one of the hardest aspects of the visual arts to master—especially if you’re trying to adapt traditional techniques to more modern style illustrations. But that’s where The Composition Guide comes in. I worked diligently with my husband (and fellow art teacher) for over 6 months to pull together the content for this course. We get deep, I get vulnerable, and you get results.
The Guide is more than just a list of formulas to follow. It’s a detailed look into the foundations of the arts and practical applications to help you problem solve and craft your own compositions. We’ll explore traditional techniques and learn how to apply them to more modern styles of illustration. The goal is to make even the toughest concept simple to understand and easy to apply.
This Course Includes:
Homework and Application tips
Exploring common and helpful “rules” of design composition
And step-by-step examples of how I problem solve for more complicated compositions
Lessons Included:
Review of the Elements and Principles of Design (18 min.)
How to Achieve Balance (23 min.)
Rule of Thirds (21 min.)
Vignettes - A working formula (25 min.)
Adding Whimsical Movement (24 min.)
Negative Space and how to use it (20 min.)
My favorite tips to achieve a pleasing composition (6 min.)
Thumbnail Sketches (13 min.)
“Live” Problem Solving: Movement and Space (48 min.)
“Live” Problem Solving: Bouquet Composition (21 min.)
HOW TO ORDER:
Add this item to your cart and checkout. You will receive a TIME SENSITIVE LINK to the PDF—this link will expire in 24 hours, so please download the items as soon as possible.
Naturally, if your link expires, then I will send you the files, but I would hate for you to have to wait!
The files will include:
PDF with links to all of the private YouTube videos in this course
Architecture drawing has it’s own unique techniques that set it apart from other forms of art. So where do you even begin?
I am so excited to be opening up the BLUSHED Architecture Drawing Class. This course takes you through the vocabulary and rules of drawing architecture as well as my own philosophy and venue drawing process. Learning how to draw architecture has never been easier!
I have drawn (pun intended) from my years of teaching art and even interviewed my husband (who is also an art teacher!) while I was creating this content—but most importantly, I took the questions that you sent me, the needs that you expressed and the hopes that you shared with me. And this is what we all created together:
This Course Includes:
Over 5.5 hrs of video content!
Helpful Art Supplies List
Vocabulary for Architecture Drawing
Finding and adjusting your reference photos (Adobe PSD and camera)
Full Drawing Process (reference to paper)
1 Point Perspective and how to use it
2 Point Perspective and how to use it
Architecture drawing as a business
Digitizing for print or media use (Adobe PSD and AI)
HOW TO ORDER:
Add this item to your cart and checkout. You will receive a TIME SENSITIVE LINK to the PDF—this link will expire in 24 hours, so please download the items as soon as possible.
Naturally, if your link expires, then I will send you the files, but I would hate for you to have to wait!
The files will include:
PDF with links to all of the private YouTube videos in this course
A complete list of my favorite art supplies
But what is a Deluxe Mini Course?
More goodness and information than in my YouTube videos, but shorter and more focused than my full courses.
Paint along WITH ME as I show you how to paint this realistic watercolor rose. In this step by step tutorial, I'll paint every petal along with you as we bring this red rose to life! See my favorite watercolor techniques in real time, learn from my mistakes made along the way (and how to fix them!).
For the “cliff notes” version of this mini course, you can watch my YouTube video: Realistic Watercolor Rose Video
This Deluxe Mini Course Includes:
List of Art Supplies Used (in video description)
Link to the full, real time video tutorials (about 2 hours total)
The reference image
A digital copy of the drawing—B/W and grayscale
HOW TO ORDER:
Add this item to your cart and checkout.
You will receive a TIME SENSITIVE LINK to the PDF—this link will expire in 24 hours, so please download the items as soon as possible.
But what is a Deluxe Mini Course?
More goodness and information than in my YouTube videos, but shorter and more focused than my full courses.
In this fun and easy autumn watercolor painting tutorial, I'll take you step by step through my wet-on-wet watercolor blending techniques and show you just how easy it is to get a beautiful gradient in your watercolor paintings and how simple it is to get a realistic fall leaves with watercolor. See my favorite watercolor techniques in real time, learn from my mistakes made along the way (and how to fix them!).
This Deluxe Mini Course Includes:
List of Art Supplies Used (in video description)
Link to the full, real time video tutorial (35min)
The reference images
A digital copy of the drawing—B/W and grayscale
HOW TO ORDER:
Add this item to your cart and checkout.
You will receive a TIME SENSITIVE LINK to the PDF—this link will expire in 24 hours
Please download the items as soon as possible
I’m so excited to launch the first Deluxe Mini Courses!
More goodness and information than in my YouTube videos, but shorter and more focused than my full courses.
After at least a dozen watercolor butterfly paintings and a growing collection of tutorials, I thought it was HIGH time that I create a full drawing tutorial with some tips for creating the foundations that I use for every single one of my butterfly paintings! When drawing realistically, I believe that having a solid reference photo and base drawing make all of the difference in the world. For the “cliff notes” version of this mini course, you can watch my YouTube video: How to Draw a Butterfly
This Deluxe Mini Course Includes:
List of Art Supplies Used (in video description)
Link to the full, real time video tutorial (about 1 hour)
Side by side footage of the reference photo so you can follow along!
HOW TO ORDER:
Add this item to your cart and checkout.
You will receive a TIME SENSITIVE LINK to the PDF—this link will expire in 24 hours, so please download the items as soon as possible.
Want to gift an experience?
How about something that you know they will love AND is something they will use for years to come (instead of ending up dusty in the corner or in the trash…)
While you’ve always been able to gift my art courses, this holiday season I would love to offer an option that has a little more beauty to it than a receipt stuffed in a box. For the first time, I’m offering beautifully illustrated gift certificates to gift to loved ones with instructions for download one of my art courses!
Included:
One art course of your choice!
One A2 (4.25x5.5in) card with illustrated flowers and customized details about your order (NOT on handmade paper—unfortunately that plan didn’t work out this year!)
Deep red envelope
Gold wax seal (in one of my 3 Christmas designs)
Delivered to you with care in a small envelope mailer, ready to gift!
Don’t have time to dive in deep now?
No problem! Save one of these pins for later:
“I can’t believe I just drew that”
I am so excited to finally launch the updated Botanical Drawing Course! This video course takes a deep dive into the fine art techniques of drawing. We start at the beginning, building off of the lessons that you learned in the Floral Drawing Mini Course (free) and quickly move into applying advanced drawing techniques so that you can draw any flower or botanical that you come across (and anything else, really!)
I have drawn (pun intended) from my 10 years of teaching art and even interviewed my husband (who is also an art teacher!) while I was creating this content. But most importantly, I took the questions that you sent me, the reviews and requests from the previous edition of this course, our conversations from Instagram lives over the years and the struggles and hopes that you shared with me.
This is what we created together:
The Chapters of this Course:
Art Supplies List (break down of tools and how to use them)
Drawing Exercise and Worksheet
Observation Exercise (my favorite tool for realistic drawing)
Modified Contours
Applied Observation: How to use these new skills
Adding Details
Creating Depth
How to Draw Texture (without losing your mind)
Foreshortening (drawing distorted objects)
Adding Ink to our Illustrations
Applied Techniques (putting it all together)
What to do when you’re stuck
This is NOT a step-by-step tutorial series on any of the drawings featured, but rather an in depth course on shading techniques specifically for ink pen. The video lessons DO feature the drawings in the images and we work on different parts of them in the video lessons.
HOW TO ORDER:
Add this item to your cart and checkout!
You will receive a TIME SENSITIVE LINK to the PDF—this link will expire in 24 hours, so please download the items as soon as possible.
Naturally, if your link expires, then I will send you the files, but I would hate for you to have to wait!
The files will include:
PDF with links to all of the private YouTube videos in this course
A complete list of my favorite art supplies
A worksheet with my warm up exercises