Still feeling the same flatness as I mentioned earlier but going to get straight into it. There’s a task to be done. And this peony is not going to draw itself. It would be kind of cool when it does though – I’m thinking of drawing these flowers again on Procreate and recording it in a time-lapse video. But need to get an iPad first.

I really appreciate the fact that these Copic multiliners are like instantly dry and don’t smudge as I lay my hand over a line I’ve just drawn, a few seconds later.

Drawing tip

If you are near the edge of your drawing surface or sketchbook, and your hand is no longer resting steadily on the surface, do yourself a favour and grab yourself something to support your hand. Just grab a book that is as thick as your drawing surface height. We can get a bit lazy but you will thank yourself when you don’t screw up your drawing – especially if you’re inking and are in the later stages of your drawing.

Drawing tip

Test out your eraser on a spare page with some sample pencil marks. Do this especially if you are drawing on cartridge paper, visual art journal page, or an uneven and rough surface like watercolour paper. The surface texture and grip of these surfaces are not like your notebook or printer paper, that’s fairly smooth and compressed. You will most probably find out that your average eraser is not suitable for your drawing surface and ends up tearing a thin layer of your surface.

What you want is the softest art eraser you can find (and even then just do a test). I have both a Derwent ‘art eraser’ and a Derwent ‘soft art eraser’. The art eraser is gentle enough for notebook pages and smooth printer paper, however, it tears my Derwent visual art journal pages – without hesitation.

I always thought that the Derwent soft art eraser was just a gimmick, a marketing ploy (and yes clearly I wasn’t resistant to it…), but it is the soft safe eraser I can use on my drawings. And surprisingly there is a mile difference between the two in terms of softness. So I highlight suggest you test your eraser for your surface and use something that is suitable. And don’t just think, oh I can get away with it if I’m really gentle. I’ve been there and ruined a couple of drawings in the later stages. It is not worth it. Especially given how long some flowers can take to draw.

Drawing tip

Do not ink your pencil marks when you are tired or are really not feeling interested in your drawing. Your lack of focus and care factor will only serve to make permanent mistakes in your drawing. And the version of you, that wasn’t tired and excited about your drawing when you were in the initial layers, will forever hate you for it.

Drawing tip

Variety adds visual interest in art. So if you’ve noticed that you’ve just drawn the exact same size three petals in the one flower, then go back and adjust a couple until you have variety overall. This is especially important in subjects like flowers and leaves (or any other organic elements), as these tend to be always slightly different from one another.

This consistency in your drawing abilities, that would normally be celebrated, needs to be modified in these situations.

Before I sign off for the day, I also have to say, I’m not sure I like drawing dahlias. Not saying I don’t ‘like’ them. Someone really dear to me loves them, so I feel I have to maintain that honour, but man drawing them… I feel like there is an abundance of curved lines with little value. Sorry.

Charlie x