Tips for Drawing a Hydrangea using Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Pencils

I recently drew this blue and purple hydrangea using Lyra Rembrandt polycolor pencils.

if you think you might like to draw this yourself, here are some tips.

Tip #1

This reference image may appear really intimidating and there is a lot going on in this drawing.  But, this means you can make a mistake and it won’t be very noticeable.  If one petal is slightly off or the wrong color, etc, no one will ever notice.  If you break this down like a puzzle and draw one petal at a time, even a beginner will have a spectacular drawing in the end.

Tip #2

I wanted a lot of contrast in this drawing and I really exaggerated the blues, purples, and Magentas.  I used a lot of Deep Cobalt for the brightest blues and Magenta to brighten the purples.  Notice that the final colors will be slightly different depending on the order in which you layer them.  Practice on a separate sheet of drawing paper until you find the blends that you are happy with.  Luckily, the pencils blend beautifully, so you should be able to create endless combinations.

Tip #3

It was important that each of these petals really stand out individually.  I didn’t want this drawing to look like a big purple blob!  In order to prevent this, I did several things.  first, I outlined each petal with a sharp pencil.  These Polycolor pencils hold a point really well, so you won’t have any trouble creating a sharp edge.  Second, I made sure that each petal was a slightly different color than the one next to it.  Even if this went against the reference image a bit.  And, lastly, I made sure that the shadows were dark enough and the highlights were bright enough to encourage contrast.

Tip #4

I used the Black and Dark Gray Polycolor pencils to create deep shadows between the petals.  This created a lot of depth to the drawing and makes it really stand out.  I also layered black and Dark Gray on top of the blues and purples in some of the petals to increase the values of those colors in order to create more subtle shadows on the petals themselves.

Tip #5

I used the White Polycolor pencil to protect the paper where I wanted the brightest highlights.  I also used this pencil to indent the paper in places to create a nice sharp white outline or details.  You can use an electric eraser to brighten the highlights even further.  This technique works best when you have protected the paper with a layer of white to begin with.