{"id":19776,"date":"2026-10-18T23:50:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T23:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/?p=19776"},"modified":"2026-10-19T03:46:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T03:46:49","slug":"hosta-in-graphite-pencil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/2026\/10\/hosta-in-graphite-pencil\/","title":{"rendered":"Hosta in Graphite Pencil"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Since the wild plants around my house are now gone and I was searching for my next drawing without much luck, my dearest friend sent me a photo of one of her plants to draw. (Thanks again, Mac!)<\/p>\n

Tracing all those wrinkles was a bit tedious, but I think I struck a good balance by adding many leaf wrinkles, not all of them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is one of the most complicated drawings I\u2019ve ever done, and I\u2019m starting with the most difficult leaf. I didn\u2019t trace all the detail lines on the leaf in the upper left corner because I thought I could sketch them as I went, but that\u2019s proving challenging. There are so many lines that it\u2019s hard to know where to start, and I\u2019m struggling to find anchor points that would help me position them.<\/p>\n

This photo is so detail-rich that my eyes can lose their place, so I\u2019m drawing a few times during the day instead of one long, intense session. That makes drawing the details easier, and I can see and correct mistakes with fresh eyes before they spread to other areas.<\/p>\n

The leaf in the upper left corner is so detailed that I was having trouble keeping the details in proportion, so I turned on the grid in my Copy-it<\/a> app and cut a proportionally sized square hole in some paper to mask off a single section of the drawing paper. I use the Copy-it app on my iPad to hold the reference photo. It\u2019s an extremely useful app.<\/p>\n

Drawing with masks is challenging. They block out everything except the section you\u2019re working on, giving you a severely limited view of how the rest of the drawing relates. And if you\u2019re not careful, the masked areas can end up looking blocky and disconnected.<\/p>\n

I must be getting old and set in my ways, because I initially resisted working with masks. However, as I approach the end of the first quarter, I\u2019m finally feeling more comfortable with this technique. I’ve established the drawing square size, so it\u2019s easier to place, and I\u2019m getting used to working in small square areas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0As I\u2019ve gotten older, I\u2019ve been thinking about how to keep my passion for drawing alive. I turned 72 in August, and I\u2019ve decided to keep drawing for as long as I can. I\u2019ve drawn my entire life, and I would be lost without it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was five, my mother decided she wanted to be a television repair person, so she began carefully drawing diagrams of the inside of TVs. This was back when TVs had tubes. I sat beside her and drew the diagrams too, labeling each tube. When she saw me printing words, she thought, for a brief moment, that I was a budding genius. She had me \u2018write\u2019 a few words, and I carefully copied the letters as I saw them, drawing the bottoms first, then the tops! Well, my mom decided I wasn\u2019t a genius after all, just a good copycat. I was disappointed when my mom decided I wasn\u2019t special, but I kept drawing anyway. And I don\u2019t intend to stop as long as I can hold a pencil.<\/p>\n

I can’t draw these leaves exactly as they are because they are so extraordinarily detailed! I\u2019m aiming to capture 70% to 80% of the detail, which should make them look realistic and give me enough wiggle room so that I don\u2019t collapse from detail overload!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m finally comfortable working in masked squares. It feels normal to focus on each small portion of the drawing. I wouldn\u2019t want to work this way all the time, but at least I\u2019m comfortable doing so for this drawing.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s a little hard to show you exactly how I\u2019m drawing because of the masked squares. My drawing is on a magnetic whiteboard, and I\u2019m using magnets to hold the mask in place. I can\u2019t scan with the mask on, so you\u2019ll have to imagine it.<\/p>\n

I begin drawing each section with the leaf\u2019s darkest details. Using a B pencil, I hatched in the darkest details in this section.<\/p>\n

\"\"Working ridge by ridge, I hatched the leaf’s lightest and midrange values with 2H and H pencils. Each ridge has a thin, light border line. I carefully hatched around that line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was done, I touched up the edges around the mask because, no matter how hard I try, they never quite line up when I remove it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0The most challenging part of drawing these leaves is the tiny patterns on each ridge. These patterns merge to create an overall texture, and it\u2019s easy to lose track when drawing them. I\u2019m constantly moving my eyes back and forth between the drawing and the photo, matching the intricate patterns and shadows that overlay each part of each leaf. Sometimes I draw what\u2019s there well; other times I miss the mark. The patterns are so dense that I hope I can get away with lots of mistakes.<\/p>\n

I just realized the squares the Copyit app creates over the photograph aren\u2019t the same size! They are shorter near the bottom of the screen. I\u2019ll need to adjust my frame size. Bummer!<\/p>\n

Adjusting my frame size is too difficult because I have to guess its dimensions, so I\u2019m drawing the remaining part of this quarter by eye only. That\u2019s tricky and slow! The details are so dense that they blur together when I focus on them, but I\u2019m making progress.<\/p>\n

I honestly can\u2019t tell how I\u2019m doing on this drawing. The patterns and textures are too dense for me to judge my progress accurately. I think I\u2019ve come close to drawing the leaves as they are, and I hope that\u2019s good enough.<\/p>\n

Finally, I\u2019m using H and 2H pencils to go over the \u2018finished\u2019 drawing and correct the overall shadow pattern. The leaf detail was so intense that I missed the larger, overlying shadows in some spots.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Here\u2019s a shot of my work setup, in case you\u2019re curious. I work on a flip-up tabletop easel box on the end of our couch. I hold it on my lap. You can see some of my tools in the drawer. I use a magnetic whiteboard as my drawing surface and hold the paper to it with several small, strong magnets.<\/p>\n

Until next time,<\/p>\n

Happy drawing!<\/p>\n

Carol<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the wild plants around my house are now gone and I was searching for my next drawing without much luck, my dearest friend sent me a photo of one of her plants to draw. (Thanks again, Mac!) Tracing all those wrinkles was a bit tedious, but I think I struck a good balance by … Continue reading “Hosta in Graphite Pencil”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drawing-technique-48"],"yoast_head":"\nHosta in Graphite Pencil - Carol's Drawing Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/2026\/10\/hosta-in-graphite-pencil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hosta in Graphite Pencil - Carol's Drawing Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since the wild plants around my house are now gone and I was searching for my next drawing without much luck, my dearest friend sent me a photo of one of her plants to draw. 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The Arches paper has a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Graphite Pencil Drawing Lesson"","block_context":{"text":"Graphite Pencil Drawing Lesson","link":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/category\/graphite-pencil-drawing-lesson\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Leaf contours 2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/leaf-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7360,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/2020\/06\/begonia-leaf-drawing\/","url_meta":{"origin":19776,"position":1},"title":"Begonia Leaf Drawing","author":"Carol","date":"2020\/06\/29","format":false,"excerpt":"I almost lost my begonias this spring when I left them outside one night when the temperature dropped below freezing. But now they\u2019re growing back from the roots and looking more gorgeous than ever. This is leaf is from one of them. I\u2019m drew this on Arches hotpress watercolor paper\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Graphite Pencil Drawing Lesson"","block_context":{"text":"Graphite Pencil Drawing Lesson","link":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/category\/graphite-pencil-drawing-lesson\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Begonia leaf drawing six Rosinski","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Begonia-Leaf06-rosinski-300x290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7969,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/2021\/02\/winter-leaf\/","url_meta":{"origin":19776,"position":2},"title":"Winter Leaf","author":"Carol","date":"2021\/02\/11","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I poked along the fence row while Mighty Huntress Dot looked for rabbits in our yard. We\u2019ve got about a week\u2019s worth of snow, but leaves are still visible on the ground at the fence. 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My mind was so focused on that big\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Graphite Pencil Drawing Lesson"","block_context":{"text":"Graphite Pencil Drawing Lesson","link":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/category\/graphite-pencil-drawing-lesson\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Autumn leaf drawing step five Rosinski","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Autumn-Leaf06-300x286.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12650,"url":"https:\/\/www.toadhollowstudio.com\/wp_blog\/2023\/12\/dried-croton-leaf\/","url_meta":{"origin":19776,"position":4},"title":"Dried Variegated Croton Leaf","author":"Carol","date":"2023\/12\/26","format":false,"excerpt":"It must be winter because I\u2019m drawing a dried leaf! This leaf came from my Variegated Croton. It drops thick leaves that curl into small sculptures as they dry. I collect them, so I always have a few to choose from. 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