Drawing leaves digitally...

Typical leaves are long and thin, externally they are commonly arranged so that each leaf is exposed to light as much as possible with little shading from other leaves, circumstances such as wind and heavy rain conditions can prevent this from happening. Some plants do naturally adapt to such conditions. Leaves no matter the shape or size hold design; the internal of leaves are designed in favour of the leaves survival. Words to bear in mind: internal/external, exposure to light and adaption.    

I began digitally drawing from primary photographs of leaves, looking to capture shape, pattern, texture and more importantly 3-dimensions. Digitally drawing is essentially flat but from looking at the drawings of leaves in both black/white and colour, I have captured more than just a leaf, it becomes experimental, I feel like it can become something other than just a flat leaf.

I printed some of the drawings onto acetate; it allows me to physically shape, mould, bend, fold, cut, crease and anything else. At this stage I did not want to jump into shaping 3-d models, I wanted to cut and play around with the composition to distort the leaf image so my work does not remain literal.

 

These are my results; I am intrigued by the honeycomb shaped design as the shape can be found in a beehive, a natural habitat. I am pleased with how the natural forms are influencing not only my drawings but experimental structures.  For now, I think I am best off researching into natural forms a little more before narrowing myself down.