Today I’m showing a few pen-and-ink vine maple drawings I created. Years ago, I took a Scientific Illustration course during spring quarter at the University of Washington.

The teacher had us take a cutting from a tree or shrub and place it into a glass of water. I clipped off a piece of vine maple, Acer circinatum, growing in my yard. Each week, we drew the twig using a different technique. The twigs leafed out a little more throughout the course. I thought it was one of the most clever teaching ideas I’d ever seen.

The first drawing shows a vine maple line drawing with varying weights of line. With certain nibs, if you press down the line becomes heavier. This is a view of blooms close up.

The second drawing shows the stipple technique. It takes a steady hand to do all those tiny dots of ink.

The third drawing shows a simple outline, drawn from a distance.

The last of my vine maple drawings used lines for shading. This technique was the most challenging for me. It won’t look right if you use too many or too few lines.

To remind you of the beauty of maples, here’s a photo of vine maple trees in early fall. They make a good subject for color photographs and black and white drawings.

Do you have artwork you would like to share? Be sure to include the First Friday Art tag.

First Friday Art