It’s emoji week on the Tombow USA Blog and Instagram page! Today, we’ll be creating flamingo emoji art inspired by the new flamingo emoji! Hey everyone! It’s Mandy from @a_heartened_calling and I’m showing you how to add an elegant twist to your flamingo emoji art with florals! Florals can look complicated to draw, but with help from amazing artists (like Alli Koch), you can draw complex florals pretty easily. I’ll be referencing Alli’s book, How to Draw Modern Florals in case you are a beginner at florals and need some guidance. Let’s gather our materials and get started!
MATERIALS
- Mixed Media Paper
- Alli Koch’s book How to Draw Modern Florals
- Tombow MONO Drawing Pencil 3H
- Tombow MONO Plastic Eraser
- Tombow MONO Drawing Pens 01 and 03
- Tombow Dual Brush Pens N15, 772, 800, 873, and 993
STEP 1 – Sketch your Design
Using MONO Drawing Pencil 3H, sketch out a flamingo onto your mixed media paper. I am using a 9″ x 12″ piece of paper. Use the MONO Plastic Eraser to erase any changes. The easiest way to sketch a flamingo is to draw an oval shape for the body. Then, draw a circle above the oval for the head. Next draw two “s” shape lines for the neck, connecting the head and body.
Next, sketch out your first flower using the MONO Drawing Pencil. I decided to use strawberry blonde marigolds for the flamingo’s body. Marigolds have such full blooms, so they make the perfect flower for this project. Plus, strawberry blonde marigolds have the perfect colors in them to match the color of a flamingo. Using Alli’s book, follow her steps on how to draw marigolds up until the shading part (we will save that for later!).
I went with five big marigolds to cover the entire body. I started following Alli’s steps but then made the flower shapes a little different and added more around the outside edges. This helped to fill in the entire body instead of drawing in more flowers.
STEP 2 – Color and Shade the Marigolds
Using Dual Brush Pen 993, color in the center and bring a little of the color into the bottoms of the petals. Next, use Dual Brush Pen 800 and color in the petals surrounding the center. Then, use Dual Brush Pen 873 to fill in the rest of the petals.
Using Dual Brush Pen 772, color in the very bottom petals and add just a touch of color to the tops of every petal. Use Dual Brush Pen 800 to blend the 772 color into the petals. Add a little more of the 993 color to the center petals and blend it in with Dual Brush Pen 800. It looks a little messy at this point, but that’s totally ok! It will look completely different in the next step!
Using MONO Drawing Pen 03, trace the center outline and all your petals. Using MONO Drawing Pen 01, create a bunch of little circles inside the center. Add shading following Alli’s steps in her book. You’ll want to create little tick marks on the bottoms of each petal.
Repeat this entire process for the remaining flowers!
STEP 3 – Finish the Flamingo
Using the bullet tip of Dual Brush Pen N15, color in the bottom of the flamingo’s beak and eye. Using Dual Brush Pen 772, add color to the bottom half of the head. Use Dual Brush Pen 800 to fill in the rest of the beak.
Using Dual Brush Pen 800, color in the top half of the head. Make sure to also blend it into the 772 color. Then use 772 again to color the left side of the neck and fill in the bottom of the neck with full color.
Use Dual Brush Pen 800 to fill in the rest of the neck, blending it into the 772 color. Then use Dual Brush Pen 800 and 772 to color in the legs.
Lastly, use MONO Drawing Pen 03 to trace the flamingo’s head and legs. Also, use the MONO Plastic Eraser to erase any remaining pencil lines. Your flamingo emoji inspired art is complete!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! If you’d like more floral inspiration, check out these posts!
- How to Draw a Peony With The MONO Drawing Pencil Set with Adrienne
- Create a Floral Self-Portrait with Jessica
- Cut Paper Lettering + Floral Art with Grace
Have fun creating! If you try this project, be sure to tag @tombowusa and @a_heartened_calling so we can see your gorgeous work!
See you next time!
Mandy