For much of 2025, in my teaching and e-booklets, I have focused on the fundamental techniques required in botanical art in the three mediums I use in my own practice, graphite, coloured pencil, and watercolour. My workshop participants spent a lot of time creating seamless continuous tone transitions, especially in coloured pencil and watercolour, trying to perfect Leonardo’s “sfumato”.
Perfecting the colour application is the part student artists usually enjoy the most. But many overlook the fact that without a good and accurate drawing, the quality of the continuous tone, no matter how well executed, is lost if the essential perspective and proportion accuracy of the drawing is lacking. Many artists, in pursuit of colour, rush through the drawing stage; they seriously (and foolishly) undervalue the importance of drawing.
A surfing truism I recently saw says it all . . . You have to learn to swim before you can surf. You need to learn how to draw well before any colour can transform your drawing into a masterpiece in colour.
Drawing should never be undervalued not only because it is the very foundation of where and how you will place colour later to complete a painting, but also because historically drawings have been admired, respected, and collected. For example, Rembrandt drew compulsively and required his students do the same, thus giving rise to a remarkable legacy of drawings by these masters, some of which served as the basis for paintings.
Finally, on the topic of “value”, nowadays drawings by Rembrandt, Leonardo and other notable masters fetch jaw-dropping prices at auction. For instance, the drawing of a shell by Rembrandt realized USD980,000 in 2023 and one of his many self-portrait drawings sold for USD94,000!
Footnote: The e-booklets I reference can be seen by clicking here.