Constructing Leaves with Multiple Arms

Constructing Leaves with Multiple Arms (https://drawabox.com/lesson/3/8/complexleafstructures)

The 3-step leaf construction process is often taken too literally as something that applies only to specific situations. The concept of breaking these kind of directional flowing forms into flow first, then shape, is to be applied generically whenever it suits the situation.

✰ Capturing flow lines as arrows helps remind us that it's not a concrete, static object with a start and end. It REPRESENTS a force, the air current that drives the movement of the leaf. Giving it an arrowhead helps remind us of that.

1. Establish initial flow line. Ignore all other arms, think only of the main stem.
2. Build a major leaf shape to encompass and enclose all of the leaf-arms.
3. Create flow lines for all the arms. The flow lines should extend all the way to the leaf shape from step 2.
4. Enclose the arms in their own complete shapes.
5. Edge detail, merging the arms together at the same time.
6. Internal detail, accentuating the major veins.
7. More detail. Who cares... Form/construction is what matters!