Drawing flowers, leaves, scrolls etc.

[Tjstewart]

I've been searching but so far not found, more details on how to draw individual elements. Flowers, scrolls, leaves, stumps, etc. I have 2 good books that tells how to layout patterns, flow and all. Floral carving for Artistically impaired and Creating Western Floral Designs but they don't cover how to draw the individual pieces as much as I need. I want to create my own patterns and not copy and trace somebody else's work. To make things truly unique just need direction how to get there

[dm110]

the book look like they will be of great help.

I am on the same quest "to learn to design western floral designs"

has anyone tried

 

Sheridan Style Carving Paperback – 2000

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0967964709/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=26ZG03JQ4CXR&coliid=I23AR1YOA5HGE5

 

is this book worth getting??

 

 

[Tjstewart]

24 minutes ago, dm110 said:

the book look like they will be of great help.

I am on the same quest "to learn to design western floral designs"

has anyone tried

 

Sheridan Style Carving Paperback – 2000

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0967964709/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=26ZG03JQ4CXR&coliid=I23AR1YOA5HGE5

 

is this book worth getting??

 

 

Here is the table of contents, looks like a little ahead of how to do the individual elements

[dm110]

you have to be careful when ordering the Tandy books. some are OK some are NOT let the buyer beware!

[Tjstewart]

This is the table of contents from the book you were talking about. For the Tandy books what I've ordered so far pretty much had what I was looking for except one on holsters. But back to original post I know somewhere out there somebody can surely give more insight on how to draw individual pieces when it comes to Flowers, acanthus stumps etc. 

[dm110]

 

 

question: Floral carving for Artistically impaired and Creating Western Floral Designs books.....

 

how far can you go with these books? do they give you a good skill level?
 

[Tjstewart]

They great in showing how to get the right flow to your pattern, determining ratios of circles, negative space, and ideas of how to create a library of elements to set up a pattern. But for me not really how to draw a flower, stump, or leaf. It's briefly touched on but for somebody like me that's not good at freehand drawing could use more. You could think of it as trying to show how to walk/run when you're struggling just to be able to roll over.

[Tjstewart]

If I knew how to draw the parts by themselves they would be all you would need so I would recommend getting both. I've been hoping hide pounder would chime in this post since Creating Western Floral Designs is his book and he does awesome work. Maybe could explain what I'm missing better

[dm110]

how about this???

Floral Pattern Drawing for the Artistically Impaired

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018USD9ZG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=26ZG03JQ4CXR&coliid=I1BIXYLXWPTTPG

[Tjstewart]

I have that one also it's more on Texas style carving with great depth in layout and flow 

[Bob Blea]

You're right, there isn't a whole lot out there that I know of that just talks about how they draw the flowers or leaves.  I picked up a lot of it just by studying the work of other artists and trying to draw flowers they use.  There is one book out there that does cover some basics on drawing flowers, and I learned a lot from it.  Leather Wranglers (yes, the swivel knife company) sells it.  Part of the book covers a floral design class that the author, Billy Wootres gave when he was alive.  the link is below.

http://www.shop.leatherwranglers.com/product.sc?productId=24&categoryId=13

Also, I highly recommend the Sheridan Style carving book.  That is one of my favorites for learning floral carving.

Bob

[bikermutt07]

Seems to me that your looking for more of an art book. Drawing landscapes, flowers, etc. 

If you more towards visual arts rather then leather arts, you can find what your looking for. Then adapt that to your leather.

You could even get some tattoo flash and learn from that.

Good luck.

[CaptQuirk]

Instead of just buying books willy nilly, try your local library. I really hate buying a book at some over inflated price, and finding out it is almost useless. Even in my small town library, they have access to so decent books, like Al Stohman's stuff. I just have to wait a little for them to get them in. Free is better than $40, or whatever amazon wants. Another thought, a member here, RaySouth often has Lots of books for $40 and free shipping. Try contacting them and see what they have.

[TinkerTailor]

Short version:  Drawing, you either got it or you fight for it.

"If this is something you wanna do, and this is something you gotta do, you just do it. Fighters fight."  Rocky Balboa.

Long winded too much coffee version:

This is a tip i picked up on here, Search the internet for colouring book images of what you want. They are usually simple blocky line art well suited to carving. Print off a couple of the flowers/leaves etc that suit yer fancy, and sit down at a piece of paper and draw something similar.

Looking at a picture of a rose and carving it is very difficult. Doing 5 different pre-made rose patterns will let you refine your style, and find your limitations while learning which details are important to put into the pattern and which you can do on the fly. It also shows you what the limits of the leather are. As far as stamp planning/carving effects, if you are drawing your own design you need to design the stamping shading and dying as well. No-one can do this but you because it came from your mind. There are no hard and fast rules about what tool to use where, just generalities. A beveler? for beveling obviously. It can also be a backgrounder if you run it different. It can be used to put features on a leaf surface. All of this comes from experience. Experience is pencil shavings and sore hammer arms. The reason so many people start out with kits is they have the directions for THAT design, they are a guide to get you close. The purpose is to allow you to learn how the tools run with some direction so you know how to apply them to your original designs. It is directed practice that gets you to the stage of being able to do your own designs earlier. Eventually kits become limiting in style and you need to develop your own. That is where the scrap bin comes in (or the scrap bags at the door at tandy). Experiments.

Thing is with experiments, you don't need to finish. Draw up the outline of a leaf you like, some basic veining and throw it on a piece of scrap leather. Even a portion of the design will do. Start carving, and keep going until you hit a wall. Stop and analyze what happened, go back and adjust the plan, ditch the sample back into the bin and start again with a new scrap. Just one petal of a flower will tell you if the others will work with that particular design and tooling style. I do little 2" square samples for every project that has a new combination of techniques. I will carve a section of my border, background and design, and then dye and finish it. If it works out, I do the design. Without drying time they only take 1/2 hour or so tops, and can save days and dollars. I do them while waiting for glue to dry or the kettle to boil. You can do 5 different ones of the same pattern to test finish in a very short time.  Hides always have blemishes, and if you plan your pattern placement,and leave a little extra around the scars and blemishes, those areas are perfect for these tests. You can also show the finished samples to the client and let them decide. This type of service is how to justify charging more money.......

I personally am not a stamper per say. I have been studying leather decoration techniques pre-tandy craftool stampy stampy. Modeling spoons, push bevelers and non swivel knives are very interesting to me, this is how leather was decorated for thousands of years. As such, the designs are going to be different because the tools are different. I needed to find my own style that works with the tools i use.

After a while, you will have tested and drawn everything and tried every finish and tooling combo and will be able to jump into any project both feet blindfolded.  Usually by this time, yer too old to be of any use.

 

 

[65frank]

Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal sells a Bob Park book that goes over the design process step by step.

 

http://www.leathercraftersjournal.com/product.cfm?product=615

[Tinkerton]

On 2016-10-21 at 10:54 PM, bikermutt07 said:

Seems to me that your looking for more of an art book. Drawing landscapes, flowers, etc. 

If you more towards visual arts rather then leather arts, you can find what your looking for. Then adapt that to your leather.

You could even get some tattoo flash and learn from that.

Good luck.

I second this. Look in the art section, not the leather section. There's a plethora of art books out there on how to draw flora.

[Northmount]

Hidepounder's (Bob Park) booklet, western floral designs is listed in his signature line.  See this page http://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/74318-bob-park-workshops/#comment-488132

Tom