Digital Illustration Project: My sunflower

This is the 3D sunflower that I drew every single details from scratch in Adobe Illustrator.

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During my adolescence, sunflower was my favorite flower. I still remember, my one-time dream was to visit a sunflower field on a day full of sparkling sunshine. But as time went by, to mend my broken heart, I learnt to leave the past behind, untouched, and maybe since then, my sunny dream and passion for sunflowers seemingly faded into oblivion, together with memories of my teenage years...

That's how after years, when I was asked to choose a favorite flower or a flower with some personal meaning to draw, I was confused. But I still somehow thought of sunflowers, and though reluctantly, I looked at sunflowers again, and started to feel my love for these flowers, again... Sunflowers are with no fancy shape or mesmerizing color, but just as ever, when I look at these cheerful flowers, I feel sunshine, youth, joy, and vitality. Looking at sunflowers, I feel happy and carefree.

But it turned out to be a very challenging project for those who chose sunflower to illustrate. The disk florets of sunflowers are interesting, but not easy to be built. It would be much easier and simpler if I chose another exotic kind of flower that has less petals and without a complicated center. And it would be less arduous if I chose another sunflower without that many leaves and curving petals. But I still loved to illustrate a wide-bloom sunflower with different phases of florets. I struggled and got stuck at first. But it was my decision to still stick with it, and it is my character that when I have to deal with something difficult, I prefer to rely on myself, and when I have started something, I always want to go to the end to finish it as beautifully as possible. So, I patiently dealt with intricate parts from petals, petal veins, stem, stem textures to leaves, leaf veins, sepals, and successfully built different florets to finish my sunflower illustration.


There are some more stories to tell around this, but just cut it brief and put the spotlight on my painting only

This is the final botanical version of sunflower that I drew from scratch :

 Colors always vary from monitors to monitors. The color that looks nice on my mac doesn't mean it looks great and the same on others. So I've listened to suggestions and put my sunflower on a bright background. Clean background is always safer.

But if this is not a botanical illustration, and the color is true to what I see on my screen, I prefer to let my sunflower bathe in the intense color of sunshine  :) 

KhoaThy's Journal

"Yesterday - Today - Tomorrow 

Each day is as special as you want it to be."