The main calling card of the Art Nouveau style in fine art is its floral direction, also called French Art Nouveau. To learn how to draw floral motifs in the Art Nouveau style, you need to understand not only the appropriate materials and color scheme, but also the very idea of this artistic direction.
Characteristics of style
Despite its name, Art Nouveau refers to classical, not modern styles. Its popularity at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was due to the desire of artists to find harmony in the era of industrial growth, the desire to unite different trends in art and everyday life with a common idea.
Flowers in the Art Nouveau style began to be used in works of art, architecture, interior design and other areas of art in France. From there, the new trend spread to all European countries and even the United States, acquiring new original features and receiving other names. The English "Modern Style", the German "Jugenstiel", the American "Tiffany" - different forms of Art Nouveau.
Characteristic features of the style:
- decorativeness of images;
- use of smooth lines, streamlined shapes;
- depiction of allegorical and fantasy plots;
- an abundance of plant motifs combined with ornamentation.
A typical modern design is the image of a beautiful woman in a flowing dress, with an abundance of ethnic jewelry, with exotic plants curling around her.
Images of flowers in this style have their own characteristics:
- the stems are twining, wrapping around the frame of the image or its central object;
- the flowers are drawn flat, with little or no shadows;
- simplified images of flowers predominate, basic forms are used;
- The colours are pastel, as close to natural as possible.
The style's calling card is the curves of the cyclamen stems, which have received the special name "whiplash". Lilies, water lilies, and irises are also often used in stylized Art Nouveau images.
Drawing tools
When choosing painting tools, it is important to understand what technique the painting will be done in. It is easiest for beginning artists to practice on paper and use easy-to-work-with paints.
How to choose canvas
The canvas for painting is selected based on the paints that will be used. Beginning artists are better off going to specialized stores, where all materials will be high-quality and already prepared for the painting process.
| Paints and other drawing tools | Suitable host types |
| Watercolor, watercolor pencils, watercolor markers, gouache, quick-drying acrylic paints | Paper for watercolor painting. An important nuance when choosing is the density of the paper, its texture. More blurred, wet drawings are obtained well on a dense, textured surface. For detailed paintings, it is better to choose smoother paper. |
| Acrylic, gouache, oil paints | Cardboard or a stretcher with tightly stretched fabric. Beginners are better off choosing canvases based on cardboard, with already primed synthetic fabric. |
| Liners, markers, colored pencils, ink | Sketch paper is perfect for contour drawings and sketches. It is advantageous to buy special albums and notebooks in which all drawings will be stored together for clarity and comparison of results. |
It is possible to combine different painting tools with different types of canvases, this is relevant for those who already understand the features of applying paints to different surfaces.
Selection of paints, pencils, liners
At the learning stage, it is better to try the simplest paints, gradually learning new techniques for using them, and only then move on to new materials.
Flowers in the Art Nouveau style are the easiest to draw:
- watercolor - you can add more or less water to the palette, adjusting the saturation of the colors;
- gouache is an easy-to-use paint that can be used in an unusual application technique or to quickly paint over a flat, Art Nouveau-style image;
- acrylic - working in different techniques, acrylic paints can be stylized as both watercolor and oil painting;
- watercolor markers or pencils - ideal for both coloring the drawing and for working out the contours and details;
- Artistic liners – special liner pens are the most convenient for creating flat images in the Art Nouveau style and adding contrasting outlines to color drawings.
More expensive materials will not always mean better quality of the final drawing. It makes sense to start with inexpensive paints, getting the hang of it in search of the best option.
Brushes, palette knives and consumables
The most difficult stage of purchasing art supplies in a store is choosing good brushes. Here you can save money and choose the highest quality options.
The brush bristles must be suitable for the paint. – it will be convenient to paint with watercolors using a brush made of squirrel hair; acrylic, gouache, oil and other thick paints – with a brush with hard pig bristles or synthetics. Kolinsky hair is considered a universal option, suitable for almost all types of paints.
The length of the brush depends on whether the drawing is being created on an easel or on a table. In the first case, brushes with long handles will be convenient, in the second, standard length will suffice.
The shape of the brush is also very important, but mainly for using different techniques. A standard round brush with a slightly pointed tip is suitable for the first stages of learning to paint. To create contours and work out small details, you need the thinnest brush - zero.
It is worth choosing a palette knife for painting an oil painting in a store. This makes it easier to understand their sizes and shapes, and choose the option that suits your hand and the size of the canvas. Consumables that you may need during painting include a container for water, wet and dry wipes, masking tape, a cloth for wiping brushes, etc.
Master classes
The fastest and easiest way to paint your own picture in the Art Nouveau style is to study master classes on this topic. The tutorials below can be used for painting clothes or objects, as well as for paintings on canvas.
Asters acrylic
Flowers daisy asters are one of those beautiful and delicate, which are easy to draw in the Art Nouveau style. The lesson below is based on the use of acrylic paints, but it can be repeated using gouache.
Drawing asters in Art Nouveau style step by step:
- The frame of the drawing is prepared - construction tape is glued along the edges of the rectangular canvas so as to cut off 2-3 cm from the working surface. It is better to place the canvas vertically. The sketch is made with a soft pencil, without pressing.
- The main stems of the flower should start approximately in the middle of the bottom edge of the drawing; the first stem curves upward and to the left, resting against the frame. The second is a little straighter and to the right. These elements should be positioned so that there is room for three large buds and several more small decorative elements.
- The next step is to outline the cores of the buds, which are elongated and almost oval in shape. One is above the second stem, so that the bud is attached to it and occupies almost the entire space of the upper part of the drawing. Two more buds are located at the bottom edge of the painting, on both sides of the main stem.
- The petals of the aster are very elongated, tongue-shaped, and frame the core in a circle. They do not have to be identical in the drawing, but Art Nouveau detailing is not necessary either. In the foreground are large, long petals, in the background are several short ones.
- More experienced artists can draw flowers in the Art Nouveau style according to the rules of perspective. Then the stems of the aster should gradually become thinner closer to the flowers themselves, and the petals become less elongated and thicker at the top of the bud.
- One of the buds can have a space without petals at the core. This is where the bumblebee that pollinates the aster will sit. Its image should be schematic but recognizable: a slightly curved body, similar to a tangerine slice and striped, two wings on top, several legs and a small bulge in place of the head.
- The next stage is the leaves. In asters, they, like the petals, are very elongated and pointed towards the end, their edges are torn. According to the canons of Art Nouveau, you can add ornateness, bends and additional smooth lines to them. Several leaves should go beyond the frame to complete the composition. To fill the background and empty areas, it is permissible to add curled elements, for example, tendrils of other plants.
- Before starting to paint the drawing, unnecessary elements and dirty areas of the sketch are cleaned up with an eraser.
- The colors of the design are selected according to the flower variety and overall contrast. For asters, a pastel yellow or bluish background, muted red buds, yellow-brown cores, and natural green stems and leaves will be an excellent combination.
- When painting the sketch, you can slightly depart from the idea of schematicity in Art Nouveau and add shadows to the leaves and petals. It is important to choose the right shades - it is best to make the main color one or two tones lighter, and darken the areas with the same color of maximum saturation.
- The final step is to draw the outlines in black or dark brown. This is done with the thinnest brush, with a confident movement, repeating the outlines of the sketch and separating the main details of the drawing from each other. The outline will help make the drawing flatter, closer to the ideas of the Art Nouveau style.
At the final stage, a frame is drawn along the contour of the tape, then after the paint dries, the tape is removed. If the picture is not filled with enough details, you can add a frame to it, painted with plant or Celtic patterns.
Monochrome calla lily drawing
This master class is suitable for painting stained glass windows, decorating boxes, decorating furniture elements. For each surface, you need to select different paints and other materials. On paper, such a drawing is easiest to do with art liners of different thicknesses, but the same color.
How to draw a calla lily step by step:
- Lily is a flower on long stems, so it is easier to place the canvas vertically. It is worth starting with a frame drawing, retreating from the edges by 3-5 cm.
- The Art Nouveau frame has straight, clean lines combined with soft curves and interlacing. You can start by decorating the two bottom corners with a 90° corner piece that is rounded on the other side.
- From both corners, four stripes are drawn symmetrically upwards to the middle of the canvas. In the center, two stripes bend smoothly downwards and to the right, the other two – downwards and to the left. This creates an interweaving of two elements.
- Then the two resulting contours move away from each other and intertwine again, gradually converging into a single contour in the center of the upper edge. The frame should be symmetrical on both sides, the upper part forming a semblance of a dome or semicircle.
- Several contour curls are drawn inside the resulting frame from the corners to the inside. The stems of the callas start between them – straight, slightly curved. One stem should be shorter than the other, so that the two buds are placed harmoniously on the hosta.
- The topmost bud is attached to the stem by a small convex part, above which a line of an open flower is immediately drawn as a single contour. To correctly draw the shape of a calla, you can imagine how one wide petal wraps around the stem and slightly opens the central stamen.
- The second, lower flower should be drawn slightly turned away from the viewer. This will add natural realism to the Art Nouveau drawing.
- The leaves of this flower are very elongated, with smooth curves, growing from the ground upwards, almost touching the buds. Several leaves can be placed both behind and in front of the stems to add volume to the picture.
In this painting of lily flowers, drawn entirely in outline in the Art Nouveau style, one rule is mandatory: the frame and the lowest curls in the center must be symmetrical, but the flowers and their leaves must not. Different sizes of petals, stems and perspective in the leaves will emphasize the main idea of Art Nouveau in painting.
Video about drawing
Art Nouveau flower design: