A king protea bloom

A study of a king protea with layered pointed bracts, a dense center and two leaves on textured paper. Set the bowl-shaped bloom and central floret mass.

A way into the drawing

1. Establish the construction

   Set the bowl-shaped bloom and central floret mass.

2. Resolve the main structure

   Stagger the broad pointed bracts around the outside of the head.

3. Develop the detail

   Group the central florets and add the stem and two leathery leaves.

4. Control the values

   Shade the bract overlaps and the far side of the central mass.

A small thing to tryKeep the center as a rounded volume before adding its fine structures.