Progressive drawing of a motif

Progressive drawings seem to be very popular.  Our post on Pinterest seems to have gained popularity recently, which is why today's workshop post will feature a progressive drawing.  Today, you will learn how to draw the motif shown below.  At the end of this post is a quick reference guide on this drawing--use this to print out and practice your own henna motif application.  Don't forget to leave a comment about this post if you liked it!
Where do you think this drawing should begin?  Should you start with the little curl on the left of the drawing, or the curvy line at the top right of the image?  How about we start this drawing by drawing the base curl.  This is going to be the foundation of your drawing so be sure you draw it with confidence and with a firm hand.
This next part you can do right away, or leave it until the end.  Draw in little sprouts in the curve.  You can leave this until the end if you think that your drawing will be a little out of balance.  Either way, the whether you add the little sprouts or not, the choice is yours. In our drawing, it polishes the motif.  
Next, you want to add a paisley-like addition to the curve.  You can make this as skinny and tall or short and fat as you want.  We chose a happy medium.  You can draw this by drawing the curl first and then bringing your shape to a close at the bottom of the first curl.  You can also work your way upward and draw the bottom portion of the paisley-like shape and then end it with a curl.  Again, however you feel comfortable. 



Now you want to start adding some of the wispy, flowery elements.  As you can see, you want to first add in the petal, then darken the top with some shading.  You can also add in the little line and dot in the center of the petal.  If your petals are too narrow, skip this step altogether.  If you have a good distance in your petal, go ahead and add the shading and line-dot. 
Continue to add the petals.

|Make each petal longer than the one before it.  The longer you make your petals, the longer your design will be.  You do not have to feel bound to using petals with a straight edge.  Explore and expand your henna techniques by adding petals that are different shapes.
Once you are happy with the number of petals on the curl, draw in another curvy element.  We chose to have four petals on our first curl.  You want to continue to draw petals on your curl just until you get to the peak point of the curl.
We added a curl that is left open.  You can color this in, fill it in with a small filler, or just leave it blank like ours. 
Finally, we added another curvy line and added some sprouts to it.  This completes our design.  Check out the drawing sheet below!  And don't forget to share your thoughts and henna applications of this motif! 


 This motif is part of our ebook Mandalas and Motifs.  Get this book for just $2.50 by using the coupon code Motif*

*coupon valid until December 31, 2015.  Valid only when this product is not already on sale.  Not valid on previous purchases.  Limit one per customer.