Okay, so I decided to try my hand at this “flower child mei” thing I kept seeing around. Looked kinda cool, you know, that whole retro, flowery vibe. Figured I’d give it a go myself.
First thing, I just opened up my usual drawing program on the computer. Didn’t really have a solid plan, more just messing around. Grabbed my drawing tablet, which always feels a bit weird at first if I haven’t used it in a few days.
I started sketching out some ideas. Really rough stuff. Trying to get that relaxed, maybe a bit dreamy look. You know, long flowing hair, maybe some bell-bottoms or a simple dress. Getting the pose right took a few tries. Lots of scribbling and erasing. I settled on a simple standing pose, maybe holding a daisy or something.
Getting the Lines Down
Once the rough sketch felt okay, I lowered the opacity on that layer and started doing the line art on a new one. Tried to keep the lines smooth but not too perfect, wanted it to feel a bit organic. Cleaning up lines always takes longer than I expect. Had to zoom in quite a bit to get the face looking decent.
Color Time
Next up, colors. This is usually the part I like best. I wanted those muted, earthy tones. Think faded photographs from back in the day. Lots of browns, greens, maybe some pale orange and yellow. Put down the base colors first – skin, hair, clothes. Took a while to pick a palette I liked. Kept changing my mind on the dress color. Finally went with a kind of soft denim blue.
- Picked a base skin tone.
- Added hair color – went with a light brown.
- Filled in the clothes.
- Added colors for the flowers in her hair and the one she’s holding.
Adding the Details
With the base colors down, I started adding some simple shading. Nothing too fancy, just enough to give it some shape. Used a slightly darker shade for the shadows, kept it pretty soft. Then added highlights, mostly on the hair and eyes.
Then, of course, more flowers! Added some small flower designs embroidered on the dress maybe, and definitely a few tucked into her hair. Also put some freckles across her nose – felt right for the look.
Finishing Touches
For the background, I kept it super simple. Just a soft, blurry green and blue gradient. Like maybe she’s standing outside on a sunny day, but you can’t really see details. Didn’t want anything distracting.
Looked over the whole thing. Played with the color balance a tiny bit, maybe made it a touch warmer. Added a very subtle paper texture overlay just to give it a little extra something. And yeah, that was pretty much it.
Ended up looking quite sweet, I think. Got that ‘flower child’ feel I was aiming for. Was a nice way to spend an afternoon, just drawing and zoning out. Pretty straightforward process, really, just took a bit of time like most drawings do.
