Just a Pesky Dandelion Chalk Art Piece

A dandelion chalk art illusion from a basic class demo turns out pretty awesome. Last Wednesday I conducted a one day seminar on the process of chalk art for a number of high schoolers. We had a great time under the sun and after giving them a brief history of chalk art and teaching them certain techniques, I let them loose on their own creations. Of course, I had to work on my own creation while they were working, so that they could see how I work and the dandelion was the result.

What’s unique about this piece is that usually when I create a chalk art illusion, I am very particular with making sure the reverse perspective grid is precise and correct, based upon standing position, height, etc. I pre grid my work and I usually show up with a very detailed schematic that I illustrate ahead of time, by which to follow. In this particular case, I had not intended to do my own thing, so I had no photo reference, no illustrated schematic, no grid.

However, having done several of these now, I know the general shape of the flared grid, so as I freehanded my dandelion, I kept that in mind. I also established the light source, figuring out where the sun would be in four hours and made that the “light source”. I separated the shadow areas from the light areas and started working in the color. I had some of the students help fill in local color for me and I went on top with final details. In the end, what started out as play, turned into a fabulous illusion!