Curd pancakes with fruits in color pencils, by Yulia Lisitsa

Last September we went to Lithuania. There, for the first time in many years, we ordered curd pancakes. I made a photo and decided at once that I wanted to draw them with color pencils. Here's what came out of it. This is the second take. Read on to find out what the first one looked like and how I came to this final result.

These are the curd pancakes I decided to draw. We ordered them at the Moss café. I really liked the presentation.

Curd pancakes with fruits in color pencils, process

This is the first drawing, made on October 2, 2024. I didn't quite like it. The choice of colors is not really good, the pancakes don't look that much appetising, and there's not enough contrast between the roasted top and the rest of the pancake.

Curd pancakes with fruits in color pencils, process

So I wanted to draw them again after getting more knowledge. Now where do I take that knowledge? I figured that the easiest way would be to reproduce another's work. I found a drawing made by another illustrator, with a different kind of pancakes and fruits. I'm not putting it here for copyright reasons.

Why did I find reproducing a good idea? The first time I was doing it off the photo reference, the second time I used another drawing with the color palette already selected and with color rendering on fruits and pancakes already sorted out: how to show the roasted edges, the light reflection on fruits, and so on.

Close-up of reference photo

I came to a few conclusions upon the reproduction:

• My original photo wasn't made to be a good reference; I was aiming to capture the presentation but I totally missed the lighting and photographed the shady side of the pancakes. Note for the future: even though it's only a reference, lighting and a quality photo will make it easier down the road to make a drawing.

• The composition can and should be adjusted and extended; there's no need to make a 100% photo-like representation of the original. In my case, I added berries and herbs to freshen the composition.

• The image should be not just nice, it should be delicious and advertising; if I draw food, the drawing should be mouth watering for the viewer, make them want to eat it.

Curd pancakes with fruits in color pencils, sketch

Curd pancakes with fruits in color pencils, process

Curd pancakes with fruits in color pencils, process

Curd pancakes with fruits in color pencils, process

I photographed each stage of the work. I don't draw everything in one go. Usually I set a timer for 30 minutes and after those I decide whether I'm good to go on, or it's enough for the moment. The thing is that at a certain point it always seems that everything went wrong, the drawing is screwed up, colors are off and the whole thing is ruined. 

In such moments I stop and get back to the drawing later, most often the next day. A fresh look typically helps to understand the situation more adequately and see whether something actually went wrong. Most often everything's fine. But if some mistakes were made along the way I note them for the next time, but also try to fix them in the current drawing. And what is the most important, finish it.

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