Story behind the art of Hyunjin Cho

26th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center

Stippled Madagascar Palm

Pachypodium lamerei

Recently, I've been obsessed with drawing old and big succulents, because of the sheer amount of time they have survived and continued to grow. I am captivated by the unique curves and patterns they make throughout their lives, a result that only time can create. This alone made these plants feel more precious and noble to me. What especially caught my eye was the symphony between the bifurcated body, soft and glossy leaves, and the sharp spikes. This was one of the most interesting and beautiful succulents I have seen in the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley or anywhere beyond, leading me to choose it to show and share.

The name of the plant I chose is Pachypodium lamerei, a species of Pachypodium. Its common name is Madagascar Palm, because it may look like a palm tree, but it is a dry tropical succulent, native to Madagascar. Pachypodium lamerei has large thorns and most have leaves at the top of the plant. The plant also produces large, fragrant, white flowers with yellow centers. My plant was about 50 inches high and 30 inches wide, but they can grow taller.

I chose to focus on the top part of the plant rather than to show the whole picture. The reason for this is that this part was the most interesting and complicated. Also, rather than expressing the color (succulents are usually green), I wanted to emphasize its shape instead, so that the audience could fully indulge in it, to understand the overwhelming ecstasy in the form I had seen. Because of this, I chose black ink for the medium. As for the technique, I chose stippled drawing, using countless black ink dots. At first, the concept felt foreign to me because there seemed to be no line, no continuity. But using dots turned out to be an excellent choice – the unique beauty of stippling is the tens of thousands of very fine dots building up to form lines, planes, tone, and contrast and to create a sense of volume and texture.

This plant has a very complex composition, with the thorns concentrated towards the edges and curves, but there is an orderly pattern within this complex structure. It was both interesting and difficult to draw while keeping to this regular pattern. Also, since I was drawing such a large piece with so many dots without drawing lines, and using a 0.1 mm pen, I had to spend a lot of time. I had to overlap several layers to express the shading. I also had to vary the placement and concentration of the dots in order to draw contrasting things like the hard, sharp thorns and the soft, glossy leaves. To express perspective in this piece, I also had to adjust the pressure with which I created the dots.

I needed a lot of patience while working on this piece. However, while immersed in the drawing process, I also felt peaceful. I hope that the audience looking at it will both feel the magnificence shown in the form and feel comfortable at the same time.

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Read more about this artist’s work: 25th Annual