Let’s see five ways to draw a unique and beautiful batik design for beginners.
Who doesn’t know this original Indonesian craft? Not only famous in all corners of Indonesia, but batik is now increasingly popular in foreign countries and is often used by top celebrities to Hollywood artists.
However, making batik motifs is not easy and requires perseverance. For friends who want to try making it, let’s see five ways to draw unique and beautiful batik designs for beginners below:
1. Creating Lines and Curves
The first step for beginners is practicing drawing simple designs by making straight and curved lines. Start by making straight lines and then expand by making curved lines in the form of the letter S.
After getting used to it, you can learn to make branches on curved lines by paying attention to proportions to make them look balanced. Before making it, you should make a guideline to make it easier at the next stage.
For beginners, it is recommended to practice using paper before you use the drawing area in the form of cloth.
2. Recognizing Batik Design Motifs
After practicing making the lines and curves, beginners must recognize and understand the types of motifs. This is necessary so that the makers understand each motif’s difficulty level, which you will draw later.
The motif is a unity of lines, shapes, and forms that complement each other. Two motifs are often found in cloth, geometric and non-geometric motifs.
For beginners, it is recommended to choose easy designs, namely geometric motifs, because they have relatively standard images such as triangles, trapezoids, circles, and other geometric shapes.
An example of a geometric motif is the triangular tumpal motif with a row pattern. Non-geometric motifs have irregular patterns with various ornaments consisting of floral motifs such as flowers and leaves, animals in the form of animals and insects, parang barong, and so on.
Each design has its meaning and significance. For example, the parang barong motif created by Sultan Agung Hanyakrakusuma can only be used by a king and means that a king must always be careful and be able to control himself.
3. Determine the Desired Main Design and Prepare Equipment
After practicing making lines and curves, the thing to do to draw a design is to determine the structure. In deciding on the central theme, it is necessary to pay attention to the location and size of the plan because this motif will be the main attraction.
The central motif itself is generally a simplification (stylization) of natural objects in the form of temples, animals, plants, and other things. The purpose of the object simplification process is to make it easier for the makers to draw the main design.
For the main design image to be more attractive and unique, it is recommended that the maker does not only take one point of view. We recommend that the selected object be drawn from various sides, front, side, and back.
For beginners, you can choose a simple main design such as a butterfly or geometric motifs in the form of triangles or squares.
After determining the central motif, the next thing that needs to be done is to prepare tools and materials such as pencils, rulers, erasers, paper, canting, dyes, and cloth. For beginners, it is better to use a pencil so that you can erase it if it is wrong. You can use canting to draw motifs on the fabric if you feel proficient enough.
4. Filling the Background (Isen-Isen)
After determining the central theme, the fourth step of the five ways to draw batik designs is to fill the background of the pattern with isen ornaments.
The term pattern may be better known as Isen. Isen-isen (patterns) can increase the selling value because the drawing process is complicated and requires good detail. Each pattern is the identity of the batik itself.
Isen ornaments generally form dots, small circles, lines, scales, gringsing, and other shapes that complement the central motif to look more unique and beautiful.
The makers must be innovative in choosing isen-isen motifs that match the central motif so that the design results can look harmonious and complete.
5. Draw Additional Motifs
You can draw additional motifs to beautify the design. The makers are free to choose what other motifs will be drawn as long as these motifs are under the central theme.
For example, if we choose a non-geometric motif, namely a floral design, then as an additional motif, the maker can draw leaves or insects such as butterflies. Remember that additional motifs are only complementary motifs, so the image size cannot be larger than the main motif image.
This motif should be drawn throughout the area so that it looks solid. After the design drawing is complete, the final step is to color it according to the taste and creativity of the maker.
Those are five ways to draw batik designs that friends can follow while honing and adding skills. It doesn’t look effortless, but as beginners, we can start by continuing to practice.
FAQs
What Tools Are Used In Batik?
Some essential tools to make batik include tjanting, dye, wax, and fabric. Tjanting is a tool that helps you cut out shapes from your cloth. Wax seals the shape’s edges, preventing it from fraying or fading. Fabric is used as the base for the design. Dye is used to color the designs on the fabric. The final step is to iron the design onto the fabric.
What Is Batik Technique?
The batik technique is the traditional technique to make batik fabric; how to use wax and dye to create designs on fabric.
There are three types of batik are based on the techniques: hand-written (batik tulis), stamped (batik cap), and printed (batik printing).
