In Grade 12, our art cohort was given the chance to paint murals across the school walls. Working in groups, each team was assigned a specific theme; and mine drew the garden. Our collective vision was a massive, sprawling arrangement of blooming flowers wrapping entirely around the space. I took charge of designing a stippled sunflower to contribute to the layout.

While the final mural wall was incredibly bright and colorful (I backed my section with a simple, solid yellow to make the petals pop), I kept the original concept sketch as a pure black-and-white ink study.

Hand-inked using varying fine-liner weights to map out the natural geometry of the seeds and the soft, layered overlap of the petals.

Roughly 15 hours on the paper layout, alongside days of balancing outdoor wall painting before school ended.

We actually ran out of time and graduated before I could fully finish the fine details of the sunflower on the school wall. Because I loved the precision of this exact layout so much, I kept the paper archive safe and even considered getting it as a personal tattoo. It stands as a great memory of studio teamwork and the chaotic rush of our final year.