If you are a budding artist, drawing flowers is a great way to build your skillset and gain confidence. Today I'm sharing five simple but versatile flowers that you can master in an afternoon. I have my Strathmore sketchbook ready - it is meant for colored pencils but it has a real toothy paper that is great for pen as well. I have my mechanical pencil ready to make a guide, and am trying out some new Molotow Blackliner pens.
Follow along with the video:
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I am using the .04 nib Molotow blackliner for the flowers, and the .02 for the finer line shading. First though, I'll sketch it out in pencil so I can follow a guide. The lavender begins with a few curved lines and simple little oval petals clustered along them. I leave a little space between and have some long thin leaves to surround the cluster. You can add as many sprigs as you like, and then all you have to do now is go over it in pen. With the smaller fineliner I add lines to the leaves to help differentiate them from the flowers.
Next up is a basic flower in a side profile. The guide is a stem with a semi circle for the flower, I add a little 'v' at the base and a few thin leaves. Then I sketch messy petal shapes inside the semi circle. On the second one I added some little ovals to represent the stamen but you don't have to do that. Keep the lines of the petals wiggly and imperfect so it is natural looking. By coloring in the leaves it adds contrast between what is a leaf and what is a flower.
This one relies a little more on depth and perspective. I start with a circle for each flower and a smaller circle inside for the stamen. Then I add two petals top and bottom, and two more on the sides. If you like, you can tuck four more in behind to layer the petals. The first one is straight on, facing the viewer. The second one has a little more of a side angle with a concave look. This one starts with more of an oval guide and a lower stamen. With the lower petals being shorter it creates the concave look. Going over it in pen, remember to make the petals wiggly and natural looking.
The daisies are a good example of a flower that can be convex instead. Our guide is similar here, for a straight on perspective we have a circle with another smaller circle in the center. Each petal is a little different, some are pointy, some end in two or three little points, The convex flower starts with an oval but we place our inner circle for the stamen near the top instead. This will create longer petals on the bottom and very short petals on the top, all staying within the oval guide. I added some messy leaves and curving stems before going over everything in pen.
I saved the easiest for last: berries are always a great accent with floral illustrations. The guide consists of a cluster of ovals, joined by stems, and then surrounded by a bunch of oval shaped leaves. I put a line down the center of each leaf to help with my shading and decided to add some more leaves in behind.
Creating your guide first makes the process really simple for each flower. You can create different angles and perspectives to add variety to each flower you've mastered. Remember to keep the petals natural and not too smooth - any shape goes. When you have a few different flowers you can draw, then adding a few leaves and berries is really fun and you can get very creative.
A worksheet for each of these flowers is available on my patreon along with bonus content.
