To no one's surprise, we are drawing more flowers! If you are new to illustration, floral doodles are a great way to practice and learn. No matter your skill level, anyone can learn to draw.
Watch the step by step for each floral here:
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I started by blocking off a 3 by 3 grid in my notebook, with space for nine different floral doodles. I'm going to start each floral with a pencil guide so I have a mechanical pencil and eraser ready as well. To start our practice I am going to make up a flower before drawing some from life. These are always fun to draw because you can be creative and it can't be incorrect.
I am starting with a few stems, leaves can be pointed or round, however you want. For the flowers I am doing a very shallow petal at the front, a circular stamen, and then three more petals. After sketching it out in pencil, I'm going over it in a 04 nib pen.
For my second doodle, I am using the pansy. I always start with one large petal in the center, then tuck two in on each side and the last two in behind. In pencil you can always reshape them to even them out. Add a little shading at the center and some messy leaves and you are ready to go over it in pen. I have a second fineliner with a smaller nib for adding shading and details.
The fourth is based on a gladiola. Starting with two long stems, I added small ovals at the top for buds and marked out larger ovals in pencil for where I would place the flowers. In pen I wiggled the line more around the flowers for a more realistic look, the curving line helps show the trumpet shape, but it doesn't really come together until I add a little shading with the 02 nib.
The third and fifth, I made up more flowers. I added lots of branches with little curving leaves, a scribble stamen and large thin petals for the single flower. Don't be afraid to draw whatever comes to mind, it can be very simple and fun. The fifth one started with the U-shaped flowers and their funny little stamens. Remember the leaves and stems can be whatever you think of!
The sixth, I based on a daisy, which I always use a guide for. Starting with a large oval, I place another oval lower than middle to mark the stamen and center of the flower. Using lines going out to the original oval I have a guide for how long all the petals should be and can shape them. They shouldn't be perfect or even, some are layered, and some have gaps between. I don't want anything to look to perfect or cartoon-like.
Time for another made up doodle! I created a guide of a line with an X through it for this five-petaled flower. Just ignore the bottom line, trace around it, then add some stems and leaves. It turned out a little lily like so I added a stamen with dots and lines on a little curve. A little line shading can go a long way but remember to keep them simple.
Based on an apple blossom, my eighth doodle starts with two flowers. Tiny dots in the center and five messy petals come together really quickly. I joined them with a thicker stem, or branch, and added heart shaped buds and lots of leaves
I don't want to mess up my grid at this point so I am going to finish it off with a very simple made-up doodle. I've started with three lines for stems, the flowers are just clustered circles, and everything is joined by one branch. I added two large leaves to finish it off. These can be any shape, and it looks like a branch that could be part of a larger floral arrangement.
We have created nine floral doodles and this is a great grid to use for reference. Whether you are planning a larger art piece or doodling in your journal, hopefully you can find some inspiration. I wanted to do this exercise to show you that there is no single way to approach drawing flowers, whether from life or from your own imagination.
The floral doodles worksheet is available for patrons!