How to Draw a Flower

One of the most beautiful offerings of nature includes flowers. We find them all around us and there are innumerable varieties of flowers around us. Flowers are symbolic of life, freshness, beauty and happiness. To recreate this beauty on a blank canvas is something all of us probably desire. Those of you who are overwhelmed by the idea of drawing flowers should know that drawing a flower is not such a difficult task because all the resources are so easily available in nature. All you have to do is simply pick a flower of your choice to go ahead and start drawing it. Here's a step-by-step guide to draw flowers.

Steps Involved

Every piece of art starts with the basics. A blank paper, a 2H and HB pencil, an eraser and a sharpener are the basic materials that are required when drawing flowers. For colors to fill in the flowers, oil pastels, crayons, or watercolors are a good choice. If you use watercolors you will also require paint brushes to fill them in. Also keep with you a rag to clean up after you are done. Let's now take a look at how to draw flowers step-by-step.

1. Wanting to draw a flower starts with first deciding which flower you want to draw. You could start with something simple such as a teardrop flower.
2. Keep a flower or any flower picture of your choice before you. If you notice it closely, every flower has a basic shape. Using the 2H pencil and very little pressure, start recreating that basic shape on paper.
3. Move ahead by determining the details of the flower. Like the entire flower, every flower petal is also defined by a shape. Start making those shapes within the outline of the flower that you have created.
4. The stem is the easiest part of a flower to draw, and can be done in one go.
5. Use a darker pencil now to finish the flower. Highlight the petals, and the details of each petal with the darker pencil. Highlight only the necessary portions and if possible erase the guidelines you have made to draw the flower. Mark the folds, creases and veins of the flowers, and use the pencil to create shadow effects (for instance, around overlapping petals). All these shading and rendering techniques will give the flower a three-dimensional look even on a two dimensional surface.
6. If you want to use a colorful medium to bring your flower drawings to life, then follow the previous step by means of the medium you choose. For instance, if you are choosing color pencils as your medium, then utilize greater pressure on areas that need to be highlighted, and lesser pressure in areas that are to remain in the backdrop. A similar effect can be achieved by using crayons or oil pastels. You may try watercolor painting as a medium but for it to be effective you will have to perform several attempts. Shading with watercolors is slightly difficult as they dry very easily.

Simple, wasn't it? The art of drawing flowers can be mastered over time with practice. With each attempt you will find your flower drawings looking better and more realistic. As such, you will finally be able to recreate the beauty of this offering of nature perfectly on your canvas. In fact, as you get better at drawing flowers, you can even try your hand at different media of painting such as oil painting on canvas of various sizes. Such pictures add to the beauty of any space they are placed in.