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How to Draw FlowersLearning how to draw flowers, to capture their transient beauty, is the goal of many artists. Perhaps we want to recapture the sense memories of smelling and admiring our favourites, together with the emotions we experienced at the time. Or maybe we want to make that fleeting beauty immortal. Either way, there's no doubt that flowers seduce the mind as well as the senses. Some people are not just seduced by scent, colour and beauty, but also by a desire for knowledge - learning how to draw flowers becomes a way of understanding more about them. Think about Leonardo Da Vinci, he constantly drew images of the natural world in order to understand it. Later in his career he drew what he found as he dissected human cadavers, desiring to know and comprehend what lay beneath the surface of the skin.
Maybe you think you can't? Because they are so complex sometimes beginners think they won't be able to learn to draw flowers. This is not so: if you are willing to take your time and look carefully, learning how to draw flowers - even complex ones such as a
rose
will prove no more difficult than any other subject - and you may even find you have a talent for it!
Make a start by learning how to draw
simple flowers
And of course we all need basic knowledge - if you haven't yet worked through the
Drawing Lessons
pages, please take the time to do so before trying these step-by-step guides - they'll help you get the most from them.
Photographs or life?Though there's no reason why you cannot draw from photographs I suggest you do try and work from life as often as possible because it is much easier to get proportions right when you have a real flower in front of you. Frequently too, details you want to draw - in the leaves for example - are blurred because, when the shot was taken, the photographer was understandably concentrating on the flower itself.You can avoid some of these problems by only drawing from photographs you take yourself. Taking more than one shot is also a good idea, as is taking field notes. What are field notes? Usually if I’m taking photos for home use I would also try and do a quick sketch or three and take some measurements: the diameter of the flower, the size of leaves and a description of the colours for example. But of course, it all depends on what kind of drawing you want to make – how much detail you want to include and whether you’ll be using colour or not. Whatever your aim though, too much information is always less frustrating than not enough! Drawing from life and drawing from photographs have a lot in common, but there are also some important differences, so it's good to get practice in both areas.
Realism or stylised?In this section of the site I'm looking at observational drawing and realism. Even if your goal is to work in a stylised way there's no better foundation than learning how to draw flowers in a realistic way. But if you only want to learn how to draw simple flowers, or stylised flowers have a look at the Fantasy pages. This section is devoted to drawing from your imagination.Feeling stuck for something to draw? In need of a little inspiration? Subscribe to my e-zine, Continuous Line - every issue includes suggestions for subjects to draw and ways to get your inspiration flowing again. Plus, you'll receive a free copy of my e-booklet Creative Sketchbooks and Journals as my thank you to you for subscribing. Where would you like to go now?Back to the top of the How to Draw Flowers Page To the How to Draw Simple Flowers page To the How to Draw a Rose page Back to the Home page
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