How To Draw A Lavender Plant

Guide for Drawing Flowers with Pens

Updated: 01 Feb 2022

Guide for drawing flowers with pen and ink

In this guide, I demonstrate how to draw any blossom, from unproblematic to complex, using a pen.

Well-executed flower pen-drawing is all nearly accuracy of the construction (form), with attention to foreshortening and overlapping.

Concept Art

First matter first, do not apply concept images that are protected past copyright law.

In example someone likes your cartoon and wants to buy it, information technology is best to utilise images that are free for Whatever use.

Here are some websites that let you download Free stock images:

Pixabay

Unsplash

Pexels

StockSnap.io

FREEIMAGES

*Taking your own photos is the all-time solution to create unique drawings and compositions.

How to Create Smooth Lines with a Pen

For a pen cartoon to expect nice, depict each marking with confidence. Meaning, a polish line.

That is easier said than done!

With fourth dimension and practice, the lines will flow. Until then, start with a pencil.

The advantage of a pencil is that information technology is erasable. Therefore, you tin can set mistakes until y'all are happy with the result.

And so grab your reference prototype and draw it with a pencil. Depict it gently, so it volition be like shooting fish in a barrel to erase later.

Note:

The pencil drawing does not have to be perfect. Call up that nature is abstract. There are no two identical flowers.

Pencil sketch of a hellebore flower from reference Reference epitome & pencil sketch

Once the pencil-sketch is ready, it is piece of cake to go over it with a pen. Exercise information technology in a confident and polish style, even if the pen marks are non exactly on summit of the pencil marks.

When cartoon with a pen, it is of import to pay attention to overlap.

Describe the foreground parts first. In this case, draw the stamens first, and merely then depict the petals.

Afterwards the ink from the pen is dry (ordinarily less than a minute, depending on the pen brand), information technology is rubber to gently erase the pencil-cartoon marks.

Pen and ink drawing of a hellebore flower Hellebore flower pen cartoon

How to Describe a Circuitous Flower

Some flowers or compositions are quite complex. You should pay attention to proportions, foreshortening, and perspective.

This is too much to bargain with when starting to draw.

A solution to this trouble is to create a grid of guidelines. Then, instead of 1 complex image, you have several smaller and simpler images.

To observe the middle point of an image, draw 2 diagonal lines from the image corners.

Next, draw horizontal and vertical lines from the midpoint.

Finding the center of an image Finding the eye & creating a grid

Do the same for the drawing-paper. Make sure the ratio between height and width is the aforementioned for both the reference image and the drawing-newspaper.

You can crop the reference image to become the same ratio.

Now it is easier to draw with a pencil.

Note:

If the image is however complex for you, you can go on adding grid lines for each rectangle.

Pencil drawing of a lily flower Drawing with a pencil

Remember to utilise the pencil gently. It volition be easier to erase later you lot draw with a pen.

Pen and ink lily flower drawing Lily bloom pen drawing

Good to know:

If you lot do not fully understand terms like overlapping, perspective, and foreshortening, I highly recommend reading my guide on drawing the illusion of depth.

Which Pen to Employ for Drawing Flowers

While information technology is possible to draw or sketch with a regular pen, there are many advantages for using pens for artists.

These pens are called fineliners or technical pens, and their ink is usually black, though some brands offer additional colors (more than on that later).

Fineliner pens for drawing flowers Fineliners

Pens for artists create lines of uniform thickness, and they come in different sizes, therefore enabling to draw thick profile lines, or thin lines for details.

The ink for these pens is made of pigments and therefore very durable.

To learn more about which pen to use, visit my review for recommended pen brands for drawing.

Line Width & Size

When drawing with a pencil, you can draw soft edges for far away objects.

Pens have one brightness value, and therefore cannot produce soft edges.

Instead, you lot tin use a pen with a smaller bill size to create thinner lines for background objects, and bigger pecker size to create thicker lines for foreground objects.

Using different nib sizes to draw flowers Different beak sizes

Using lines with different thickness to add depth:

Pen and ink tulip flowers drawing Tulip flowers

Another way to add depth is with size.

When drawing in perspective, the farther abroad an object is, the smaller it looks.

For that reason, describe bigger flowers in the foreground, and smaller flowers in the background.

Sunflower pen and ink drawing Sunflowers

Tip:

To add together depth, draw the background flower smaller, use a pen with smaller pecker size for it, and make the foreground bloom overlap it.

Hatching and Crosshatching

Hatching is a drawing technique that uses parallel lines.

A pen produces lines with ane brightness value (normally dark).

In order to create the illusion of unlike brightness values, significant areas that look lighter and areas that look darker, utilize different types of hatching.

Hatching and crosshatching types Hatching types

Employ sparse hatching lines for light areas.

By using different degrees of crosshatching, you lot can create the illusion of dissimilar brightness values:

Hibiscus flower pen drawing using hatching Hibiscus bloom

Line Types with Pens

As mentioned above, a pen has a single brightness value, only when belongings a pen in a precipitous angle, it can produce a less divers line, and therefore create a second brightness value, which is lighter.

This does not work with all pen brands, or on super smooth paper.

For this to piece of work, describe swift yet gentle strokes (do not printing difficult).

Holding a pen in different angle Pen holding angle

Example:

Pen and ink drawing of a rose flower Rose flower

How to Add Insects

Cartoon takes time.

Trying a new thing, like adding insects or other objects, can be risky.

A practical way to deal with this situation is to start by drawing the new object.

Pen drawing of a ladybug Drawing a ladybug

When the result is successful, you can go on drawing.

Pen drawing of narcissus flowers & a ladybug Narcissus flowers

To draw insects, visit my insect cartoon guide.

Keeping information technology Simple

Sometimes, but a few lines can be more enough.

Information technology is possible to draw lines with a short line or a dot at the end, suggesting a line that gradually disappears.

Types of lines with pen Dots and short lines

The middle part of a flower may seem complicated to describe.

The manner to depict it, is to await at the basic shapes it is made of, and their direction.

How to draw the middle of a flower Paying attention to shapes and direction

Later on drawing the basic shapes, it is important to wait at effulgence values.

For areas that look darker, draw more lines to create the illusion of darker brightness values.

Common daisy flower pen drawing Mutual daisy

The next example is a step-by-footstep cartoon for a Muscari found (grape hyacinth).

It usually has some closed flowers and some open up flowers, so do both:

Step-by-step drawing for muscari flower Flowers stride-past-footstep

Now you tin draw the whole plant.

Muscari pen drawing, aka grape hyacinth Muscari pen cartoon

Ink Colour

Pen drawing is not limited to blackness ink. As mentioned higher up, some brands offer additional colors.

Nevertheless, the drawing process is like.

First, focus on accurate drawing. Pay attention to foreshortening and overlapping.

Then, get the brightness values right. Remember, describe more lines to create the illusion of darker values.

Lastly, some artistic license is more than than welcome.

Blue ink example:

Drawing of an anemone blanda flower with blue pen Anemone blanda flower

Blood-red ink example:

Anthurium flower drawing with a red pen Anthurium flower

Remember, try to be as accurate as possible and then focus on brightness values.

Make sure there is enough contrast between light and dark areas. That way, the drawing will stand up out.

Sepia ink example:

Argyranthemum, margerite with sepia pen drawing Marguerite flower

Foreshortening

The object in front of yous looks smaller when it is far, but it keeps the ratio betwixt height and width.

Foreshortening is a distortion that occurs when looking at an object (or a plane) along the line of sight.

In this example, you can see how a remote control looks shorter in pinnacle than in width, as you look at information technology along your line of sight:

Distortion of a remote control by foreshortening Foreshortened remote control

When drawing flowers, pay attention to foreshortening in gild for the drawing to look realistic, and interesting!

Side view flower pen drawing Foreshortened flower

In many cases, some petals are foreshortened, while others are less foreshortened.

Pen drawing of a Gazania flower Gazania flower

Contrast & Paradigm Editing

Contrast is essential for an highly-seasoned drawing or painting.

The black of a technical pen on the whiteness of a drawing-newspaper will produce contrast.

The problem lies when taking a photo.

For me, the best time to accept a photo is at daylight. Just, when completing a drawing at evening or dark, I am eager to upload it to my website or to social networks.

My apartment lighting is less than ideal, and information technology produces a warm, weak low-cal, resulting in a yellowish flat photo.

To ready that, I use an image graphic editor (Whatever image editing software will work) to decrease saturation and increase contrast. Trouble solved!

Lotus flower pen and ink drawing Lotus bloom

Killing it on Social Media

To succeed on social media, you have to consider many factors. For example, good content or SEO.

Afterward analyzing successful bloom-cartoon Instagram accounts, I establish a few tips and techniques that work.

one. Depict bold!

Meaning, draw thick, noticeable profile lines:

Poppy flower pen and ink drawing Poppy flower

2. Small images

A pen drawing has its limitation. A small pen-cartoon prototype looks amend than a close-upwardly.

To practise that, take a photo of your bloom cartoon (or sketch), including its surrounding.

For example, the actual flower you used as reference, a step-by-step process, pens you used, and so on.

In addition, call up that most people use their smartphone for social networks, so a tall image occupies more screen space, and therefore has more presence.

Snowdrop flowers pen and ink drawing Snowdrop flowers (Galanthus)

3. Draw big

Cartoon on a big newspaper sheet, like size A4, allows you to add together more details and and then, the minor photo for your drawing will expect more refined.

That said, simple drawings with trivial particular-work, exercise well besides.

Go along in mind:

Complex flowers or compositions are challenging and time-consuming, even for experienced artists.

Carnation flower pen drawing Carnation

4. Floral art

Once you are comfortable drawing a specific blossom, you can draw a total paper canvas of that flower. (Another option is to draw several types of flowers).

Pen and ink drawing for cosmos flowers Cosmos floral art