Guide for Drawing Flowers with Pens

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

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

First thing first, do not use concept images that are protected by copyright law.

In case someone likes your drawing and wants to buy it, it is best to use images that are free for ANY use.

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

Pixabay

Unsplash

Pexels

StockSnap.io

FREEIMAGES

*Taking your own photos is the best solution to create unique drawings and compositions.

For a pen drawing to look nice, draw each mark with confidence. Meaning, a smooth line.

That is easier said than done!

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

The advantage of a pencil is that it is erasable. Therefore, you can fix mistakes until you are happy with the result.

So grab your reference image and draw it with a pencil. Draw it gently, so it will be easy to erase later.

Note:

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

Once the pencil-sketch is ready, it is easy to go over it with a pen. Do it in a confident and smooth way, even if the pen marks are not exactly on top of the pencil marks.

When drawing with a pen, it is important to pay attention to overlap.

Draw the foreground parts first. In this case, draw the stamens first, and only then draw the petals.

After the ink from the pen is dry (usually less than a minute, depending on the pen brand), it is safe to gently erase the pencil-drawing marks.

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

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

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

To find the middle point of an image, draw two diagonal lines from the image corners.

Next, draw horizontal and vertical lines from the midpoint.

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

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

Now it is easier to draw with a pencil.

Note:

If the image is still complex for you, you can keep adding grid lines for each rectangle.

Remember to use the pencil gently. It will be easier to erase after you draw with a pen.

Good to know:

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

While it 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 on that later).

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

The ink of these pens is made of pigments, and it is very durable.

I mostly use pens with 0.1 nib size. It is small and allows me to draw fine details.

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

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 can use a pen with a smaller nib size to create thinner lines for background objects, and bigger nib size to create thicker lines for foreground objects.

Using lines with different thickness to add depth:

Another way to add depth is with size.

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

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

Tip:

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

Hatching is a drawing technique that uses parallel lines.

A pen produces lines with one brightness value (usually dark).

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

Use thin hatching lines for light areas.

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

As mentioned above, a pen has a single brightness value, but when holding a pen in a sharp angle, it can produce a less defined 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 work, draw swift yet gentle strokes (do not press hard).

Practice on drawing different brightness values, and then on a gradual transition from light to dark.

Example:

Drawing 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.

When the result is successful, you can continue drawing.

To draw insects, visit my insect drawing guide.

Sometimes, only a few lines can be more than enough.

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

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

The way to draw it, is to look at the basic shapes it is made of, and their direction.

After drawing the basic shapes, it is important to look at brightness values.

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

The next example is a step-by-step drawing for a Muscari plant (grape hyacinth).

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

Now you can draw the whole plant.

Pen drawing is not limited to black ink. As mentioned above, some brands offer additional colors.

Nevertheless, the drawing process is similar.

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

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

Lastly, some artistic license is more than welcome.

Blue ink example:

Red ink example:

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 out.

Sepia ink example:

You can combine pens with different colors:

An object in front of you looks smaller when it is far, but it keeps the ratio between 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 height than in width, as you look at it along your line of sight:

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

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

To understand foreshortening better, with many examples, visit my guide for drawing from imagination.

Contrast is essential for an appealing drawing or painting.

The blackness of a technical pen on the whiteness of a drawing-paper will produce contrast.

The problem lies when taking a photo.

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

My apartment lighting is less than ideal, and it produces a warm, weak light, resulting in a yellowish flat photo.

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

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

After analyzing successful flower-drawing Instagram accounts, I found a few tips and techniques that work.

1. Draw bold!

Meaning, draw thick, noticeable contour lines:

2. Small images

A pen drawing has its limitation. A small pen-drawing image looks better than a close-up.

To do that, take a photo of your flower drawing (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, remember that most people use their smartphone for social networks, so a tall image occupies more screen space, and therefore has more presence.

3. Draw big

Drawing on a large paper sheet, like size A4, allows you to add more details and then, the small photo for your drawing looks more refined.

That said, simple drawings with little detail-work, do well too.

Keep in mind:

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

4. Floral art

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

Painting the background in black adds contrast:

For the background, I used Zig Real Brush marker. Here is my markers review for artists.

5. Mix it up!

Any plant, leaf, fruit, or vegetable, are complementary to flowers.

Trees are great too.

If you like drawing trees, visit my easy guide for drawing trees with a pen (including MANY examples).

6. Do your thing!

After practicing with flower drawing, you will start to develop your own style. That is the best way to succeed.

You can use colored paper-sheets.

Or combine different mediums (mixed media).

In the next example, I drew wheat using a pen. For the rest (crumpled paper and pin), I used graphite pencils.

Quality markers and technical pens work well together.

Draw one layer (gently) with a marker on top of the pen marks, so not to smudge the pen marks.

Alternatively, draw with a pen after coloring with markers.

Important:

Quality photography (and editing) is important, with attention to contrast (both when drawing, and when taking a photo).

After some practice with drawing flowers using pens, it becomes quite fun and relatively fast to produce.

Where to go next?

For learning to draw realism, visit my guide for drawing in a realistic style.

To understand composition, start here: composing a still life for drawing.

If you like using pens, you might be interested in my DIY guide for drawing maps.