Structure and Form--Ultimate Flowers Drawing Guide

In order to draw plants and flowers successfully you need to know a little about their structure and form. Don’t be tempted to draw them in botanical detail to begin with; concentrate instead on their basic shapes. To make your flower drawings seem convincing, they must look as three-dimensional as possible.

Formation and shape

Most flowers are symmetrical so study the petal forms and how they are centered in the flower. Compare, f or example, the petal formation of a daisy with that of the more complex snapdragon.

Learn to look at flowers as simple shapes; many flowerheads break down into geometric shapes, such as the circle and the triangle. Beginning with these forms will help you to understand the structure and the proportion of plants.

Suitable media

Choose a medium that best describes the form. The crispness of a technical pen evokes the delicate veins on a petal, while soft pencil creates ruffles of carnation petals. Sharp conté pencils describe open gladioli trumpets, and strong charcoal strokes add volume to the lily.

Remember always to simplify a flowerhead before building up the detail.

To understand the structure and form of a plant, it’s a good idea to draw it from every angle.

Respond to changes in form and structure, and alter your marks accordingly. Here (left) fluid lines describe the rhythmic, flowing stems and leaves of the carnations, and smaller, more staccato marks convey the frothy petals. Semi-circles define the flowerheads’ basic shape.

You can simplify gladioli flowers, breaking their forms down into diamond shapes contained within vertical lines.

Initial simplification of a plant will prevent future headaches. Notice how the lily head falls neatly into a triangle.

Looking at leaves

Leaf shapes are often as beautiful and as complex in their structural form as flowers themselves — in fact, the character of a flower is often defined by its leaf structure. The nasturtium flower would be quite different without its convoluted stalks and umbrella- shaped leaves, and the intricately textured primrose leaf makes a perfect foil for the delicate primrose flower.

Before you start to draw your leaves, observe carefully how they grow along the stem. Some leaves grow opposite each other, others grow alternately, and some, such as those of the daffodil, from the base of the plant.

TIP: If a stalk or stem is hidden by a leaf make sure that you draw it in the correct place when it reappears.

Here, the form of the primrose leaf is described in minute detail with a fine pen.

1. Carefully observe the leaf structure before you begin a detailed drawing.

2. Having drawn the basic armature, you can then build up the ribbed texture of the leaf.

This tendril of ivy has been drawn with a watercolor pencil and wash on cartridge paper. Note the distinctive alternate growth of the ivy leaves.

Felt-tip pen on layout paper catches, with descriptive dots and dashes, the ‘mouths and tongues’ of the snapdragon plant.

A mapping pen on copy paper carefully follows the convoluted forms of a nasturtium stalk and leaf.