12 Easy to Draw Flowers In Pencil Step by Step for Beginners
Do you want to learn flower drawing or how to draw various types of flowers but are worried they’re just too hard to draw? Trust me, you can draw flowers. You just have to find some easy to draw flowers.
If you’re a beginner at drawing flowers, or looking for some easy flowers to draw then this is the perfect tutorial for you! In this guide you will learn how to draw 12 easy to draw flowers in a few easy steps at a beginner level that will make you look like a professional.
I will show you some of the easy steps to draw flowers in pencil step by step. The best part about this tutorial is that you can draw flowers using any type of paper, pencil or pen so if you don’t have sketchbook or graphite pencils handy, no worries!
Easy Flowers to Draw – Drawing supplies
Before we kick off our easy flower drawings in pencil step by step activity we need to grab some supplies. Most of you will have these or a version of these lying around the home.
Supply List:
– Pencil (graphite or colored) and pen (personally I like Sakura pigma micron pens) – I say pencil AND pen as I like to first sketch in the flower using a pencil such as a 2H which is quite hard and light and then ink over the pencil lines in a nice drawing pen or pen brush. I then erase the pencil lines leaving just the pen work. In this tutorial though, we will not be inking in the flower so this is an optional step.
– Kneadable Eraser – If you are using pencils these are highly recommended as we can use a kneadable eraser to accentuate highlights and lighting. I use an eraser to create the illusion of light and highlights quite often. While flowers are easy to draw you may also wish to erase some minor ‘mistakes’ along the way.
– Blending stump – An optional item that you can use to blend pencil work. As you will see from my drawings that I use a lot of blending in my flower drawings but I use my thumb or finger which is free.
– 12 sheets of paper or a sketchbook, so we can draw a different flower drawing on each. You can draw your own versions if you want! Any brand will do but I have a few listed below. I also have a buyer guide that may help here.
Approach to drawing flowers easy
Below is a summary of the step by step instructions on how to draw a flower, any flower. Each step should be easy to follow and I have kept the number of steps to 3 steps only so that you aren’t discouraged from trying.
Don’t worry if your final drawing does not look exactly like mine, what matters is that after a few attempts you get something that looks close to the flower you are drawing.
For every flower we will:
- First we draw a stem very lightly using a pencil.
- Then we draw an outline where the petals will go. Draw around the edge of this shape with just one curved line from each point on the outer circle like in picture below.
- We then draw the petals and stamen or pistils, shading and adding highlights where required.
With all these you do not need to use any ruler or guides, just be free with your pencil work and I promise you will get better the more you practice. Following these steps will make flower drawing easy. Now let’s get started with the actual flowers.
Structure of a flower
Before we dive into drawing flowers I just want to show you a simple image of a flower with some sections labelled so that you know what I am referring to when i say Pistil or Stamen. When I refer to the disc of the flower, that’s basically the yellow disc you would see on a daisy.
What are the 12 Easy To Draw Flowers
We will be tackling the following easy to draw flowers sorted by what I believe are from easiest to hardest. You don’t have to draw all of them, pick a flower you like and focus on that one or start from easy and try the next as your skills progress.
The easy flower drawings in pencil step by step that we will tackle. Just click on the flower in the list and you will be taken to the section on how to draw the flower:
- Poppy – A poppy is a flowering plant often grown for their colourful flowers. It is one of the most easy flowers to draw.
- Sunflowers – The sunflower is known for its extremely large yellow flowers. A sunflower is one of the most simple flowers to draw.
- Peace Lily – Peace lilies have dark green leaves that start out narrow and get rounder as they grow. They periodically produce flowers that are white and smell good like the calla lily. The flowers start out pale green then turn creamy white as they open.
- Daisy’s – Daisies are a small European plant found in the grasslands that have flowers with a yellow disc and small white rays.
- Lillies/Lily – Lillies have large flowering white blooms with a distinctive shape.
- Geraniums – Geraniums are part of 422 types of plants so the flower shapes will vary but most are small and colorful.
- Daffodils – Daffodils have a yellow or white flower, with six petals and a trumpet-shape central corona.
- Tulips – Tulip flowers are usually large with brightly colored petals that are mostly red, pink, yellow, or white.
- Hibiscus – Hibiscus flowers are large with ruffled petals that are usually shades of orange, yellow, red or pink with a stem extending out the centre.
- Magnolia – Magnolias flowers are usually large white or pink flowers. They flower off tree branches so their stems will be a little different compared to other flowers that sprout from out of the ground.
- White Oleander – White oleander usually have large white petals that resemble propellers spinning.
- Lotus flower – Lotus flowers are usually white and some are pink. They have big leaves that are dark green. The leaves have a waxy texture and water droplets slip down the surface of the leaves.
Easy Flowers to draw – Poppy
I was once asked what is the easiest flower to draw and my response was a Poppy (followed by a Sunflower) which is why it is my top pick for drawing flowers for beginners.
We will start with Poppy flowers as they are very simple and one of the easy flowers to draw. Just sketch a ball and that’s it! Add three little circles on top and you’re done. If only it was that easy.
Since this is for beginners, I didn’t go too complicated with my poppy. As I am constantly told, less is more and that applies to poppy flowers.
Start with a simple shape as per step 1 below.
In step 2 we add a few larger shapes that will become the petals for the Poppy.
Now poppy petals feel and look like paper that is slightly crumpled. Think of that when adding some of the detail in step 3.
What I like to do in step 3 is add some light lines to show where this crumpling happens. I also like to add some shadows below the petals and then use my finger or thumb to smudge the shadow out so that it gets lighter as it gets closer to the lighter side.
At the centre disc of the flower surrounded by petals, just draw some tight squiggles and circles.
The stem is a simple shape, shade in one side a little darker and smudge out to where the light is. This gives the stem and flower a 3D look.
Easy Flowers to draw – Sunflowers
I think that one of my favorite types of flower is sunflower, so it’s only natural for me to put them in here.
When drawing the Sunflower, I went for the less traditional looking sunflower that is not completely front on and it has a few leaves to add to the final image.
The step by step process to drawing this sunflower is fairly simple.
All you have to do in step 1 is sketch out a circle with 2 inner circles.
In steps 2 and 3, the outer circle will be used to lay out a rough sketch of 3 to 4 rows of petals, some overlapping here and there – just make sure they’re not too close together though or else you’ll end up with an oddly shaped sunflower instead of a beautiful round one like we want.
Shade in some petals and smudge with your finger, thumb or blending stump. Make them darker towards the bottom of each petal.
The second circle just needs some tight circles all bunched together. Add some shading to each circle and remember they don’t need to look perfect. Shade in the inner line a little darker to give it a 3D effect.
The inner circle will be the flower’s disc. This can be filled in with some cross hatching drawing technique with a small nub in the centre. Add some shading here and there.
Now just draw some simple leaves attached to slightly thick stem and shade and smudge.
You have now drawn a flower very easily in 3 steps.
Easy Flowers to draw – Peace Lily
The next flower we can easily learn to draw is a Peace Lily flower. This is possibly the most easiest flower to draw but it does need the peace lily leaves to offset the simplicity of the flower. These could easily be done with some watercolor or plain shading if you find drawing leaves a little too hard.
In step 1 of how to draw a peace lily flower, you draw a shape that resembles a lit match or a flame.
In the second step, use some messy cross hatching to give the centre of the lily some body.
In step 3, you will want to add some light shading to the leaf, then gently smudge the entire flower. What we will do next is give it some highlights and we will use an eraser to do this.
If you have a kneadable eraser, knead the eraser into a small fine point that is about as thick as a blunt pencil tip.
Now you can start to gently erase a line to give the effect that some white paint has been applied. Do the same with the little circles sticking out at the centre of the flower at the top of the pistil.
Then grab your pencil and add some shading to each circle to give you a 3D effect. If you want easy to draw flowers then this is it.
Easy Flowers to draw – Daisy
Daisies are quite easy to draw flowers, they’re similar to sunflowers in approach.
The thing with daisies is that they’re not symmetrical, so you have to be careful about the placement of your lines or else it won’t look as good. This also makes them an easy to draw flower as you can make some mistakes and people will still recognize a daisy.
You start off by drawing two circles on top of each other as in step 1, one will be a guideline for the petals and the smaller one will be for the flower’s disc.
Then add a row of petals as in step 2. Also add some roughly drawn circles in the centre of the daisy. We will make these look nicer in step 3.
In step 3 we will add the additional rows which will appear like a peekaboo behind the first row that we drew earlier.
Start shading some of the first row of petals little.
Now fill in the second and third rows using a lighter shade, add darker shades when needed. Smudge each petal as needed, making sure you start with a darker shade at the centre and ensure that it gets lighter the closer you reach the tip of the petals making sure they’re white at the tips.
For the centre disc of the daisy we will start to add some more tightly drawn circles and shade each one. This will give the centre a 3D effect.
Add some darker shading on the outer edge and smudge it out to blend it all in a little, just a little.
Shade in the stem and smudge and you’re done. Another easy to draw flower completed.
Easy Flowers to draw – Lilies or Lily flowers
I gave my daughter the middle name Lily as I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen when she was born. And that’s what I think of Lily flowers.
My wife loves Lilys but hates the red dust that seems to drop off after a few days and stain everything they land on.
To draw a Lily, draw a circle for the base of the flower as in step 1. Draw a small almost vertical tightly drawn circle with a circle at the base of that.
In step 2, sketch in what will become about 7 petals that are flopping down at the ends.
Sketch in the stamen and the tips of the stamen and add some rough shading for the petals.
In step 3, add some shading with pencils to darken the petals up as this will add more depth or dimensionality; then finally use an eraser carefully so as not to disturb too much of what we have just drawn but enough to add some highlights and to also clean out any mistakes that crop up here and there.
Add some shading and light lines for the lily petals and smudge them with your finger or thumb. Add some shading to your stem and smudge this as well.
Another pretty flower drawing in pencil.
Easy Flowers to draw – Geraniums
Geraniums are one of the most easy to draw flowers, simple petals that change shape based on the variety of Geranium of which there are hundreds of varieties. You really can’t get drawing a geranium wrong.
I call geraniums a weed as we can’t seem to kill the ones we have growing in our yard and growing cuttings is as simple as snapping off a stem and placing it in dirt.
Start by drawing a much larger circle and then a small disc in the middle where we will sketch out the outline form of the petals.
Draw 5 light outlines for petals, they are usually uneven and oddly shaped so as I said before, you can’t get this one wrong.
Lightly shade each petal and smudge towards the centre of the flower and also some on the tips.
Lightly draw in some veins on the petals.
The pistil can be 3 roughly drawn blobs or circles that can be shaded lightly.
Now grab the kneaded eraser and erase some of the shading around the base of the pistil and also erase around some parts of the petal to give it the illusion of highlights and help accentuate the shadows.
I also erased some of the edges around the petals to give the edges the effect of lighting.
Your next flower tutorial will be on drawing a daffodil, which is also another great easy to draw flower for beginners.
Easy Flowers to draw – Daffodil flowers
Daffodils are usually associated with the joy of springtime, a time of rebirth. Drawing them is just as pleasurable but you need to stay focused on the details.
Start by drawing a curved line coming out from either side of the page (stem), then make one long oval coming off this stem with a smaller cone shape coming out of that one.
In step 2 draw about 5 petal shaped ovals and give the centre cone a little hollow cone shape that we will shade this in.
In step 3, we sharpen the tips of the petals into more a pointy shape. We draw some faint lines in the middle of each petal and some light lines along either side.
Shade the petals in and smudge a little.
Now at the centre of each petal line you can smudge them a little darker to give it more depth.
Before we use the kneadable eraser to highlight the petals, we will draw the cone a little more.
Add some shading to the under side.
Darken inside the cone to give it the illusion that the cone centre is hollow.
Use the eraser again to erase some smudged shading at the top of the cone.
Use the eraser to erase around the edges of the petals as well.
Shade in the stem as usual.
Easy Flowers to draw – Tulips
Tulips are such an easy flower to draw but easy doesn’t mean it’s not a beautiful flower.
Draw a simple stem in the middle of your paper.
Add a small oval for the petal outlines.
In step 2, add the outlines for about 5 petals.
In step 3, start to add the shading for each petal and smudge to fade from the base to the tip.
You may use your eraser to create some highlights on each petal.
Add a leaf if you wish to the stem and shade as shown.
Easy Flowers to draw – Hibiscus
The hibiscus is such a lovely flower to draw and one of my favorites.
But the hibiscus flower is one of the hardest flowers to draw for me as the petals resemble flowing materials like a flamenco dancers dress. Trying to capture the shades for each petal to make it look like a dress can be a challenge.
Start with two circles for petal outlines and the centre pistil.
Draw the outline of leaves coming off each side of this larger leaf shape.
In step 2 i tried to draw where I thought shadows would be as this made it easier to imagine how the petals would look, again I drew inspiration from the folds of dresses.
In step 3, start to shade in darker than usual petals and smudge to give the petals the velvety/creche paper texture that the hibiscus flower has. Add some darker lines here and there to accentuate shades.
Grab that trusty kneadable eraser and start creating highlights by removing some smudges. Feel free to smudge around the erased areas to blend in the light and dark areas so that they look smoother.
Draw in the detail of the pistil by roughly drawing in tiny circles each with their own shades and highlights.
Sketch in some leaves and shades these with the stems.
Easy Flowers to draw – Magnolia
Magnolias are also quite easy to draw, they’re similar to sunflowers and daisies in approach except they grow off a tree branch. This drawing is based on a pink magnolia.
In this drawing of a magnolia we will draw two flowers, one open and one closed. The top closed magnolia is optional.
Start by drawing a really tall, thin stem with an oval bulb coming out at the top. The top bulb is for the closed magnolia flower.
Towards the middle of the stem, draw a circle with a small circle that will form the base of the open magnolia flower.
In step 2, sketch out 5 or 6 petal shapes for the open magnolia flower and for the top closed bulb add some uneven closed petal shapes as shown.
In step 3, erase the guidelines and add shading to each petal and smudge out from the centre disc so that the darker parts are in the centre and the shading gets lighter as you move out to the edges of the petals.
Lightly draw some centre lines in each petal and then use the eraser to erase out some highlights.
For the centre disc, draw tightly packed ovals that each have their own shades and highlights.
For the top bulb, add some shading from the base and smudge out to the top. Add some light lines at the centre of each petal. Smudge out with a finger.
Use the eraser to add some highlights.
Sketch in some detail in the stem, shade and smudge as required.
Easy Flowers to draw – White Oleander
Oleanders are not so easy to draw if you think of them as a flower which sounds weird but you need to think of them as a soft material with the petals having a slight tip. This drawing is based on a white oleander which some color would do it justice.
I picked the white oleander to draw as I think this will make shading easier and as it is white we can focus on the outline of the oleander flower rather than the shading that usually makes up the flower’s color.
Draw the stem and the base, then add the petals as shown using a few lines. Each petal should also be thicker and bolder than the ones before! Like to draw 4 wide petals.
As the flowers are very delicate, I like to shade them in lightly and smudge the petals all the way adding in some darker shading here and there only to highlight where one petal ends and another petal starts.
The pistil is quite small and looks more like an navel. Shade this in and smudge outwards.
Add some leaves around the flower as shown and shade around the flower to make it pop.
This is a great way to represent this type of flower because it does not share many characteristics with other plants. It’s different enough from roses or daisies for example to make it identifiable as something new.
Easy Flowers to draw – Lotus Flower
The lotus flower looked easier than it actually was to draw. The lotus flower is more complicated than it looks which is why I have it last on my list of easy to draw flowers.
Start with a centre disc, then a disc around it, and do this two more times. The centre disc will contain the flowers that make up the pistil and centre disc of the lotus.
The other circles will be guidelines for each row of petals. A lotus has about 4 to 5 rows.
We will sketch in the petals, alternating the petals on each row as shown. Don’t worry if you don’t get the alternating perfect as lotus flowers are not a symmetrical flower and some petals will be of different shape and size compared to others on the same flower.
In step 3, we shade in the base of each petal and smudge outwards so that the tip of each petal is white. You can erase any shading at the top of each petal if you make a mistake.
Shade each petal in each row this way. This will give the illusion of depth and three dimensionality.
The centre disc looks like a closing flower. I draw in a dark tightly packed disc that is surrounded by furry looking petals that are surrounded by a small row of petals that are dark at the tips and lighter at the base.
Use an eraser to add highlights.
Shade in the stem and you are done. This one will take some practice I think but it is achievable for all skill levels.
Easy Hawaiian flowers to draw
If you are looking for some easy Hawaiian flowers to draw then this post will have included some already as I have already covered flowers such as the Hibiscus. Other easy to draw flowers from Hawaii are the Plumeria (or Frangipani as it is known in many other countries), other flowers include:
Hibiscus – This is a popular Hawaiian flower that is easy to draw. It has a large, circular center with five petals around the outside.
Plumeria – This flower has five petals that are oval-shaped and overlap each other. The center of the flower is a small, round shape.
Bird of Paradise – This flower has a unique shape that resembles a bird in flight. It has three large petals that are orange and blue, and three smaller petals that are white. It is one of the most easy to draw flowers from Hawaii and coloring one of the drawings in is quite simple.
Anthurium – This flower is also known as the Heart of Hawaii and we found this everywhere we went in Hawaii. It has a heart-shaped bloom with a spike at the end. The bloom is often red or pink, but can also be white or green.
Orchid – Orchids come in many different varieties, but the simplest ones to draw have a round center with several oval-shaped petals around it. While there are only 3 Orchids that are native to Hawaii, the islands are lush with many imported varieties that you will see everywhere.
These are just a few examples of easy Hawaiian flowers to draw. With a little practice, you can create beautiful sketches of these and other flowers found in Hawaii.
12 Easy to draw flowers – Wrap up!
I hope you enjoyed drawing 12 easy to draw flowers, as you have seen most are drawn using just a few steps.
Flowers can be simple so we keep it simple. You don’t need any advanced drawing skills because they can be done in such a basic fashion. This is why I love to teach how to draw for beginners using easy to draw flowers. Many teachers make their students attempt roses and other difficult to draw flowers but that will just discourage beginners.
The best part of learning how to draw flowers for beginners? They look great even if your artistic talent isn’t that high level. Beginners can enjoy some nice flower drawings that will make them feel accomplished as an artist.
Unlike most articles on how to draw flowers where they used images from professional flower artists, all the examples shown are all my own original drawings made from following my own easy steps to draw flowers. This has helped me to produce the easy flower drawings in pencil step by step guide that you have just completed. I suggest you try these easy steps to draw flowers more than once as I found that it takes a few attempts to become accomplished at flower drawings.
If you do share this tutorial it would be fantastic if you could provide proper attribution and link to my site.
Joseph Colella (Joe Colella) is an Editor and Writer at WastedTalentInc. As a frustrated artist with over 40 years experience making art (who moonlights as a certified Business Analyst with over 20 years of experience in tech). While Joseph holds a Diploma in Information Technology, in true wasted talent fashion he spent years applying for various Art degrees; from the Accademia di Belle Arti (Napoli), to failing to get into the Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) at the University of Western Sydney. While he jokes about his failures at gaining formal art qualifications, as a self-taught artist he has had a fruitful career in business, technology and the arts. His goal is to attend the Julian Ashton School of Art at The Rocks Sydney when he retires from full time work. Joseph’s art has been sold to private collectors all over the world from the USA, Europe and Australasia. He is a trusted source for reliable art advice and tutorials to copyright/fair use advice and is committed to helping his readers make informed decisions about making them a better artist.
He also loves all things watches (ok it’s an addiction) so show him some love and visit his other website https://expertdivewatch.com
