Sketch of a Rose

A sketch of a rose in pencil on grey paper.

When doing a pencil drawing of roses or other flower sketches consider using different coloured papers or monochrome as I have here. This can give your drawings of roses a real kick.

I used a 2B derwent graphic pencil.

1. I start in the centre and work my way outwards. You can see the centre of the rose and the petals that surround it.

2. I keep the strokes nice and light trying not to scratch the surface.

3. I take care to get the width of the petals accurate. They naturally become wider the further out from the centre they are but as we are looking at angled petals you have to take this into account.

4. It is starting to take on the appearance of a rose.

5. I continue outwards.

6. I step back frequently to check I am not going wrong.

7. I work the bottom of the rose.

8. I define the petals. The sketch is pretty much finished as far as line work goes. Now I am ready to add tone.

9. I begin adding tones roughly where the darkest parts of the flower are.

10. I use one directional lines varying the hand pressure.

11. I use firm pressure to build up the darks working outwards from the centre. I use cross hatching to help with this.

12. The finished piece shows the variations of tone. I had to lift some tone from the paper with a putty eraser to help define petals.

Don't forget to add your own flower sketches, drawings and paintings

for other to see and enjoy.

Return to Painting Flowers from sketch of a rose.

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