How to Draw a Sunflower Step by Step

by easydrawingtips

This tutorial shows an easy way to draw a sunflower. It includes a total of 9 steps with illustrated examples and quick drawing tips.

The tutorial demonstrates a fairly simple, beginner-friendly art style where the sunflower is created with a realistic shape, black outlines, and some basic flat shading.

Starting the drawing in pencil is recommended. Begin with light lines that you can easily erase in case of a mistake. You can darken them once you have all parts of the sunflower outlined.

Supplies Needed for This Sunflower Drawing

Regular HB Graphite Pencil: For the initial linework and shading. Though you can also use softer pencils for the shading if you have some available (like a 2B to 4B).
White Paper: Drawing paper or standard printer paper.
Eraser: A regular vinyl or rubber eraser.
Fine-Point Black Marker (recommended): For getting black outlines similar to those shown in the examples.
Drawing Tablet and Digital Software (alternative): Allows for easy black outlines and solid grays like those in the examples.

Step 1 – Draw the Center of the Sunflower

First, outline the center of the sunflower by drawing a circle. Be sure to position it in a way where you still have some room for the petals above and plenty of room for the stem and leaves below. Next, draw a second, smaller circle inside the first one.

These circles do not need to be perfect in shape, but try not to have them too warped either.

Step 2 – Draw the Foreground Petals

Around the center of the sunflower, start adding the petals. You can make the shapes of these somewhat random, but generally, they should be narrower near the base, wider towards the middle, and then again narrower towards the tips. You can also draw some of them overlapping one another and a few a short distance apart.

The easy thing about drawing this first set of petals is that you don’t have to worry if their combined shape (the corolla) looks somewhat uneven. You can tweak things in the next step.

Step 3 – Draw the Background Petals

Sticking out from behind the first set of petals, you can draw in a second set. Use these to fill any gaps and to balance out the overall shape of the sunflower.

Step 4 – Draw the Stem

For this quick step, draw the stem with a light curve and make it slightly thicker towards the bottom and thinner towards the top.

Step 5 – Draw the Leaves

Sunflower leaves are shaped somewhat like a heart. In this case, they will also be viewed at an angle. To show this, draw them thinner than you would if you were looking directly at the top or bottom of the leaf.

The leaf in the front will be facing slightly towards the viewer. The leaf in the back will be facing away, and its base will be partially hidden behind the stem.

Step 6 – Outline the Organic Shape of the Center

Give the center of the sunflower a more uneven shape by going over the two circles drawn earlier with a “bumpy” outline.

This will give the sunflower a more natural/organic look.

Step 7 – Draw the Petals Folds

Add some folds to the petals by drawing a few wavy lines at their base. The number of folds for each petal can be somewhat random, but generally, one to three lines should be enough.

Step 8 – Add the Leaf Veins & Finish the Line Drawing

Running along the leaves, draw a few veins. You do not need to draw a lot of these but instead just enough to give a hint of them being there.

Once done with the veins, trace over your drawing with darker pencil lines or a fine-point black marker.

Step 9 – Add Some Shading & Finish the Sunflower Drawing

To make the sunflower stand out a little more than a plain line drawing, you can give it just a bit of shading. Fill in its center (where the seeds are) with dark gray and the rim around that with a lighter gray.

As was mentioned at the start, you can use softer pencils for adding the grays if you happen to have some.

Conclusion

This tutorial shows how to draw a sunflower with a realistic shape, black outlines, and some simple flat shading. Drawing in such a style can be great for practicing your linework skills, especially if you are a beginner.

For more tutorials that focus on line drawing and minimal shading, see: