How to draw leaves with a pencil and paints

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Drawing nature requires sensitivity and understanding of its beauty, accurate reproduction of picturesque lines, curves and volumes. To depict natural beauty on paper, you need to be observant and attentive to the smallest details and changes that occur in wildlife.

Features of the structure of leaves

There are many different forms of leaves. They have individual characteristics, thanks to which they can be distinguished. To have an idea of how to draw leaves, you need to study the features of their structure. In order to determine the drawing order, consider what is present in each sheet.

Leaf structure:

• The stem is the main and central part of any leaf (the line of symmetry dividing it into 2 parts).
• A leaf plate that has its own specific shape.
• Veinlets (branching from the stem all over the body of the leaf).

Determine the details and draw the leaves with a pencil

The process of drawing leaves with a pencil consists of the following steps:

• Schematic construction of the main lines (at this stage, the proportions are approximately measured with a pencil, drawnmain sheet axes).
• Image of the main contour of the leaf plate (maple, oak, birch, aspen and others).
• Drawing the stem, veins and smaller details.
• Definition of light, half-light, shadow and half-shadow on a sheet.
• Give volume and texture to the sheet with pencil strokes.
• Dashed lines should be thin. Darker details are drawn at the end of the work.

Painting leaves with watercolor

How to draw leaves? You can do this with watercolors. This is a transparent paint. Objects made in watercolor will look natural and bright, which allows you to convey subtle and smooth transitions of colors and shades.

Learn to draw leaves:

• We make a sketch of the sheet with a simple pencil. The lines should be very faint and barely visible.



• Determine the main color of the sheet. We dip the brush in water, then in the desired color of watercolor (a small amount of paint is taken) and apply the first layer. The color should be light and transparent.



• Determine the light and dark areas of the picture.
• Select the desired colors and carefully apply with a brush, creating smooth transitions of tones.



• How to draw leaves, watercolor will tell. This is a paint that does not like clear boundaries and implies smooth and gentle color transitions. They are carefully created with a brush and water,at the same time, unnecessary lines are washed away.
• The stem and veins are drawn with darker tones of colors to give relief to the pattern.



• If some details of the leaves turned out darker than necessary, this can be easily corrected with a brush and water, removing the unwanted tone from a certain area.

Learning to draw is not as difficult as it seems. This will require, first of all, the desire to convey the splendor of the living world. How to draw leaves, how to see and feel natural beauty, nature, which is always open to humans, will tell and teach.