Kerry Godsall

How To Sketch A Rose



Posted: Wednesday, September 10, 2008

by
http://www.allaboutdrawings.com

You may have noticed there are numerous ways to sketch roses. Now you can discover one of the easiest methods to capture enough details to make a satisfactory sketch.

Remember that we are talking about sketching here. There's a slight difference between drawing and sketching. A drawing takes a good amount of time, for dedication to detail, and care. A sketch is meant to quickly gain enough information to depict a subject.

You can create a realistic rose in just minutes, you only need to give the perception of a rose.

Keep in mind that most roses have five petals in each layer. This tiny bit of knowledge will go a long way towards helping you establish your rose outline easily. It simplifies the rose.

Here are the simple steps. Try out this method for sketching roses and experience a feeling of triumph with the simplicity of it all.

This sketch has been done in ink for easy reference:



1. You can create the intricate center of the rose by drawing a figure similar to the @ (at) symbol.

2. Surround this symbol with two or three crescent moon shapes. Make sure the moon shapes are hugging the center and not facing outwards.

3. Next, place a couple of single lined curves haphazardly around that. Make them about a quarter of a circle in length. Space out these curves, don't draw one long continuous line. Draw them to cover the spaces between the moon shapes. It's up to you how many of these curves you use. Try just 2 layers to begin with.

4. Finally, draw the five petal shapes in two or three layers around your existing sketch. Draw each petal across the spaces between the quarter circle lines.

If the center looks too bare, place a couple more short strokes in there, to represent the huddle of petals.

If you want to elaborate on the sketch, you can use small strokes to indicate shadows under the petals.

It only requires a bit of fiddling to arrive at a good rose sketch. Don't obsess over drawing every petal. The idea of sketching is to suggest the overall shape.

Draw lightly at first, then darken the lines as you become more confident with the foundation of your drawing. Your light lines are your guidelines.
Kerry is a self taught artist. She started drawing after she turned 40 years of age. Her biggest aim today is to encourage others to start drawing. She feels if she can do it then you can too.

She likes to share the easy drawings on her site - http://www.allaboutdrawings.com - with all aspiring artists. She indicates degrees of hardness for each pencil drawing. Plus, she wants drawings available for those who just want a drawing, without having to do it themselves.

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Derick Dune
from London Oxford rd 1 year 98 days ago.
This information was perfect!

It wasn't to detailed or complicated it was just perfect!

Thank you so much for the advise for how to draw a Rose.

I was drawing one as i read and it looks great it i must say so my self!

I admire your work Kerry Godsall!

Thank you so much i a lot more confident drawing Roses now.

But i thought that you should do your version of a rose so people can know what theres should be simaler too.

what do you think?

» left by Kerry Godsall 1 year 98 days ago.
2 fans.
Hello Derick

Thank you for your very kind words of praise, I am delighted you were able to draw the rose - even without a drawing to reference. As per your suggestion, I have uploaded a rough example so you can see the idea behind the instructions.

Thanks for your comment, I wish you many happy drawing moments!
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