Easy Way to Draw a Sunflower in 8 Steps
This guide shows how to draw a sunflower with easy to follow step by step instructions and illustrations.
The sunflower shown in the example is drawn and colored in a slightly simplified manner. This type of a drawing can be easier to create than a more realistic one but at the same time it can also look very nice as it’s not overly stylized.
Start the tutorial in pencil and make light lines as you will need to erase a little bit of the stem when adding one of the leaves. This will also make it easier to correct any potential mistakes. You can darken your lines after you have the entire sunflower outlined.
Step 1 – Draw the Center of the Sunflower
Begin by drawing a pair of circles to act as guides for drawing the sunflower’s center (a disk of florets). Start with the larger outer circle and then draw a smaller one inside it. When placing the circles on your page or drawing area be sure to leave plenty of room below for the stem and some room above for the petals (both added later steps). Also, be sure to make the lines that define these circles particularly light (barley visible). This way you can easily erase them using the corners of a regular eraser (or a kneaded eraser). If the lines are light enough you may not need to erase them at all as they will simply blend into the color later on.
Using the circles as guides create jagged outlines around them as shown above. Make the little “teeth” that comprise them larger along the outer circle and smaller along the inner circle. These outlines will create a hint of the little florets that comprise a sunflower’s center disk.
Step 2 – Draw the Petals
The yellow outer petals of a sunflower are actually called “ray florets”. First, draw the petals/ray florets that are in the front, the ones that are mostly visible (not covered or just slightly covered by other petals). Make the petals slightly wider as they go out form the center and then narrower again (each ending with a pointy tip). Generally, you can define each one with just two curved lines.
After adding the first series of petals draw the less visible petals behind them to finish the outline of the flower head.
For drawing a simpler flower see:
How to Draw a Flower Step by Step
Step 3 – Draw the Stem
Running down from the flower draw the stem. Make it slightly wider as it goes down and leave the bottom of the outline open. This will help indicate that it actually goes farther down. As sunflowers are generally quite tall it’s hard to fit the entire stem into a drawing so you can “crop” it as in this example.
Step 4 – Draw the Leaves
Draw the leaves pointing slightly downwards as is fairly characteristic for a sunflower. First, add the one facing more towards the viewer (on the left of the drawing). Outline the shape of it’s blade and then connect it to the main stem with a lightly curved stalk (be sure to make this thinner than the stem itself). As already mentioned, you will need to erase a bit of the stem’s outline when doing so. Next, draw the leaf that is pointing slightly away from the viewer on the opposite end of the sunflower.
Generally sunflower leaves are shaped like hearts. This is easier to see in the leaf on the left in the example. The leaf on the right is slightly folded so the shape is not as obvious.
For a more detailed guides on drawing different kinds of leaves see:
Step 5 – Draw the Petal Folds
Once you have the main parts of the sunflower outlined you can add some of the smaller details. Start with the folds along it’s petals as shown in the example. You can show the folds as curved or slightly “wavy” lines of different length that somewhat follow the shape of the petal (see example above).
Step 6 – Draw the Seeds
For the last part of the sunflower add the seeds. To show these first draw a series of angled curved lines running across the inner part of the sunflower disk.
Next, draw another series of angled curves intersecting with the first set to create the effect of sunflower seeds.
Once you’ve finished drawing the seeds trace over your drawing with darker lines. If you feel confident in your tracing ability you can use a thin black marker. If you are worried about making a mistake than simply do it by pressing harder on the pencil.
Step 7 – Color the Sunflower
To color the sunflower make the petals yellow, the florets brown and the seeds a dark brown/grey. Make the leaves and stem a yellow green.
Markers or colored pencils can both be good coloring options for this particular drawing.
Step 8 – Add Some Simple Shading
You may notice that the sunflower drawing in the previous step looks a little “flat”. To fix this add some basic shading as shown above.
Using some orange lightly go over the petals in the background (drawn in part two of step two) to darken them. Afterwards, also add a darker green streak along the right side of the stem and darken the background part of the folded leaf. This will create a sense of some very basic shadows and will help give the drawing a little more “volume” (make it look less flat).
An easy way to add the orange and the dark green is by using colored pencil to go over the initial layer of color from the previous step.
Conclusion
This guide shows a fairly easy way to draw a sunflower. While the drawing is slightly simplified it’s still fairly realistic and very characteristic of such a plant.
By giving the sunflower the appropriate shape and by applying some basic color and shading you can create a beautiful peace of art that both stands out and is easily recognizable for what it’s supposed to be.
If you like these kinds of easy to follow step by step tutorials also be sure to try the following:
