Line Drawing

The first step in creating a realistic rose pencil drawing is to make an accurate line drawing. Make a quick sketch and then correct that sketch until it's a good representation of the subject. Many people use a reference photo for this stage. You could trace the line drawing from the photo or you could use a graph to draw it.

Make the proportions of the line drawing as beautiful as possible because this is the foundation of the completed drawing. To help yourself do this, look at the negative space as well as the positive space.

Draw in the shapes of shadows and highlights, too, but draw them lightly so that they can be erased later if needed.

First Values - The Jigsaw Puzzle

Fill in the shapes of the line drawing to a slightly lighter shade than they really are. If you make the values too dark, they will be hard to correct later on. You don't have to make the value areas shaped exactly right; they can be corrected later.

A small flat brush is a good tool for doing light value fills. Usually, just pulling the brush over the lines already drawn on the paper will make a lovely wash effect. For the darker values, a stump or tortillion will help to make a darker mark. Finally, a pencil can be used to gently fill in the areas.

To help you see and place the values correctly, think of your drawing as a kind of blurry jigsaw puzzle. Each general value area makes a "puzzle piece" and that part of the puzzle will be put into place as the values are filled in.

Define the Puzzle Pieces

Define the shadow and highlight areas of the jigsaw puzzle more clearly. Use you eraser as well as the right hardness of pencil to help shape them, darken the shading to its true value.

As you work, notice the hard and soft edges of the value shapes and make sure to express them properly.

A soft line is a slightly blurred line created with light pressure on the pencil or with the side of the lead. A hard edge has a sharp or abrupt quality to it and can be produced with any sharp lead.

Contour the Rose

Now, instead of looking for the individual shadow and highlight areas, start looking for patterns and rhythms that flow over the entire surface of the flower. Instead of seeing the rose as a flat jigsaw puzzle, start seeing it as a three-dimensional object.

I added value to this rose starting at the left and swept it to the bottom of the bud to create a more true three-dimensional effect. I, also, emphasized the pattern of shadows and highlights in the leaves to give them a more realistic look.

Add the Final Details

Since both the larger and more specific values areas that make up the jigsaw puzzle of the rose have been put into place, and the contouring shadows and highlights have been added, it's time to add the final details. The details I concentrated on in this finished rose drawing are listed below:

• The highlights around the edges of the petals.
• The tiny veins at the bottom of the bud and the interesting way the rose gets a little lighter near the bottom of the flower.
• The details along the petal and leaf edges.
• The details in the leaves showing how they undulate.
• I darkened the edges of the petals to help them define the flower's edges.

Final thoughts

• When drawing flowers in grayscale, it's a good idea to concentrate on line, form, and texture.
• Pick a subject with a beautiful shape that's in soft lighting.
• Try working on softly colored pastel paper. It's an interesting way to inject just a touch of color into your work. A pale yellow works very well with graphite.

In this drawing, I used a very soft and smooth looking technique that works especially well for flowers. You can read more about how I draw with graphite here.

Since people love drawing roses so much, I've created another lesson using a different shading technique.

Happy Drawing,
Carol