Flower Portraits, Measured Line Drawings

Creating measured flower portraits can be a little more challenging than the earlier leaf drawings, but the process is much the same—using dividers to measure each part. The main goal at this stage is to build the habit of measuring by starting with simple, face-on views before moving on to more complex subjects with angles and perspective. This approach will also speed up your workflow, helping you quickly capture the basic proportions of the flower before refining the details. I’ll be adding more to this post over the weekend of August 9–10 so please do check back.

Two flowers chosen for the portraits, Pansy and the composite daisy like flower, Helenium. The flowers are positioned for drawing with stems pushed through holes in a piece of card , and behind a small florist tubes attached to keep the flower fresh. If petals refuse to sit in position a little white tack can be used behind to support them - be careful not to damage the petals though.

Flower Choice

With flower choice, there are many options and much diversity and I suggest that you choose two very diverse flowers (you may do more than two of course, but only need to submit 2).

I am using two flowers with different symmetry, the first is a Pansy which has bilateral symmetry (alo known as zygomorhic) the flower has 5 petals. the second flower is a Helenium , which has radial symmetry (also known as actinomorphic). Later I will introduce a more complex form of flowers.

Flower symmetry 

This is touched on briefly in the first video, but in short: bilateral flowers can be divided into two symmetrical halves only along a single plane—down the center. Examples include pea flowers, salvia, and orchids. Radially symmetrical flowers, on the other hand, can be divided into multiple sections that are broadly the same—think of slicing a round cake into equal pieces from different angles. In this particular example, there’s a slight irregularity in the way the outer ray florets are arranged, but each section is still generally similar.

Bilateral and radial symmetry in two different flowers

Drawing Approach: The Pansy, Measuring and Plotting

I began with the pansy, and you can see the approach used in the video below (video approximately 13 minutes long).

Using a 2H pencil and dividers, I start by marking the basic height and width to create a box for the space the flower will occupy. Next, I lightly sketch the center lines and pinpoint the flower’s center, which forms a small triangular shape—this becomes my starting point.

The bottom petal is the widest, with a fairly straight upper edge and a small notch at its base. I measure its widest point, plot it, then loosely outline the petal, also measuring the depth of the notch. I keep all lines light so they can be easily erased or adjusted as I go—this stage is all about flexibility. After that, I add the left and right petals, carefully noting the 'V' shape that is btween athos two petals, and finally I add the two petals at the top. With these in place, I now have the basic structure of the flower, ready for refinement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8bLPkZtgSM

Video, showing the drawing of the Pansy portrait

Working this way lets me map out the flower’s parts quickly—especially useful for blooms that wilt easily or tend to shift position (as many flowers do!). I also take a photo from the same angle, both as a backup in case the flower moves, and as a reference for making any adjustments to the drawing later.

Refining the Drawing

To finish, I work with care to refine the outline—erasing lightly with a putty eraser , making small corrections, and strengthening the lines just enough for clarity. The veins and indent lines are added next, measured for both their spacing and their gentle flow along the contours of each petal, these lines can be a little lighter in weight. Finally, I draw in the reproductive structures and central details, completing the study as a clean, accurate line drawing. this type of drawign would be ideal for adding tonal work to or for painting in watercolour, so it should not have a heavy line.

Line drawing, portrait of Pansy

Daisy-Shaped Inflorescence: Helenium

It's worth knowing a little about the type of flower that you are drawing and in this case the structure is not actually a flower but an infloresecne, which can also be referred to as a flower-head. The Daisy like 'flowers' belong to the Asteraceae family, which is one of the largest families. The 'composite infloresence has many tightly packed small flowers collectively called the capitulum or head, the tiny flowers, called 'disc florets' are usually arranged in a Fibonacci type arrangement. The outer petal-like structures are called, ray florets, are actually strap-like flowers and not petals.

Drawing the Portrait

The process is much the same as in the Pansy but is more complicated. It begins with bounding box for drawing for the outer ray florets, the flower is has radial symmetry (although not perfect, this is the general arrangement) this means it can be divided up on multiple planes, and then it is much easier to construct the drawing, as shown in the video and images below. The central disc florets are drawn in as a smaller box in the centre. This allows speedy drawing of the subject.

The outer red box is the overall area the inflorescence will occupy. The inner blue box is the area that the centre disc florets occupy. The yellow lines divide the box into equal segments, and this makes it easier to plot in the outer ray florets.

Initial working sketch, quickly plotted using the 'planning lines, shown above. This drawing can be completed in around 10 minutes.

In the centre of the inflorescence, the small flowers are arranged in a Fibonacci type pattern (more about this later in the course), we can plot the central flowers by drawing in two spirals running in opposite directions, (clockwise in red and counter clockwise in blue), then draw in the small rounded unopened flowers- this is just a guideline and the flowers are not all perfectly round and the pattern is not perfect - so don't worry about being too exact . The aim is to understand how the flowers are arranged. The outer open florets are far less structured but broadly fit into the same spiral but with the stigmas and pollen being visible - this creates a more random appearance.

IN the final stage the drawing can be refined, by gently erasing working lines and making cleaner linework - as shown in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LBB3tLstLg

Refining the drawing

Next week some more complex flower structures will be added and I will explore the shading techniques