How to Draw a Leaf
There are many types of leaves that you can learn how to draw. Drawing leaves can be useful in landscape pictures or for decorating the walls in a home. The leaf is also a natural object that is easily found and picked, making it the ideal subject for a nature drawing. Collect a couple of fallen leaves before you start learning how to draw the leaf. Pick out some differently shaped leaves to examine and draw.
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Instructions
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Outline the leaf on the piece of paper using a pencil. Create the outline by actually tracing the leaf. Or use the leaf shape as a visual reference. Verify that the leaf is mostly symmetrical. Use the eraser to modify any edges or lines that are not symmetrical.
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Draw two light lines down the middle of the leaf. Extend the lines past the edge of the leaf to draw the stem. Make a small oval on the bottom of the stem and fill it in with the pencil, darkening it.
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3
Place the pencil toward the bottom of one of the internal middle lines. Make a line that moves in a diagonal and upward direction. End at the edge of the leaf. Repeat the same line on the opposite side of the leaf. This creates the beginning of the series of small veins that are always seen in leaves. Continue drawing more large veins, as if drawing a diagonal ladder on each side of the main middle vein.
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Sketch in smaller vein lines between the vein lines you just drew. The pattern can be somewhat random. Make veins moving in different directions. Make some dark and some light. The more veins you draw the more real your leaf will look.
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Attach another stem to the first by drawing one in. Draw a second leaf on the stem. Continue until you have a branch of leaves. The other option is to connect the leaves with a line that looks like a vine.
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Tips & Warnings
Find a variety of real leaves to draw.
Do not just draw leaves from memory or pictures, use real leaves.
