How to Draw Daylilies
Drawing can be a rewarding and stress-releasing creative experience. One way to practice and increase your skill is to sketch a still life of images in front of you. Not only do you focus your skills of observation, but you get to express yourself with how you choose to highlight or present the image. To draw daylilies, be prepared to focus carefully on the many shapes of flowers and the various directions the leaves can take.
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Things You'll Need
- Photo, image, or actual daylily for reference
- Sketch pad
- Drawing pencils
- Smudge stick, optional
- Gum eraser
Instructions
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1
Look over your picture or daylily and note the shaping of the plant. Look objectively at the "lines" or outlines of the daylily and how they arc, bend or jut out from the center or the plant.
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2
Sketch the lines of the daylily with a light touch. Study at the daylily approximately 75 percent of the time and look at your sketch only 25 percent of the time to make sure you draw the true lines of the plant and not what you see in your mind.
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3
Add details, such as the telltale creases up each leaf blade and the speckling on flowers, to the sketch. Note any other details for your picture, things such as ruffled petals, stubs from dropped flowers, and textures of the stems, leaves and petals.
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4
Create areas of shading with your pencil where the light source, be it the sun or a bulb, doesn't light the entire body of the plant. Use a smudge stick or your finger to smooth your shading by rubbing it back and forth over the pencil markings on specifically shaded areas. Repeat the shading and smudging to add further depth as needed.
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5
Press or rub your eraser over the areas of shading that have fallen out of your daylily outline. This will clean up the image. You also can use the eraser to add back areas of light to the image if they were smudged over.
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6
Darken any lines that you think should stand out more or have been lightened by the smudging process. Continue to work the sketch by adding more details, texture and shading until you are satisfied with the picture.
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Tips & Warnings
If desired, you can add some color to your image with colored pencils. While you don't have to color the entire drawing, you can add subtle highlights such as a few notes of green on the leaves or light coloring to the flower. To avoid the "floating in space" effect with your flower, often drawing a straight horizontal line across the background about a third of the way up the page can help anchor your plant or any other images.
Keep your work on a flat surface away from liquids or other potential spills. If you aren't going to be working on it for a few days, store your sketch and picture in a safe location.
