Rose Drawing Ideas

How to draw a rose step by step

A rose scares people off, and it should not. The secret is that a rose is a spiral with petals wrapped around it. Once you see it that way, it stops being a complicated flower and becomes one simple shape with layers added.

1. Draw a small loose spiral in the middle of your page, like a curled ribbon. Two turns is enough. This is the tight centre of the flower and everything else builds around it.
2. Draw a few short curved lines around the spiral, each one cupping it. These are the inner petals and they should still be small and tight.
3. Add a second ring of petals, wider and more open than the first. Let each new petal sit in the gap between two petals behind it, not directly on top of one.
4. Add the outer petals last, wide and slightly curling outwards at the top edge. Three or four is plenty. This is where a rose gets its shape.
5. Draw the stem as one line down from the base of the bloom, then add the leaves. Rose leaves have a pointed tip and a jagged, toothed edge, which is worth doing properly because it is a giveaway detail.

Darken your final lines at the end and rub out the guide spiral if it is still showing through.

Which rose should you start with

If this is your first rose

Start with the simple rose for beginners or the rosebud. The bud is the quickest win on this page, because a closed bud has no spiral and no layered petals at all, just a few wrapped shapes.

If you have drawn flowers before

Try the rose with a long stem, the rose with thorns or the rose with a dew drop. The bloom stays the same in all three and you are adding one new detail at a time.

If you want a challenge

The fully open rose is the hardest here, because the petals have to get wider as they move outwards without losing the centre. The rose from the side is the other tricky one, since you lose the spiral and have to show the cup instead.

What you need

An HB pencil, plain paper and an eraser. A 2B pencil helps if you want darker final lines. Nothing on this page needs a tablet, a light box or special paper, and none of these were drawn with any.

Three things that make a rose look right

• The centre is not tight enough. A rose is packed hard in the middle and loose at the edges. If the middle is as open as the outside, the flower reads as a cabbage.
• The petals line up. Each petal should sit over the gap between the two behind it. Stacking them directly on top of one another makes the bloom look flat.
• The leaves are too smooth. Rose leaves have a pointed tip and a small jagged edge all the way round. Smooth oval leaves belong on a different plant.

Rose or peony

These two get mixed up more than any other pair. A rose has a tight spiral centre you can still see, firm petals, and a stem with thorns and toothed leaves. A peony has no visible centre at all, softer and more ruffled petals packed loosely, and smooth leaves on a thornless stem. If you cannot find the middle of your flower, you have drawn a peony.

Drawing a rose for a card

Several drawings here are made for that. The rose with a heart, the rose with a bow and the rose with a ribbon all work as Valentine or anniversary cards. Print one, colour it in, or trace the outline onto card and add your own message beside it.

Ways to use these drawings

Copy any of these by hand, or download and print them for yourself, for your children or for your classroom. They work as colouring sheets, tracing practice, a warm up before a bigger drawing, or line art for a card. If you want to use one in something you sell, write to us first.