Sunflower Drawing Ideas

How to draw a sunflower step by step

A sunflower is one of the best flowers to learn on, because it is built from a circle and a ring of petals. There is no tricky overlap and no folding, which is what makes roses and irises harder.

1. Draw a circle for the centre. Keep it fairly large, because a sunflower has a big middle compared to most flowers.
2. Draw a second, much bigger circle around it, lightly. This is only a guide and it tells you how far your petals should reach.
3. Add the petals between the two circles. Start with one petal at the top, one at the bottom, one left and one right. Filling in those four first keeps everything even.
4. Fill the gaps with more petals. Sunflower petals are long ovals that come to a soft point. Do not worry about making them identical, real ones never are.
5. Add a straight stem and two or three leaves. Sunflower leaves are broad and heart shaped with a pointed tip, not thin like grass.

Finish the centre with small dots or short crossing lines if you want it to look seedy. Then darken your final lines and rub out the big guide circle.

Which sunflower should you start with

If this is your first flower

Start with the easy sunflower for beginners or the cute smiling sunflower. Both face straight at you, which is much simpler than drawing one at an angle. The smiling one is the better choice for young children.

If you have drawn flowers before

Try the sunflower with a bee, the sunflower with a butterfly, or the one under the moon and stars. The flower stays simple and you are only adding one small extra thing to the page.

If you want a challenge

The mandala is the most detailed drawing here. The girl with sunflowers in her hair is the only one with a face, which is a different skill altogether. The side view sunflower is quietly difficult too, because a tilted flower head is harder than a flat one.

What you need

An HB pencil, plain paper and an eraser. A 2B pencil helps for darker final lines. A compass or a round lid is handy for the guide circles on the mandala and the wreath, though you can draw them freehand. Nothing here needs a tablet or special paper.

Three things that make a sunflower look right

• The centre is too small. A sunflower has a large middle, roughly a third of the whole head. A small centre turns it into a daisy.
• The petals are too neat. Perfectly even petals look printed. Let them vary in length and lean at slightly different angles.
• The leaves are too thin. Sunflower leaves are broad and heart shaped. Narrow leaves make the plant look like a weed.

Sunflower or daisy

People mix these two up constantly. A daisy has a small centre and thin petals in a wide ring. A sunflower has a big centre and thicker petals packed closer together, on a much heavier stem. If your drawing looks like a daisy, enlarge the middle first.

Using these for cards, letters and journals

The wreath ring and the letter S are made for this. Print the wreath and write a name inside it. The letter drawing works with any letter using the same idea, so you can spell out a whole word. The scattered sunflowers page works as a background or a pattern sheet.

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.