This illustrates the spiral shape created by light petal edges.
How to draw and paint roses
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How to draw and paint roses
‘As one of the most popular flowers, roses are the perfect painting subject to brighten up any day.,’ says Julie King. ‘They are accessible to buy all year around and can be found in many gardens – even late in the year, I will find a solitary bloom appearing.
‘If you can’t find a live specimen, reference photographs are always available.
For consistency of light and shade, a photograph provides the perfect starting point. I tend to take lots of photographs in the summer when the roses are at their best. Although I love to paint flowers directly, there is never enough time to paint all that inspires me.’
Magenta Wild Rose, detail of a watercolour painting, (18x18cm) shows a five-petalled rose
Observing roses
The key to drawing and painting a rose is observation so, initially, it is worth spending time sketching their form in pencil and making a few descriptive notes with the idea of familiarising yourself with your subject. Depending on their complexity, roses are not always the easiest of flowers to paint, but understanding their structure and character can help you.
All roses can be simplified into a general geometric shape
Here are a few points to consider when looking at your subject:
How would you describe the rose? Is the flower head soft, hard, angular, curved, frilly, simple, complex, delicate or strong?
What and where are the tonal contrasts within the subject?
Which direction is the light coming from?
Does the lighting affect the tones?
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How to draw and paint a ROSE : 6 easy designs
In my mind, a rose has no parallel among flowers, which is why when I wanted a floral design for painting on a pillowcase, I decided to do a rose. Then something spooky happened. Wherever I looked I started to see rose prints.
My kids excused me when I stopped the car to take the picture of a bedsheet with a beautiful rose picture on the clothesline of some home but they drew the line when I took my camera out to take the picture of a rose on the dress of a girl I saw on a supermarket aisle. I do not think I can persuade them to come with me anywhere for some time now.
But anyways, I found my designs – 5 beautiful ones which are easy for a beginner painter
This post is for a beginner who finds it difficult to draw a rose easily and then paint it in a passably rose look alike way.
When you start to paint a rose you will find that the color choice of paint is going to be the last of your concern. Whatever color you have in your cupboard, there will be a rose in that shade, for sure. After all there are more than 100 varieties of roses in all the colors imaginable, in this world.
You can choose the color of your rose according to the meaning they are assigned. Red rose is a symbol of love and Romance. Yellow is for friendship, joy and wellness; Lavender denotes love at first sight and pink is for gratitude, appreciation and love.
In this article I will cover:
- 5 easy ways to draw and paint a rose
- Method 1. Easy table roses.
- Method 2. Finger paint a rose.
- Method 3.
- Method 4.
- METHOD 6. Outline Rose painting
5 easy ways to draw and paint a rose
Method 1. Easy table roses.
These rose flowers are made by drawing circles on your fabric. Yes, drawing them is that easy. The rest is simple outline
Make a drawing on the fabric as below. The petal outlines can be drawn later
Paint the inside of the circles with a light color of the shade you want.
Now mix a darker shade and take on a 0 brush and draw the outline of the petals. Finish the leaves
Method 2. Finger paint a rose.
This is an abstract rose. Draw a big circle and then give some plains to the outline as in the picture below to give the outline of a rose.Fill with your favourite color
You can decide on the way to draw petals any way you want.
Take thick fabric paint on your fingers or a thick brush and draw the petal outlines
You can go to town playing with finger paint here, mixing and spreading fabric paint on your rose. Work when the paint is still wet. Sure, you will have paint under your nails and it is very very difficult to remove but it is very satisfying to finger paint
Method 3.
This is a rose with a white outline. You can do the outline with an outliner or with a 0 brush. Outliner is easy to use and gives an even thick outline.
Fill the rose with your chosen color. Wait till it is thoroughly dry before you start the outline
You can draw the outline as shown earlier or as in the picture below
Method 4.
Draw the outline of the rose on the fabric. Paint inside. After you paint the base layer, before the paint is dry, draw the petal outline inside with a pencil.
After the paint is dry start making outlines with white color and then dark color shading for the base of the petals.
This rose is easy to convert to an applique patch. You just need to cut it out leaving a 1/4 inch margin all around and then stitch it as applique with satin stitches all around as done in this project – Messenger Bag Pattern
This is a simple enough rose design with black outline and shading.
Draw your rose by making a heart shape. Draw a circle inside and then make petals around this
Fill the inside of the rose with your color.
Finish the rest of the design and wait for the base layer to dry to the touch. Otherwise, when you paint the outline, it will run.
Using the thinnest brush you have to draw the outline with black fabric paint, which is diluted just enough that the brush will move, and not any more.
When the outline is dry, make eyelash thin shading on the base of the petals. Do not take more paint on the brush. Just a touch of paint is enough to give the shading.
METHOD 6. Outline Rose painting
If you cannot be bothered to draw and paint but still want rose in your projects there are other means like Rose embroidery – 12 ways to embroider rose designs ; making DIY Fabric roses ; making felt roses ; Or applique with printed rose fabric motifs – Broderie Perse applique technique
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Technique 3: wet-on-dry watercolor rose
The wet-on-dry technique is a great watercolor technique for beginners! When wet paint is applied onto dried paint and paper, the colors are built up in transparent layers.
First paint the watercolor flower and leaves with simple strokes as in Technique 1.
Let the paint dry, then add more layers of shapes and colors.
You can the wet-on-dry technique with the wet-on-wet technique to create endless layers and variations!
Here’s the video tutorial again!
Usually in a watercolor painting, we would see all the 3 techniques in use. Now that you learned them all, have fun combining and playing with them!
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14 Comments
Arawyn
Wow, these roses are BEAUTIFUL! I can definitely paint this for my sisters! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!! You are so talented!
ananda
thank you Arawyn! happy painting!
Cheryl Atkinson
I have.never watercolored.but I pinned this.tutorial and.i amngoimg to try it
I think watercolor is beautiful. Thank you for showing us how
I also subscribed to your you tube channel.
ananda
hi Cheryl! thank you so much!! you can totally paint this! it will be beautiful in its own way!
Linda L Weeks
Well it took me almost an entire year to get around to paying closer attention to this tutorial, but it was worth the wait! I intend to put this technique to use right away. Thank you so much for sharing your skills with us!
Best!
Linda W.
ananda
Happy painting Linda! We all have so many projects to try, don’t we?
annie_m
Hi! I love roses, but I also have had trouble finding tutorials on the internet on painting Iris. Can you do one?
ananda
hi annie! will add your request to our list! we searched on YouTube for “watercolor iris tutorial”, and quite a few came up. give it a try!
Cathy
These are so beautiful! I don’t see the videos though… Can you please share a link? Thanks!
ananda
hi Cathy! just added our YouTube video at the end of this tutorial for you. enjoy!
Ivory
Extremely gorgeous I really love to be able to do something like this and I love flowers and I specially love roses and yours it’s fabulous thank you for sharing
ananda
thank you Ivory! these are quite easy, happy painting!
Chalane Wride
Amanda,
I LOVE these! I NEEDED this beauty, inspiration, and instruction today. Thank you for sharing your talent, your work, and your Spirit. I send you my love, gratitude, and best wishes for the new year!
ananda
hi Chalane! thank you so much for such a sweet comment!! wish you a beautiful and happy 2021 as well!
