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Step by Step Tropical Flowers and Leaves Doodles Tutorial

by Ambassador Team 14 Jul 2023 0 Comments

Hi, Neus @miss.meissa here, and today we’ll be doing some of my favorite bullet journal doodles - tropical flowers and leaves! I'm going to show you how to draw a hibiscus flower, a plumeria, a monstera and a banana leaf step by step, so you can draw them in your bullet journal, in your planner or anywhere you like to doodle.

Even if you think you don't know how to draw you will be able to doodle them because it is much easier to learn how to draw if you do it step by step. Let’s go!

 

Doodle Supplies

You can draw with just paper and pencil, although I'm going to use these supplies:

(Feel free to use my affiliate code MISSMEISSA for a 10% off at archerandolive.com).

I will be including in this article step-by-step graphics of the drawings, but if you want to see me drawing the flowers, I invite you to watch this video: 

 

1. Hibiscus flower

The first flower we are going to draw is a hibiscus. We start drawing a circle with the help of something round if we want. 
We need to look for the center of the circle and divide the circle in five parts. As in the trivia game but with only five sectors. The easiest thing to do is to divide the bottom part in half and then the rest. They don't have to be exact but try to make them more or less of a similar size.
Once you have the space divided, draw a semicircle in each sector as in the graphic. This will serve as a guide for the petals. Sketch the pistil in the central part of the flower and complete the drawing of the petals. This petals overlap each other, so you only have to draw one of the sides.

After this, you just have to follow this sketch with the fineliner with an uneven stroke because the petals of the hibiscus do not have perfect edges but kind of small waves. Remember to overlap one side of each petal!
And draw the pistil with two strokes and some small bubbles at the tip.

The shape of the flower is already drawn, and only a little bit of detailing is needed. Try to follow the little uneven curves of the outer stroke of the petals and draw some thin strokes always following the direction towards the center. You need to draw small diagonals without ever finishing them.
The hibiscus flower usually has a darker inner part so don’t forget to shade it adding some little lines. 
You can add as much detail as you want or you can paint it later 😊

How to draw a hibiscus flower tutorial

2. Plumeria

The second flower we are going to draw is a plumeria. As before, we draw a circle and also locate the center to divide it into five parts. 
Just as in the hibiscus flower, we have to draw semicircles that will help us to draw the petals. but in this case the plumeria petals overlap in the reverse direction than the hibiscus ones. In the hibiscus we have drawn them on the right side and in the plumeria we need to complete them on the left side, overlapping the right side of the petal next to it. 

These flowers have petals that are a little less rounded, a little more angular, so use the sketch as a guide but draw this petal a little more pointed. In this case the strokes have to be even because the plumeria flower is quite smooth. 
After this we need to add the little fold that this kind of petals have on the left side. So we join the center to the tip with a line to form the fold of the flower.

You can add some details but they are very subtle, because as I said this flower is much smoother than the hibiscus, it has very little detail of shadows in comparison. And don't forget to darken the central part of the flower just a little bit. 

How to draw a plumeria flower tutorial


3. Monstera leaf

The next doodle is going to be a monstera leaf. 
We also start by drawing a circle, but a little smaller this time. You can use washi tape or anything round depending on the size you want your leaf to be. 
Now we have to divide the circle in half. I prefer to do it diagonally because I like the leave to be a little rotated. The diagonal line at the top is going to be the tip of the leaf and so it has to be longer than the circle to actually draw it. So we draw a kind of triangle stuck to the circle. You can see the graph below to understand what I mean 😊

After this we just have to follow the circle to create the round part of the leaf and draw the inlet at the bottom to get the shape the monstera leaves have. 
These leaves have kind of holes and to draw them easily we will first divide with some guides the shape and we will make a separation so that there is a more or less similar space between the holes of the leaf.
This will be the skeleton of the leaf and now we just have to create these slits where the monstera splits, following the guides in the sketch. Take your time and erase as many times as you need. Keep in mind that these slits don't all have to be the same because monstera leaves are a little mismatched and some have a smaller slit and then a small inner hole.
Take your time to enjoy the drawing!

The leaf is starting to show and we just need to draw some lines in each part of the leaf and the holes in the inner parts where we have reserved space and our monstera leave will be finished.

How to draw a monstera leaf tutorial


4. Banana Leaf

Finally we are going to draw a banana leaf and this time we start drawing the central line in a similar way as we have done drawing the monstera but a little bit longer. This leaf is more elongated, so we need to draw a rather elongated oval shape.

These leaves are a little angular at the bottom and a little flatter at the top so we modify this on top of the oval circumference.
Next we have to draw some splits, which in this case are much smaller than those of the monstera and in more or less uniform places where the leaf opens as it grows so we draw them along the leaf.

With this shape drawn we only need to ink it with the fineliner slightly unevenly because these leaves are not totally perfect on the edges and we have to incorporate these notches that we have sketched. It doesn't have to be a perfect line but it doesn't have to be super uneven like the hibiscus was either. And don’t forget to draw the stem!

How to draw a banana leaf tutorial

The only thing missing is some detail and we will add it trying to think about the direction these lines would have in a real leaf. You can add a lot of lines because the real leaf has a great many, so you can add as much detail as you want. 

The drawing is finished. You can leave it like that, with just the ink, or paint it with your favorite supplies. 
I'm going to paint the leaves and flowers with some of my favorite calliograph pens

You can also download the flower and leaves tutorials to print at home. 
Click to download now:

Thank you for following this article and drawing with me. I hope you enjoyed doing it!
If you post your flowers and leaves on your socials, you can tag me, @miss.meissa, and @archerandolive so we can see them. And don’t forget to add #AOShare and #archerandolive 😊

If you want to learn to draw some more flowers with me take a look at my Bullet Journal Cover Page article.

And if you want to continue doodling, you can take a look at these articles:
How To Create Cute Realistic Mushroom Doodles by Jane Maday
How To Create Cute Sushi Doodles In Your Bullet Journal by Masha from Masha Plans
Self Care Doodle Ideas For Your Bullet Journal by Icy Eyesea.Studio

You can also check my resources or see more of my creations and videos on my Instagram and Youtube accounts.

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