To start, draw a very light circle, only applying light pressure to your pen. This will be the center of the sunflower.
Begin to lightly draw petals all the way around the center of the sunflower. For each petal, draw a “V” shape with curved sides. The pointy end of the “V” should point away from the center of the flower. You can add layers of petals, some behind the first row, to make the sunflower look extra full!
Using many tiny half circles, begin shading the very center of the sunflower to make it appear full of seeds.
Using the same tiny half circles, begin shading around the outer edge of the sunflower center.
Move onto the gap between the very center and the edge of the center, using the same tiny half circles, but much lighter, applying less pressure to your pen. The tiny half circles can overlap and be uneven, like sunflower seeds would appear in nature.
The next step is to shade the petals. Work from the outer edges of each petal, starting with the shadows and fading into the highlights.
Using small lines, work with little flicks towards the center, applying more pressure to your pen on the outer points of the petals, and lessening the pressure towards the centers. Each little shading line should touch and can overlap, so there are no gaps in your shading and the petal appears soft and smooth.
Continue with this petal shading technique all the way around the flower. Each petal can be slightly different for a more natural, sunflower appearance.
Once you have finished your petals, you can go back in and add darker shadows to make your sunflower pop from the page even more!
Next, create the stem. Draw one light, slightly curved line extending down from the sunflower.
Draw another long, curved line from this line and connect it with one more curved line to create your leaf.
Connect the first side of the stem and the leaf with one final long curved line, creating the second side of the stem.
To shade the stem, use long curved lines, darker at the top to show the shadows from the petals, and lighter towards the bottom.
The leaf will be shaded similarly to the petals; darker at the points, with a highlight in the middle.
Continue practicing drawing sunflowers on the same piece of paper. You’ll end up with an entire field of sunflowers!
Finally, don’t forget to sign your drawing!