Cherry Blossom Drawing – A Bright Japanese Drawing Tutorial
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A cherry blossom drawing makes for a great addition to your drawing repertoire, as it can be used in many ways. On one hand, a cherry blossom drawing can be an artwork on its own because of its beautiful aesthetic. However, it can also be a feature that is utilized in many landscapes and natural scenes as a visual addition that contextualizes a space. A cherry blossom drawing is also a great opportunity to explore color variation and how to establish gradients to create three-dimensionality within a unique structure. There is a lot to gain from a beautiful cherry blossom drawing that can enhance your skills and add to your drawing toolkit.
An Easy Guide to Drawing a Cherry Blossom
Cherry blossom drawings are really beautiful and are easy to create. In this tutorial on how to draw a cherry blossom, we will find that the process is simple and easy to follow. We will break down the drawing into digestible steps that will demonstrate how to refine a simple Sakura flower drawing into a realistic cherry blossom drawing.
Tutorial on Drawing a Cherry Blossom
In this tutorial on how to create a cherry tree drawing, we will focus more on a section of the cherry tree drawing. We will look at the flower in close-up, working out how to draw the flower along a branch. We will first work out the general shape and structure of the cherry tree drawing by working out the scale and shape of its various features.
We will then start to work in some color, working out its specific color sequence. From there we will refine the drawing with some details and shading.
Step 1: Shaping the Cherry Blossom Tree
Let’s take a close-up approach and start by forming the cherry blossom branch. We can keep it quite simple with slight curvature to create a unique shape on the branch.
The idea is to have the flowers blooming in some areas and sprouting in others. The shape of the cherry blossom flower is quite simple, with a set of spearheaded petals that circulate the stigma.
The petals are very thin and can easily curl, they also come in fives on a single flower as they circulate the center stigma. Try to think of it as a wheel with spokes circulating the center connection point.
Keep your sketch quite loose and simple, from there you can then erase the drawing lightly to leave some ghost lines that will allow you to sketch over and refine the structure.
We can now start to work over those ghost lines, slowly adding in different features. A good suggestion is to also look at an example of a cherry blossom flower to get a sense of the petal shapes.
As we work through the branch, we can also move our way towards the tip of the branch, where the flowers are still sprouting. The shape of a sprouting flower is more of a teardrop shape.
Again, consider looking at some references to see the shape of blooming and fully blooming flowers on a Sakura tree. The intention is to create variety in the flowers along the branch.
Step 2: Adding Color to the Sakura Flower Drawing
The Sakura cherry blossom petals are mostly pink and white in coloration, with the colors having a very seamless integration. We want to start adding very light hues of pink within the entire flower shape.
A good idea at this point is to give your entire page a light wash of a contrasting color, such as blue. If you are working on a digital device, you can simply make the bottom layer a different color. This way we can work with whites and see how it shapes the flower.
We want to start integrating some light hues of pink and white into the entire shape of each flower. We want to make sure we stay within the borders of the petals, which we can slowly refine with some line work thereafter.
We can start using some light tones of red along the edges of the petals to bring more shape to the flower. The idea is to shape the flower with reds, this way we give it definition whilst keeping to the right coloration.
Step 3: Refining the Cherry Blossom Sketch
As we proceed with integrating color, we can start working strategically with linework and strokes to create a sense of texture. The idea is to add some strokes along the surface of the petal to suggest some ridges.
We can work simultaneously with a color combination between red, pink, and white. We want to build up the color values from darker to lighter colors. This way we can also add in different strokes to create texture.
We can also start bringing some shape to the branch of the cherry blossom drawing. We can do this with darker colors, between browns and blacks to create a distinction between the flowers and the branches.
You can also start to add some darker coloration to the center of each flower. This will help to create a sense of dimension as light struggles to penetrate the center of the flower’s features.
Step 4: Working With Layering Colors
With a cherry blossom drawing, you want to work with layering colors into the different features. We want to consider the source of light and how this will make some areas lighter than others for all features.
With the petals, we can make some slightly darker with pinks, and some slightly lighter. This way we create a little more dimension within the structure of the flower. The same goes for the branches, we can make transitions between lighter and darker colors along the branches for more three-dimensionality.
As you maintain this quality of shifting between lighter and darker color values in both the flowers and branches, we start to see how it becomes more three-dimensional. Try to keep the colors between greens and browns for the branches of the cherry blossom drawing.
As we shift towards the more bulbous-like sprouting flower shapes at the edges of the branch, we can keep them slightly lighter to suggest an unripe quality in their coloration.
Step 5: Adding Finer Details to the Cherry Blossom Sketch
Once we have integrated color and created shape within the various elements, we can proceed to give more definition by subtle outlines and darker shading and lastly some highlights.
As we aim to make a realistic cherry blossom drawing, we want to make sure that we add these last details to refine the flower a little further. We always want to work on building up details within our cherry blossom drawing.
We also want to start adding in the center features of each flower as a last addition, to provide a sense of depth to them and how they are positioned on top of each flower.
We want to work with both white and black linear strokes that originate from the center of the flower to represent the individual filaments. We can then add in some yellow and orange spots to represent the anthers at the edges of each filament.
This is the last feature to create a realistic cherry blossom sketch, which will enhance its detail and overall aesthetic.
Make sure you take your time going through each flower, making sure that they flow outwardly from the center of each flower. Remember, this feature will move in a perpendicular direction from the center of each flower.
Make sure you take your time while also going through each flower, and add in little moments of highlights to maintain a sense of consistency in the light source. Otherwise, that is the basic process of how to draw a cherry blossom flower.
As you learn how to draw a cherry blossom flower, always look at references to guide you in the process. This is a great way to keep your drawing process of shaping, refining, and adding color as accurately as possible.
Tips and Tricks to Remember
- Start with a simple sketch. The idea is to shape the cherry blossom tree in its basic formation before adding details.
- Integrate colors into the different features. Once you have the basic shapes of the various features, you can start to work in the right base layers of color.
- Refine the different features. You can shape the flower with further colored details to shape the flower a little more.
- Take your time with the details. You always want to work your way slowly through the details as you come towards the end to bring shape and form to the different features.
- Take your time. Enjoy the process and spend a good portion of time on each step, making sure to shape, add color, refine, and add in details as best you can.
Learning how to draw a cherry blossom is a great way to understand how a flower is positioned on a branch and how this affects depth of field. A cherry tree drawing is also a great exercise for understanding unique elements and how they work together to create a single structure composed of various features. As you learn how to draw a cherry blossom, you understand how to represent unique qualities in a drawing that can be found in other similar structures.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Draw the Petals of a Cherry Blossom?
With a Sakura flower drawing, we want to make sure that there are always five petals on each flower. The petal shapes are generally spearheaded and circulate the stigma in the center of the flower. The idea is to keep the petals quite rounded and slightly pointed as they come towards the edge of the petal. You want to make sure that you also give them a subtle ridge along the edge of each petal to create a unique movement-like quality in the petal shape. The petals are also very thin and can curl like leaves or paper, which is important to consider in your cherry blossom sketch.
What Colors Do You Use for a Cherry Blossom?
There are different species for various cherry tree drawings, however, in this case, we are drawing a Sakura tree. The petals of the Sakura tree are generally more light pink and shift between white hues and pinks. The pinks can have these moments of red that seamlessly flow along the edges and into the center of the flower. The anthers connected to the filaments are generally orange or yellow, creating a good contrast against the pink petals. However, we want to be very seamless with the coloration in the petals, making them merge as best we can for a more realistic cherry blossom drawing.
Matthew Matthysen is a multidisciplinary artist. He completed his fine art degree, majoring in History of Art and Contemporary Drawing Practice at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Before joining acrylgiessen In 2020, Matthew worked part-time as an art teacher at Reddford Blue Hills High school. Matthew creates drawing and painting tutorials for acrylgiessen and captures them not only photographically and in written form. He also records the creation of his works in his own creative studio as in video format, from which later with a voiceover and a video editor also drawing tutorials for the Youtube channel of acrylgiessen are created.
Learn more about Matthew Matthysen and about acrylgiessen.
