Table of Contents:

• Create a Beautiful Flower Bouquet with Arteza Real Brush Pens
• What You Should Know Before You Start
• List of Supplies
• Paint the Rose
• How to Paint Peonies
• Paint the Anemones
• Painting Petals
• Tips for Beginners

Create a Beautiful Flower Bouquet with Arteza Real Brush Pens

You’re going to love creating these easy to draw flowers with Arteza Real Brush Pens. You get the convenience that comes with using a pen, but also the freedom and flow of working with a brush. If you’ve ever worked with watercolor paint, you’ll appreciate these pens ability to blend subtle gradients of color like watercolor paint does, plus have the line control you would normally expect from a pen or marker. With Real Brush Pens, you really do get the best of both worlds! We’ve divided this tutorial on how to draw flowers into four sections with four videos (one for each flower). We suggest you read the step-by-step instructions and watch the videos before you start.

What You Should Know Before You Start

Here are some helpful tips you should know before you begin.

• Create flowers of various sizes for the most interesting composition. This also keeps the viewer’s eyes moving around the painting
• Use these procedures when painting the flowers:

1. Before adding any color to the paper, dampen it with clean water in the areas that are intended to be dark and those areas where there will be shadows.
2. Start with the lightest shades of color when you begin to paint each flower.
3. When filling in the center of the flower (its darkest part), keep in mind that, depending on the angle, the center may appear in different areas (e.g, if it is hanging upside down, the center would be near the lower edge).
4. Use a darker color to emphasize the transition from the flower to its stem.
5. Always work from light to dark to add depth and dimension.
6. After you finish painting all the flowers, add dark, cool shades to the empty spaces within and around the flowers to make it look like one single bouquet.

List of Supplies

• Arteza Real Brush Pens
• 140lb Watercolor paper
• Detail Paint Brush
• Waterbrush Pens
• Palette

Paint the Rose

The roses will be drawn using a palette in light shades of pinks and violets.

With a clean damp brush, draw a circle and make a few strokes inside it. If you want the flowers to look light and airy, make sure you use plenty of water. When you start adding colors, the damp paper will cause the colors to spread, making them soft with subtle gradients.

Start filling in the roses with the lightest shades. Add darker colors in the middle area of the rose. Watch as the colors spread for an eye-catching effect while emphasizing the flower’s center.

You will begin to create volume by adding additional darker shades, especially on the edges of the petals. For a subtle transition between the edges, use the tip of the wet brush to smooth them. Use the Real Brush Pens for sharper lines that will then define them.

Drawing the rosebuds is similar to painting the open roses; but, you begin with a small oval instead of the larger circle. First, use the Real Brush Pen in the lightest shade of pink. While the area is wet, switch to a paintbrush with a darker color and pull the color up to define the overlapping petals of the rosebud. The spreading ink will help you achieve a soft transition of color. As on a real rosebud, the color on the bottom should be a darker, richer shade, while the top is more pale where the light hits it.

How to Paint Peonies

For the peonies, you’ll be working in light, medium, and dark shades of blue and violet.

Although you’ll use the same techniques you used for drawing the roses, for creating the peonies you’ll be using shades of blues and violets as well as adding the stamens to the centers.

In this bouquet, the peonies are half-open, so the bottom of the flower will be darker than the top. This contrast is also important because it helps define the position of the flower. Since the peony sits behind the rose, it’s in the rose’s shadow and so those lower portions of the peony will be darker.

After all areas have been filled in, use the darkest Real Brush Pen to add lines to represent each stamen in the center. Use a wet brush to blur them a little, which will make them more natural looking.

Paint the Anemones

The anemones are drawn using combinations of medium shades of pink, blue, and violet, and darker shades of blue and violet.

Anemones have several overlapping petals. As you draw each petal, notice where it falls in relation to the others. Does it fall on top or underneath the others? Note that the lower anemone petals are larger than the upper ones. As you draw, alternate between the Real Brush Pens and the paintbrush; continue until they are filled them in.

Note: The area of the petal that is closer to the center of the flower is the darkest area of the petal, while the end of the petal farthest away from the center is the lightest area on the petal. When filling in the entire petal, use this as a guide to create the gradients of color that will make the petals look real.

Define the edges of the petals with the pens and then use a wet brush to soften them slightly.

Use the darkest shades, to paint the center of the anemones and add the stamens. Use lighter shades to draw lines on the petals to create texture and make them appear more realistic.

Painting Petals

You can apply contrasting colors using a paintbrush or the Real Brush Pens.

There are 4 types of petals in this painting. You can either draw them with a brush or a brush pen.

If you are using a brush, you’ll need to choose a color from your palette and apply it with a wet brush on dry paper. Painting with a dry brush will prevent the petals edges from blurring. After applying the main color, add a second contrasting color (like red or emerald, depending on the type of petal painted). You can apply the contrasting color with Real Brush Pens or a brush (there will be less of a contrast between colors if you use a brush).

You can also draw petals with Real Brush Pens. In this case, there will be a large contrast between light and dark colors. It is better to add additional colors with the pens and smooth the gradient with a wet brush.

Don't forget about shadows and highlights. The biggest shadows will be where the petals overlap, which will help define the edges of their shapes.

Tips for Beginners

Here are some useful tips, if you’re just starting out:

• Use a palette. A palette allows you to see all the colors at once, gives you a nice surface to mix your colors on, and helps you adjust the amount of water you use to lighten or darken the ink before you put it on your painting.
• Avoid mixing complementary colors. Complementary colors (red and green; yellow and purple; blue and orange) sit across from each other on the color wheel. When mixed together they turn into brown or black.
• Dampen only the flowers, not the whole sheet of paper.
• Paint from light to dark. When using these pens with water, begin with your lightest shades and add layers of color to darken to the color you desire. You can always make the colors darker, but when working with this water medium, it’s difficult to make them lighter.
• When working from a photo, try to match the colors in the photo as close as you can to the colors in your palette. This method can inspire ideas for interesting color combinations both for plants and for the background.

Now you know how to draw flowers! We hope this guide has been helpful and that you’re inspired to create your own bouquet using Arteza’s Real Brush Pens.

Other posts you may enjoy:

• How to Use Real Brush Pens
• How to Choose a Watercolor Paper
• Tips for Beginners - Watercolor Techniques Using Everyday Items