How to Draw a Lilac in 5 Steps

Lilac is famous for its strong, but pleasant scent. These ornamental flowers are native to Europe and Asia, and can develop into small trees and shrubs in ideal conditions.

Lilacs can live for hundreds of years and they bloom in a wide array of colors such as white, purple, red, yellow, and orange, to name a few.

In this section, we'll show you how to draw the above a lilac. You can draw this flower freehand while looking at your computer monitor or print out this page to get a closer look at each step.

Follow the red lines in each illustration to learn exactly what to draw in that step. The lines drawn in previous steps are shown in gray. Here, we'll show you an illustration of each step and then give you a description of how to draw it.

1. Sketch the Outline

Lightly sketch a large heart shape for a leaf. Sketch a curving, Y-shaped stem and add smaller leaves to the stem. Sketch in two groups of circles and ovals to show where the flowers will go.

2. Draw Blossoms

Within each sketched circle, draw a small blossom. Each blossom is a tiny center circle surrounded by four rough oval shapes. Some blossoms will overlap others so that the bottom blossoms can't be seen completely.

Fill both areas completely with blossoms. At the top of each group of blossoms, draw in ribbon-like shapes.

3. Finish the Petals

Draw two short lines in each petal to show ridges. Make sure the edges of the petals are not perfectly round. Give the edges a slight wave.

4. Veins

For all of the leaves except the large, heart-shaped one, draw in a second edge close to the first edge. This will show that the leaf is curling upward. Draw veins in each leaf.

Do this by sketching two curving lines down the center with smaller sets of curving lines branching off to the edges.

5. Details and Shading

Shade the leaves with many short parallel lines starting at the veins. Shade one side of each stem with short parallel lines.

Use very short lines to shade some of the flowers. The flowers are very detailed and don't need much shading.

Take a bow. Your lilac is complete! Continue to the next page to learn how to draw a plant that instantly conjures up images of an island paradise. In the next section, learn how to draw a palm.

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