How to Draw a Wreath — Complex Patterns Made Simple
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In this post, I’ll show you how to draw a wreath with this easy tutorial without looking up tons of references or getting overwhelmed by tons of options.
Wreaths, Laurels, and Florals
Leafy vines, intricate wreaths, flowing florals — you see them everywhere. These illustrated elements are in lettering projects, art pieces, home decor, greeting cards, and just about everywhere else. But sitting down to draw your own wreaths and florals might be overwhelming. They seem so complicated, after all! Where do you even start?
The key is to break all these complicated patterns down to their most basic elements.
How to Draw a Wreath
In order to start whipping up leafy wreaths in your projects, you need to build your own internal library of floral elements to draw from. It’s easy enough to do! Just pull out your bullet journal or sketchbook and a pen to doodle out some super basic forms like the ones below.
Branches
The first thing to think about with drawing wreaths is what the foundation will be. You can create simple wavy, vine-like structures or more rigid, straight line, branchy shapes in a large circle. You can add a little variation in offshoots or create complex, full branches off the main stem. Once you decide this, you can begin adding leaves.
Leaf Shapes
I always used to get hung up on the leaf stage of drawing a wreath or bough because there are so many options — it felt overwhelming!
But draw out a few simple lines and shapes in your personal floral library and it should be much easier to decide what kind of leaf you want to draw. A few simple options are:
- Long, skinny rounded leaves
- Short, fat rounded leaves
- Long, skinny pointed leaves
- Short, fat pointed leaves
- Multi-pointed leaves
- Drop shaped leaves
In addition to laurel leaves, you can also experiment with adding small flowers or berries to your branches or the bottom of the circle to give the wreath decoration for even more character.
Symmetry or Asymmetry
Keep in mind the small leaves structure on the branch. Are the leaves symmetrical on the branch, or do they offset each other as the branch grows out? Whatever you decide, try to keep that pattern around the sides of the circle for extra wreath wow factor!
Put It Together
Once you have decided all the different elements of your wreath, it’s easy to put them together! The last step is to build the stem with all the branches you want before you draw leaves, flowers, berries, bows, or whatever else you want. It’s simply a matter of repeating the same few elements over and over again to create a beautiful and intricate-looking Christmas wreath or laurel!
Complex Builds with Simple Components
Once you begin to notice and keep track of all the little elements of illustrated florals, you’ll be able to make any cool design you want. Add color, texture, overlapping branches, or whatever else you want for a fun way to continue to make your wreaths more complex and add dimension — or keep it simple, if that’s what you prefer!
