How to Draw a Maple Leaf in 4 Steps (Easy)
This short tutorial shows how to draw a maple leaf in four steps with simple illustrated examples and quick explanations.
Maple leaves have a very interesting shape but one that also makes them a little more difficult to draw than some other leave types. To help this tutorial shows a fairly simple step by step approach to drawing one.
As with most tutorials here on EasyDrawingGuides it’s recommended that you start it in pencil and make light liens that you can easily erase in case of a mistake. You can darken them after you have all parts of the leaf outlined.
Step 1 – Outline the Blade of the Leaf
Start by outlining the main shape of the maple leaf (the blade). Think of it as being split into five sections. Start with it’s center section (as shown above). Make this part wider as it goes up and draw it splitting into three pointy tips.
Next, add the two sections on the sides. Again, draw each one splitting into three tips as shown.
Finally, draw the two small sections on the bottom to complete the outline of the maple leaf’s blade.
Step 2 – Draw the Veins/Midrib/Petiole
After outlining the blade add the petiole (the part that attaches the leaf to the branch) followed by the midrib (the large vein down the middle of the blade). Make the midrib wider at it’s base and narrower as it gets closer to the central tip of the leaf. Afterwards add the other large veins. Draw them branching out from the base of the midrib towards the tips of the other four parts of the leaf.
Be sure to draw the petiole, midrib and veins to be slightly curved so that they look more natural (as opposed to just straight lines).
Step 3 – Draw the Smaller Veins & Finish the Line Drawing
Going out from the large veins and the midrib draw some smaller veins. First add the longer ones that run towards the remaining tips of the blade and then somewhat randomly place the shorter veins.
After you are done adding the leaf’s various parts go over your drawing with a black, marker or darker pencil lines. Optionally you can also make the main outline of the leaf and the petiole thicker than the veins.
Step 4 – Color the Maple Leaf
Use pretty much anything you like to color the leaf (markers, colored, pencils, paints, pastels, etc…). Generally you will want to make it either red (as in this example) green, or yellow. Depending on weather you want a summer or a fall leaf. You can also make it several different colors that transition into one another (a yellow/green or yellow/red leaf for example)
Fora red leaf like the one in the example you can make the midrib/primary veins a slightly lighter color such as orange or yellow.
Conclusion
A maple leaf has a very interesting shape which makes it quite popular and fun to draw. While it can be a little more complex than some other leaves you can make the drawing process a easier by applying the step by step method used in this tutorial.
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