How to Draw Manga Plants

Last Updated: December 14, 2021

Manga style drawing is a particular niche within illustration. You may already be familiar with how to draw manga basics and faces, but what about the background details? If you want to learn how to draw manga plants, this wikiHow has you covered.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Flowers

1

Get a reference image. This is arguably the most important step. Although manga styles certainly look cartoonish, a mangaka who knows how to take things from the real world and convert them into manga has an advantage over the rest. Do a quick search for a single flower (the more close up, the better) or a bouquet if you need to look at multiple angles.
2

Draw yourself some guidelines to build the flower out of. This tutorial uses a lily as an example, so the shapes shown here might be different than the ones you need. Show a few spots for the stem, if you're going to draw it, the place where the petals meet, the petals themselves, and any leaves.

Advertisement
3

Notate the direction of the petals with a few light lines. These will be erased later, so only make them light enough to see. The purpose of these is to provide a sort of skeleton for you to build off of when drawing the flower in later steps.
4

Draw oblong shapes around those lines to give the petals some thickness. Pay attention to your reference when doing this, and show overlaps.
5
Create some lines to show the pistil and the stamen. In layman's terms, these are the long things sticking out from the center of the flower.
- Draw some curved lines on top of these to help you get the shape of the anthers (Things with pollen) right in later steps.
- Erase your original guidelines after this. You already have shapes mapping out the petals, so leaving them there would only get in your way.
6
Refine everything. Give the pistil and stamen thickness and direction. Redraw the petals so that they are more crooked and natural. Map out general places to put details, such as different colors.
- Erase guidelines you don't need after this.
7

Continue refining your flower until you are truly happy with it. Once you ink something, there is no going back, so be sure you drew it exactly how you want it.
8

Draw details, but not too many. If your flower has spots, add spots. If your flower has lines extending from the middle, draw those. Just don't add so many details that it looks like you could put your flower over a real flower and no one would be able to tell the difference. Everything in manga (besides human proportions) has its basis in reality but is simplified.
9
Ink the drawing. Go slowly and take your time. If you make a mistake, you might have to start over again, and that takes even longer. Make sure that the inking isn't too thin. Thicker lines make your drawings look more stylized. After all, hardly anything is just outlined in black in the real world.
- Erase all pencil marks after the ink dries.
10

Color, shade, or leave it as it is.

Advertisement

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Grass

1

Separate the horizon from the ground. Maybe you're trying to draw grass growing from some cracks in the sidewalk, an open field that's framed with trees, or someone's GMO experiment that went wrong. Either way, it's highly unlikely that grass is going to be the single thing in your panel. Block out the areas that are dedicated to anything else.
2

Separate your drawing into a foreground, possible middle ground, and background. You'll be erasing these guidelines as the drawing progresses, but it's good to help you figure out your panel composition, especially if you're drawing a whole landscape of grass. The farther back you go, the less detailed the drawing gets.
3

Draw spikes instead of single lines. Manga hair is made of spikes, manga feathers are made of spikes, and so is manga grass. Begin to fill in the foreground with spikes going in all different directions.
4
Add some other plants. If you look outside, you'll notice that there isn't only one plant growing in your backyard. Along with grass comes shrubs, weeds, and wildflowers, among other things. Draw these, and your outdoor scene will look much more realistic.
- Keep in mind that if you're just drawing a little bit of grass, such as a second-grader's houseplant, you may not do this at all.
5

Draw the middle ground. As you get farther into the distance, details will become less apparent, and things will look smaller. Try drawing some of the same plants you drew earlier, just smaller, and make the grass spikes less distinguishable from each other.
6

Create the background. Here, the edges around things start to get a little fuzzy. Draw lines instead of spikes to show blades of grass. Flowers become tiny circles, and trees may seem the size of bushes.
7

Erase the foreground and middle ground guidelines. The only guideline that should remain is the one separating all of the ground from the sky. Admire how your drawing seems to fade off into the distance.
8

Edit your shapes. If the drawing looks a bit choppy, now is the time to fix that. Take your time to turn this rough draft into a masterpiece.
9

Finish your panel. Draw everything else you wanted to draw besides the grass.
10

Ink the panel. Then color it, shade it, or leave it as it is.

Advertisement

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Trees

1

Get a reference image. Go outside and take some pictures yourself, or do a Google search for your favorite species of tree. Try to find a picture that is clear and simple, and is easily able to be broken down into its basic shapes.
2

Break the tree into its basic shapes. Draw a shape to represent the trunk, and another to show the leaves. Do this lightly so that you can erase it when the time comes.
3
Separate the tree into clumps of leaves.
- If you're drawing a tree with a few giant leaves, such as a palm tree, you might draw a round shape for each of those.
- If you're drawing a tree with several little leaves, such as an oak, break it into chunks of leaves.
- If you're drawing a tree with long, flexible sticks or strands of flowers, such as wisteria, show these with curves lines roughly showing where they originate and where they're headed.
4

Continue the process of breaking up the leaves. Show individual leaves and overlaps. Draw smaller and smaller shapes as they become more specific.
5

Edit the trunk. If you drew a square or rectangle at the start, now is the time to build off of that. Transform the trunk into a series of round shapes that show where it becomes thicker and thinner, as well as any knots. Erase your original guideline afterward.
6

Use the shapes you just drew to draw a more accurate shape for the trunk. Erase and redraw this until it looks ready to be the final product. Erase the shapes inside. You'll come back and add surface detail later.
7

Add details to the leaves. They don't have to be totally realistic, as this is manga. Draw some lines to differentiate one leaf from another in the palm tree example or a bunch of little curves for a tree with many more leaves.
8

Refine your drawing until you are happy with the finished product. Add any panel elements besides the tree.
9

Ink the drawing. Then color, shade, or leave it as it is.

Advertisement

Community Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Question

Is this a manga tree or a mango tree? I am confused and can't figure out which one it is.

Community Answer

A manga tree is drawn in a certain type of art style very similar to anime. A mango tree is a type of fruit-bearing tree that has delicious fruit on it.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 6 Helpful 7

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Things You'll Need

Reference pictures
Pencil
Paper
Ink Pen

How to Draw Manga Plants

Steps

Flowers

Grass

Trees

Community Q&A

Things You'll Need

You Might Also Like

About this article

Did this article help you?

About this article

You Might Also Like

Explore Categories