How to Draw Leaves: 3 Easy Fall Leaf Drawings

Indeed, our first leaf drawing is as simple as it gets.

Draw a slightly curved centreline first. Then, add the “S” curved right-hand side. Finish the leaf outline with the “C” curved line on the left.

There are many different leaves with this simple shape, so if yours ends up looking slightly different from what we have drawn, that is fine, too.

To finish the leaf sketch, draw the leaf veins on each side next.

These are just slightly curved lines that go in pairs from the centreline up. Try to space them roughly the same distance apart.

That is it – you pretty much know how to draw a leaf. Next, let’s improve on the simple sketch a bit.

Let’s start outlining the leaf.

This step is easy – simply trace the sketched-out edge of your leaf.

Here is also your chance to improve or adjust the shape if you wish.

Here is our first improvement on the simple sketch. Let’s double up the ribs in the leaf.

Outline the midrib and the side veins with two lines instead of just one. If you have different pens, use a slightly thinner one.

The lines start slightly apart at the bottom and join in a single line at the top. But a single line will also do if you want to keep the drawing simple and beginner-friendly.

A final detail and an improvement on the sketch is to draw a nice leaf stalk.

Draw the small oval at the end first. If you want to go fancy, make the bottom line “C” curved and the top line “S” curved like we did, for a more realistic look.

The stalk then is again just two curved lines, starting from the leaf end, widening out to meet the end oval at the outermost corners.

Here is the completed easy leaf drawing outline after we have erased the sketch lines.

While this is a very easy leaf drawing, it still looks great. It gives us a base to play with more complicated leaf shapes next.

The final step is to color in our easy leaf drawing. Here, we are keeping it simple to match the simple shape. The whole leaf is nice green – that’s it.

Want to add some contrast and volume to make your leaf stand out more? Then, notice how we have colored the midrib, veins, and stalk slightly darker green. We have also added some darker green shading along the leaf edges.

As importantly, we have left out some highlights when coloring the leaf along the edges of veins and on the side of the leaf blade.

The yellow background is there just to finish off and add some contrast to our easy leaf drawing.

Let’s start with a simple outline sketch for the overall leaf shape.

Again, start with the leaf midrib. This time, we are doubling up the line already in the sketch.

Then, draw a kite shape around the midrib. That is one upside-down “V” from the top plus a second “V” from the bottom, meeting about two-thirds up. All lines are slightly curved.

Leave some of the centreline sticking out at the bottom for the leaf stalk.

Next, add the leaf veins. As in the simple leaf above, these are two curved “V”-shaped lines from the midrib to the edge of the leaf blade.

Start with the middle two veins that go into the corners of the outer kite shape. Then, draw the remaining two sets of veins halfway between the middle and leaf ends.

Here comes the tricky but fun part! Draw the squiggly outline of the oak leaf.

See how we are using the sketch to guide the squiggles – there is one  “blob” around each of the veins and the leaf tip. All those are connected with a small curve into a single line.

Notice that the bottom of the leaf blade also makes a curved “blob” around the stem, similar to the one on the other side at the tip.

The curved “blobs” do not need to be perfect or regular, just try to size them to keep the overall “kite” shape of the leaf blade.

With the outer shape done, the hard work is over. All you need to do now is outline the midrib and the veins.

Here we are again doubling out the veins, the same as in the easy leaf – no surprises there.

Also, notice another way to end your stalk – this time, the end is just a simple kind of upside-down wide “U” curve connected to the stalk edges with small rounded corners.

And here is the result of the second part of the “how to draw leaves” tutorial – a lovely oak tree leaf.

Now, let’s add some color to turn it into a fall leaf drawing.

For some variety, we have made this a fall leaf drawing and colored the blade of our oak leaf a burnt orange-brown. This is the color of oak leaves when they stay on the tree over the winter.

Similar to the previous leaf, we have used some darker brown color for shading and coloring the midrib and the veins. We have also left out some white highlights to give the leaf more volume.

Here we go again, starting to lay out the base structure of the leaf.

Draw the long stalk/midrib line first. Here, we are doubling it up and adding the widened stalk end as well.

Then, add the four main leaf veins. Both pairs are slightly curved. The top pair is longer, the bottom one shorter.

Next, we are adding the guidelines for the leaf’s outer edges.

Draw a kite shape – similar to the oak there above – around the long midrib top.

Add banana shapes around the remaining four veins – similar to the first easy leaf drawing. Notice the ones on the left have both sides curving out, while the ones on the right are bent upwards, with one side in and one side out.

Draw two more inner leaf veins to the top kite-shaped section. These will help as guides when drawing the jagged leaf outline.

Both are open “V” shape, curved out – the other way than the bottom two veins.

Here comes the fun bit – drawing the actual jagged outline of the leaf, starting with the parts around the bottom leaf veins.

Each part has a pointy end. The jagged edge line then roughly follows the sketched shape, widening out in sort of small steps.

The four sections meet in a sharp corner. The part at the bottom around the stalk makes a nice wide”U” shape.

Next, complete the jagged outline around the top kite shape of the leaf.

Notice that there is a larger point sticking out around each of the veins and the midrib tip. The line between is then again the same jagged steps.

The hard work is done. So, let’s finish the leaf drawing by outlining the sketched midrib and veins and drawing the widened end of the stalk.

Here is the result of the third part of our “how to draw leaves” tutorial once we have erased the sketch lines.

It turned out to be a funky maple leaf. If yours turned out to be a slightly different shape, do not worry – there is an endless variety in the leaf shapes.

The last step is to color our leaf drawing in some playful autumn colors. Fall maple leaves can be anything from green, yellow, or orange to bright red.

To add a new color to our autumn leaf drawing set, we have chosen yellow for the leaf blade, with some orange along the midrib and veins and along the leaf edges.

The midrib, stalk, and veins are then a darker brown color. Also, notice the usual white highlights.