A frustration I hear all the time from letterers is that it is SO hard to know what kind of embellishments to add to their lettering. Do you add swirls? Intricate drawings? Flowers? I think the major hurdle to including your own drawings alongside your calligraphy is that you just don’t know what the heck to draw. You have the artistic talent, and there are tons of guides to improving your lettering. But there are  shockingly few drawing guides, unless you are wanting to go all in and learn super realistic high-end art.

So, I’ve created this Botanical Line Drawing guide, to take your “doodles” to the next level.

First thing first, let’s get to the good stuff and the free download!

Okay, so now you have the guide – pretty awesome huh? I included tons of styles on this sheet, and if you can hold a pen, you can draw them. I love having an “examplar” of sorts available for doodles – that way you don’t fall into the trap of spontaneous, off the cuff, drawings looking too messy or not cohesive enough.

Some tips for using this guide:

1. Pick 2-3 flower types you want to include, and 2-3 leaf types that correspond with the style of the flowers. For example, you don’t want to pick very structured flowers and very organic looking leaves.
2. Draw in your flowers first, then add leaves where appropriate.
3. Try to evenly space each flower and leaf type, but don’t get too rigid. You want this to look breezy and fun!
4. Try combining two flower types – for example you can draw a large central flower with some of the bud/stem type examples coming off of the central flower.

Now, what if you aren’t a calligrapher? No problem! These doodles work perfectly everywhere.

Here are a few ideas for incorporating them into your creative pursuits:

1. Line the margins of your journal with these doodles.
2. Include these doodles in your planner (thank you, sticker budget!)
3. Create a drawing of JUST these doodles. Pop it in a frame and you’ve got yourself some modern wall art, sister.
4. Draw some of these for your children to color.
5. Decorate the covers of your notebooks.
6. If you do Bible Journaling, these would be the perfect accents in the margins.
7. And last, but (certainly!) not least, try decorating your hand lettering. Here is a drawing I did with some of the botanical line drawings incorporated.

So, I hope this gives you some inspiration to start doodling more confidently! I’d love to hear what other guides you’d like to see on the blog, so let me know in the comments!

Happy Drawing!