Easy Holly Drawing Tutorial
A holly leaf is a great doodle to learn how to draw.
They’re quite simple to create, but look really good.
They also have a lot of history; did you know that in England, early Christmas trees were actually holly trees?
If you’d like to learn how to draw a holly leaf, this post is for you!
Below is a tutorial on how to draw simple holly leaves for beginners.
It should be easy to follow along with, as it will show you step by step what you need to do.
History of Holly Leaves
Before you learn how to draw holly, its history is very interesting.
Holly leaves have long been associated with Christmas, but it was actually used in celebrations and ceremonies as early as ancient Roman times.
During the celebration of Saturnalia in December, the Romans would dress their homes with holly.
Druids and Celts also used holly leaves; they believed they were a symbol of eternal life; the thick-skinned leaves of the holly make them evergreen, and give it an ability to survive the cold of winter.
Christmas and Holly Leaves
Holly is now a plant that is closely associated with Christmas, as Christians consider the holly leaf symbolic of Christmas; the sharp green leaves are said to represent the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus, and the red berries symbolize the drops of His blood.
So as you can see, Holly has a lot of different symbolic meanings!
Holly Leaf Bullet Journal Ideas
[H2] Holly Leaf Bullet Journal Ideas
Here are some ideas for including a holly leaf drawing in your bullet journal designs:
- Holly leaf cover page design.
- As doodles in your December weekly spreads.
- On a dedicated Christmas doodles page alongside other Christmas related doodles, such as Santa hats, Christmas ornaments, Snowmen, etc.
- Holly Mood Tracker. You can draw holly leaves on a page, with each leaf representing a day of the month. Then you can colour in the leaves different shades of green to represent different moods; light green holly leaf can mean you were happy that day, dark green can mean sad, etc. (You can use non traditional colours of course).
- Alongside quotes about Christmas, or on a dedicated quote page.
I hope these holly bujo ideas are helpful!
Now let’s learn how to doodle a holly leaf.
What You Will Need to Draw Holly
Here is a list of what you need to draw holly:
- Paper, a sketchbook or a bullet journal to draw onto.
- A pencil to plan out the holly shapes (the circles for the berries, and lines for the leaves). .
- An eraser to rub out the pencil markings.
- A fineliner pen to create the outline of the holly (black is suggested, but you can use any colour).
- Colours if you want your holly leaves to be in colour. These can be whatever medium you’d prefer; coloured pencils, markers, crayons, or even watercolours. Just make sure your paper is thick enough to handle adding a wet medium to it, if you are going to add colour to your holly leaves using watercolour paint. Green and red are the recommended colours, but you can use whatever colours you’d like.
That’s everything you will need to draw a holly leaf.
How to Draw Holly – Step by Step
Below is a step by step tutorial on how to draw holly:
Step 1: Using a pencil, draw 3 small circles that overlap each other slightly. These circles are to mark out the berries.
Step 2: Draw 3 lines in pencil coming out from the circles. You can draw them slightly bent, as these are to curve the holly leaves. Draw them from the top of the circles going upwards, with one curving out from the left, one from the right of the berries, and the last line from the center. (You can however draw them coming from all around the berries, if you want the leaves to surround the berries).
Step 3: Again using a pencil, draw an oval around each pencil line, to further mark out the leaves.
Step 4: Now using a fineliner, draw circles over the initial set of pencil circles. This time, don’t make them overlap; draw one circle completely first, then draw the others cut off slightly when the circle line reaches another circle. This will make the berries seem layered, and like they are layered behind each other.
Using the pencil ovals as a guide, draw the outline of the 3 leaves using a fineliner. You want to draw the leaves spikey, with the point coming out to the edge of the pencil oval, then coming back in towards the center line, then back out to a point again. Make sure you have a point that is at the very top of the pencil oval for each leaf.
Step 5: Carefully draw a neat, curved line with a fineliner running up the center of each leaf. Start strong at the center where the berries are, before thinning the fineliner line slightly, and fading it out toward the tip of each leaf.
You can now rub out the pencil markings you initially used.
Step 6: Add colour to your holly leaves if you want them to be in colour, using a medium of your choice. It is recommended to use a bright or deep red for the berries, and then a dark green for the leaves.
And your holly leaf doodle is complete!
Below shows you the step by step tutorial for drawing this holly leaf:
Easy Holly Doodle Tutorial – Final Thoughts
This post shows how easy it is to draw a simple holly leaves.
I hope it will help you draw plenty of Christmassy doodles!
Related Easy Drawing Tutorial Posts
Enjoyed this post?
If so, you might like these other posts on easy drawing tutorials:
- How to draw a dandelion step by step
- How to draw a book for beginners
- Lavender drawing tutorial
- How to draw leaves – easy step by step tutorials
- Christmas tree doodle tutorial
- How to draw a candy cane
- Easy Snowflake drawing tutorials for beginners
- How to draw a Christmas ornament
- How to draw a Santa hat
You can also follow us on Instagram here!