Using Leaf Rubbings and Ink for Drawing Practice

Do you ever feel like learning to draw is a struggle? Using leaf rubbings and ink for drawing practice can be a fun way to gain confidence with your drawing skills.

Finding Inspiration from Nature

I have found so much inspiration from nature this fall. My walks in the city have been full of beautiful colors as the leave change as it gets colder. I started the habit of collecting interesting leaves on my walks and was able to even find leaves from trees that are less common in our area, like oaks and maples.

Enjoying these beautiful leaves and being inspired by Inktober, I wanted to focus on the idea of adding drawing to your projects with the help of leaf rubbings.

Limiting Beliefs

So many of us have limiting beliefs around drawing and sketching. I know I do. For many years I believed that I couldn’t draw. I have been working past that belief and have started practicing drawing as part of my creative habit.

It can be a hard thing to break out of, especially if you compare yourself to people with hundreds of hours of drawing practice. Whatever limiting belief we have, we always have a choice to make. We can choose to actualize it or move past it.

I was shown a lot of love and encouragement by art teachers and other people who really helped me move past my limiting beliefs. My first drawings were not great. Even now, I feel like a novice, but I will continue to try. It requires time and practice.

Today’s project is meant to help you learn how to draw better. Drawing is about observation. The more we understand what we are seeing and observe, the better we can become at drawing. Using leaf rubbings and ink together is a fun way to start working on those observation skills.

Art Journal Project with Leaf Rubbings and Ink

Step 1: Choosing Leaves

Start by choosing leaves to use in this project. These can be fresh leaves picked from plants or found on the ground. The ones that I found were from a visit at the Calgary Zoo. They had fallen off the trees but were still pliable. You want to avoid leaves that have cracked or have become hard.

A fresher leaf will create a better image as you will be able to see the veins of the leaf more clearly. You can also use leaves that have been pressed and dried. The image won’t have as much contrast, but it will work for this project.

Step 2: Create Leaf Rubbings Using Wax Pastels

To create a leaf rubbing, put the leaf under the journal page. If you are doing this in a book, add a piece of board or a firm surface under the leaf to help you get a good image. If you are using a loose piece of paper, put your leaf on the hard surface and add your paper on top. Make sure to flip the leaf so the more bumpy, veined part faces you as this will give you a better image.

Using the side of your wax pastel, rub the pastel across the surface of the paper. The raised areas of the leaf will create an image onto the paper. I used Caran d’Ache Neocolor 1 wax pastels for this step. You could use charcoal pencils, wax crayons, pencil crayons or a variety of mediums for this technique.

Make rubbings of additional leaves onto the surface of your journal page until it is covered in leaf rubbings.   

Step 3: Add Sketching with a Pen

Now that you have a general impression of the leaf, start defining the leaf edges by sketching with a pen. In some areas you will have a very strong impression, while in some areas it will be soft, and you won’t be able to see a definite edge.

This is where you can put your own creative spin on this project. You can have very solid, purposeful lines, or you can have more sketchy, loose edges to the leaves. Depending on your style, this can add personal touch and variation to your piece.

This is a great way of learning observation and how to draw. As you observe, you may notice imperfection of the leaves. They may be more jagged than you originally thought, and you may draw differently than if you had to free hand a leaf drawing. The rubbing gives you a guide so that you can see the general shapes and texture of the leaf.

When adding sketching, you can also add in the stems, veins, and other leaf marks. The final look it up to you. You could leave it mostly as a rubbing or you could go in and add a lot of definition. The choice is yours.

Step 4: Add Wax Pastel to the Background

If the leaves look like they are blending into the background, choose another color of wax pastel and apply it to the background around the leaves. I chose a purple color as it blended with the warm colors of my leaves, adding depth and a bit of contrast.  

To create a high contrast background, try adding blue wax pastel as this will make the yellow areas green and the red areas a deep purple color.

Step 5: Add Lettering

If you want to add lettering and journaling to your art journal, you can add lettering over the leaves.

When adding your lettering, start by writing your words with a permanent pen. It will look quite basic and thin on the page. Add additional pen to thicken the words in places and make the lettering more dynamic.  When adding the additional lines, keep the upstrokes thin, and thicken areas that would be on a downstroke.

Step 6: Add Highlighting with a Paint Pen  

To give more dimension to the lettering, use a gold paint pen to add highlights to the letters.

Questions?

Any questions about how to create the leaf rubbing or using ink on this project? If you have any questions or comments I would love to start a conversation with you! You can leave a comment below or contact me directly.

My hope is that this inspires you to work on your drawings skills and add more sketching into your projects. Have a great weekend and I hope that you take some time for creative self-care this week!

Project Supply List

• Leaves
• Koh-I-Noor Bristol Journal 8.5” x 5.5”
• Caran D’Ache NeoColor 1 Wax Pastels
• Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen
• Elegant Writer Calligraphy Pen
• Artistro Acrylic Paint Pen Gold Metallic