How to Draw a Palm Tree Step by Step

This tutorial shows how to draw a palm tree in six steps. It give simple illustrated examples and quick and easy to follow instructions.

Palm tree drawing step by step
Palm tree drawing step by step

You can see a preview of the drawing stages included as examples in the image above. Overall the tutorial is fairly beginner friendly and shouldn’t take too much time.

It’s recommended that you use a pencil and draw light lines for most of the steps as you will need to erase some small parts of the drawing before you finish. Making light lines will also help you correct any potential mistakes. You can darken them before coloring.

Step 1 – Draw the Crown of Leaves

Palm tree leaves drawing
Palm tree leaves drawing

Start the palm tree drawing with an outlines of it’s leaves.

Palm leaves drawing step by step
Palm leaves drawing step by step

First draw the leaves that are facing towards the front. Then draw the next set of leaves behind them followed by the next set behind those. Finally draw the last leaf at the very back.

Step 2 – Draw the Trunk

Palm tree trunk drawing
Palm tree trunk drawing

Below the leaves draw a curved trunk that is wider at the bottom and gets narrower as it goes up. You can do this with just a pair of curved lines.

Step 3 – Draw the Center Parts of the Leaves

Palm tree rachis drawing
Palm tree leaves middle part drawing

Draw a line through roughly the center of each leaf to show the rachis (the middle part of the palm leaf).

Step 4 – Draw the Stripes Along the Trunk

Palm tree trunk stripes drawing
Palm tree trunk stripes drawing

Add some stripes along the trunk to give the palm tree its characteristic look. Space the stripes farther apart toward the bottom and closer together as they go up the trunk.

Step 5 – Finish the Line Drawing

Palm tree line drawing
Palm tree line drawing

Finally to make the leaves look more palm tree like draw some little “cuts” along their sides. Try and add these at random intervals and make them of lightly different sizes. Generally they should be smaller towards the base and tips of the leaves and larger near the middle.

Once done erase the outlines around the parts of the leaves where you drew in the little “cuts”. Afterwards you can go over the entire drawing with either darker pencil lines, a black pen or marker.

Step 6 – Color the Palm Tree

Palm tree drawing
Palm tree drawing

To color the palm tree you can make the leaves a yellow/green and the trunk a light brown. You can do this with paints, colored pencils, markers or other medium.

Conclusion

Palm trees have a very specific shape which makes them fairly distinct from other types of trees. They are also not particularly difficult to draw so hopefully you didn’t have much trouble following along with the steps.

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