Drawings of Roses: Simple and Easy Drawings of roses can represent quite a lot in a tattoo. While tattoos are usually very personal, there are a few recurring themes or symbols that are universal. Rose drawings in Western culture are the symbol of pure love, much like lotus drawings are in the East. The specific color of the rose, like most flowers, will change its meaning; however, in most tattoos you will see the rose depicted as red. While I am not a professional tattoo artist and can only speculate at best why a specific color or image is used in each tattoo, I can help with the construction of this specific highly tatted symbol. Find a Reference Subject to Practice The first step to creating great drawings of roses is to find a good quality reference photo to practice from. A large, clear photo is obviously the best to draw from. It would be best if you can take your own, but you can also find thousands of good images online to practice from as well. Sketching the Rose I recommend using a light pencil to start with. A pencil hardness of 2H or B would be perfect; however, 2B is always a good overall lead as well. Just keep the lines light and sketchy. Don't use much pressure. There are several methods of creating roses, and I have found a combination of them is best, which I have distilled into simple steps below. Tip: The rose can be drawn easily by remembering the number 5. There are five petals that overlap each layer. 1: Draw a Pentagram This can be a little tricky (perhaps the hardest part). An easy way to draw it is to start with something easy. Draw a circle. Then mark five points about equal distances around the circle. Then just connect the points along the outsides to create the pentagram shape. 2: Draw More Pentagrams! One you have the pentagram shape, you basically keep drawing the pentagram shape until you reach the center. Roughly two to three more pentagrams will get you to the center. Remember to keep the lines light. Those pentagrams can get tricky! It will, however, give the flower more interest if it isn't perfect, so don't stress too much. The key here is to just get the main structure of the flower sketched out. You are building the framework to work from. "Keep it Simple! The detail will come after this is done." Tip: To draw the center, you can suggest it by drawing a shape like the number 9 or the @ symbol. Make the "a" in the @ symbol more of a tear/water drop shape. Either of these will give you a good base to start with drawing the middle. A lot of methods for creating drawings of roses start from the center of the rose and draw the petals outward from there. Cons of starting with the middle Starting with the middle when making drawings of roses works great; however, if you want to draw realistic roses, like with drawing faces, having a formula to get the proportions down will always help. Starting from the center will have you creating more of a doodle-like rose drawing. "It is great for drawing without a reference photo, but having one will help with the realism." Make it a Rose! Once you have the structure down, you will begin adding the delicate features roses are known for. Draw curvy lines along the side of each pentagram resembling the image of an old-time cash register. This will create the petals. Now that you have them drawn in to your satisfaction, look more at the shading and highlights of the image. Click here for Pencil Shading Tips and help with getting that just right. Colors and Meanings Once you are proficient at making drawings of roses in black and white, you may try adding a little more meaning and depth with color. Below are some color meanings for different colored roses.  Red Roses: Convey deep, strong emotions of just about any kind. It can be great love and desire or sorrow and pain (most likely why it is the most popular color in tattoos.)  White Roses: Often referring to purity or innocence, they represent new beginnings and are used to show spirituality.  Yellow Roses: Symbolize friendship and caring. As the color indicates, it evokes happy thoughts and feelings. It also expresses purely platonic emotions.  Pink Roses: Pink drawings of roses are the middle ground of white and red roses. A shift to a deeper pink pushes the meaning to more of the red rose meaning and vice versa with the white rose color. Since it is in the middle, it often represents a more gentle emotion such a joy or gratitude.  Orange Roses: Signify passion and energy and rival red roses as symbols of passion.  Blue Roses: Represent the unattainable or the mysterious.  Green Roses: Peace and tranquility. Represent fertility and harmony.  Black Rose: Color of death and farewell or death of a feeling or idea. In Closing That should help you create pretty awesome drawings of roses, whether for tattoos or just to draw a beautiful flower sketch.Keep it Simple and you will always find things are easier. Drawing from a photo will obviously give you more realistic results; however, the same basic structure can be used to get the proportions and main structure down. For more inspiration you may also want to check out Tattoo Johnny. They have one of the largest collections of quality tattoo designs that I have found on the Net. Searching through hundreds of images will also surely get these creative juices flowing. As always Keep it Simple! Just like learning anything else, start off slow and then add more layers of difficulty and detail as you go. . Drawings of Roses: Simple and Easy Drawings of roses can represent quite a lot in a tattoo. While tattoos are usually. more of a tear/water drop shape. Either of these will give you a good base to start with drawing the middle. A lot of methods for creating drawings of roses start from the center of the rose and. highlights of the image. Click here for Pencil Shading Tips and help with getting that just right. Colors and Meanings Once you are proficient at making drawings of roses in black and white,