In this Affinity Designer tutorial, we will draw one of the most popular plants for the holidays, the poinsettia. We will start with a reference photo from unsplash.com (see link below). We will use the Pen tool to trace a poinsettia petal from the photo. Using this petal shape, we will create a full poinsettia flower.

Open Affinity Designer and let's get started.

1. Start a new document that is 1000 x 1000 pixels. Set the dpi to 144 for mobile/web and 300 dpi for print projects (see screenshot)


2. Open the reference photo into Affinity Designer.


3. Using the Pen tool, make a tracing of a large petal (see screenshot).


4. Using the eyedropper in the color controls in the Context Toolbar, set the Fill of this large petal to the red color (FD1737) from the photo. Set the Stroke to a dark brown 7D110F (see screenshot).


5. Select the tracing and click Edit - Copy from the top Menubar.


6. Go back to your original document and click Edit - Paste to add the petal to the canvas.


7. Adjust the size of the petal so that you can fit five petals within the canvas, with an empty border area around the petals.

We need to enlarge the stroke so that it is more visible and add a center stroke down the middle of the petal (see screenshot).


8. With the petal selected, set the Stroke Width to 4 pt.


9. Select the Pen tool and draw a stroke down the middle of the petal. Curve the stroke to match the curve of the petal.


10. In the Layers panel, select both layers, right-click and choose Group. Name the Group layer to petal (see screenshot).


11. Right-click on the petal layer and choose Duplicate. Rotate the new petal a little to the right.


12. Repeat the previous steps until you have five petals spaced evenly around the circle (see screenshot).


13. Select all five layers (see screenshot), group the layers together and name the group layer bottom petals.

Now we will add a few smaller petals on top of the bottom petals.


14. From inside the bottom petals group, duplicate the top petal layer. Drag this duplicate layer out of the group layer and place it above the group (see screenshot).


15. Select the Move tool and reduce the size of this new petal.


16. Rotate the petal so that the point of the petal is between two bottom petals.


17. Repeat the previous steps for two more petals.


18. Select the three new petals, group them and call the group top petals (see screenshot).

Next, we will add some green petals below the red petals.


19. Duplicate the bottom petals group layer. Select the bottom most group layer and name it green petals (see screenshot).


20. On the canvas, enlarge the green petals group layer and rotate it slightly to the right, to allow the petals to show between the petals above them.


21. Select the Move tool. Open the group layer and select the top petal layer. Open the petal layer and select the petal inside.


22. From the Context toolbar, change the color of the petal to green 1C804D.


23. Repeat the previous steps until all of the petals in the green petals group are green (see screenshot).

Finally, we will add a few golden circles in the center of the poinsettia (see screenshot).


24. Select the Ellipse tool. Change the Fill to DEB860 and set the Stroke to Null.


25. Draw several circles of different sizes at the center of the poinsettia.

Alternative: For a slightly different style, darken a few of the bottom petals (see screenshot). Change the color of the petal to E80027 or F30028.

Red and White Poinsettia Covered in Snow by Josie Weiss
https://unsplash.com/photos/a-red-and-white-poinsettia-covered-in-snow-6gKMcnPVDMw

Once you have your poinsettia, you can add it too your holiday graphic elements collection (see screenshot), use it in a nice holiday card or in a holiday marketing project.

Index - How to Draw a Holiday Theme Collection of Elements

Affinity (R) Designer screenshots used by permission of Serif (Europe) Ltd. This article is not endorsed by Serif Ltd.