This tutorial will walk you through how to make a fiddle leaf fig illustration that transforms a plain envelope into fabulous mail art. To get started, you’ll need watercolors, white ink, and a nice podcast or playlist to help you relax and enjoy the creation process!
I love the clean and modern look of a fiddle leaf fig, so I decided to make mail art centered around this delightful plant. It’s vibrant, creative, and eye-catching … the perfect little gift for a friend to find in his or her mailbox! I’ve outlined the creation steps below so you can make one, too. (If you love the look of this mail art but you don’t have the time to attempt making it, you can find this envelope in the TPK Tutorial Printable Mail Art Set.)
You’ll need to gather a few key supplies to create this mail art, including:
For a foolproof illustration, I recommend starting with a pencil draft. Use your pencil to draw a cylinder in the middle of your envelope. The cylinder should be about 2″ (~5 cm) tall and 2.5″ (~6.4 cm) wide.
Next, draw four wavy stems coming out of the top of the cylinder.
Once you’ve drawn the stems, begin drawing leaves. Fiddle leaf fig leaves are shaped a bit like, well, fiddles! Some have a slight indentation at the end that sort of looks like a heart. Each leaf has interesting Y-shaped veins, which you should go ahead and draw in as well.
Continue to draw leaves until the plant is nice and full. Try to give your leaves different shapes and sizes to make the tree look more realistic.
Finish up by drawing the floor pattern of your choice; I used a Moroccan concrete tile-inspired motif.
Now, moisten at least two different shades of green watercolor: a dark green and a light green. (If you happen to have a medium green tone as well, moisten it, too.) Use those green watercolors to fill in your leaves. Most leaves should feature a mix of the 2-3 green tones. You can paint in a couple of leaves with only one green tone for contrast.
Continue to use your green watercolors to fill in the rest of the leaves. Once you’re finished, the leaves should look something like this:
Now, moisten a dark gray or black tone of watercolor, and use that to paint a sliver of soil at the base of your fig.
Use the same black tone and a tiny brush to outline the pot. Then, use a brush that you’ve moistened with clear water to tease that black tone out into the pot a bit more. This will give the pot some contour while maintaining its clean look. Once you’re finished with the pot, paint the floor. I chose to use my gray tone to fill in my tiles, but you should do whatever makes sense for your floor.
To finish up your fiddle leaf fig illustration, double check to make sure that your leaves are dry. (To do that, lightly touch a few of the leaves. If the surface of the paper doesn’t feel damp, you can move on to this step.) Then, get out a bottle of white ink and a straight pen with a Nikko G nib. Use that supply trio to trace over the veins in your leaves.
Continue to trace over the veins until all or most of the leaves feature white lines.
Now, use the space in your pot to write an address. While I’m normally a fan of show-stopping calligraphy, in this case, the focus is the lovely fiddle leaf fig illustration. With that in mind, I used my straight pen, Nikko G nib, black watercolor, and embellished cursive to write the address.
To finish up, affix a single postage stamp — preferably one that features green tones — in the upper right corner.
I normally just talk about the process of making the mail art itself in my mail art tutorials. Today, though, I’d like to show you what I put inside! The mail art contains a letter helping me to reconnect with an old friend who my communication tapered off with after my kids were born. After going a couple of years without having the chance to speak, it felt a little intimidating to send an update and ask questions. There was just so much to say! With that in mind, I printed out the Letter Layout Planner from The Letter Writer’s Complete Resource.
I didn’t end up getting to cover everything that I had planned in my letter. However, having the planner as a guide really helped me to craft friendship-rekindling correspondence. And, bonus — now I have a record of the topics that my letter covered, which is something I always have trouble remembering later!
Before I end this tutorial, I want to touch on one question that I receive after every envelope art tutorial, which is “Will the post office really send this?” While you should always be prepared for the chance that your envelope will be one of the 6% that gets lost every year, it’s quite likely that this envelope will reach its destination. Just be sure to write the address legibly, paying special attention to the zip code, and you should be okay! (For more tips for making lovely mail that arrives at its destination, see this article.)
If you want to dip your toes into sending mail art with a minimal time investment, remember that this design is part of the TPK Tutorial Printable Mail Art Set. The set features seven other unique designs, too.
I hope that you enjoyed reading about this project … and that you’re inspired give it a try! Feel free to follow the tutorial exactly or just riff on it to make a card or a sketchbook page. Thanks so much for reading, and have a wonderful weekend!
Warmly,
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