How to make a stylized leaf | Blender 3.3

Did you know that you can quickly and easily make a stylized leaf in Blender?

In this tutorial I will show you how to use Blender to make a stylized leaf.

Leaf

I will begin by using an empty to import a leaf photo for my reference

I then add a plane that will become my leaf

In edit mode, I scale the vertices and add loop cuts to make a leaf shape

In object mode, I add a solidify modifier to give the leaf some thickness

Using CTRL + 2, I add a subdivision surface modifier with two levels

I temporarily turn off the subdivision surface modifier

In edit more, I add a vertical edge loop and add a small bevel to it

Using ALT + E, I extrude these new faces in toward the center of the leaf

In object mode, I turn the modifier back on

I then right-click and choose shade auto smooth

In edit mode, I use proportional editing to give the leaf some shape

I also manipulate the vertices on the two ends to make the leaf more interesting

Stem

In object mode, I add a curve object (path) and rotate it into place for the stem

I then scale it and move it into position

In edit mode, I adjust the segments to conform to the leaf shape

I then add a bevel to the curve object

I also use ALT + S to scale the very bottom vertex

Materials

I open the shader editor and add a new material for the leaf

I will use a color ramp and a Musgrave texture node

Since I have the node wrangler add-on activated, I can also quickly add a mapping and texture coordinate node

I then select the stem and add a material

I will use a color ramp and a noise texture node