How to Draw a Pumpkin Step by Step
This tutorial shows how to draw a pumpkin in nine steps with a detailed breakdown of the drawing process using illustrated examples.
A pumpkin has a fairly distinct and somewhat unusual shape making it an interesting item to try and draw. However, due to it’s many sections (ribs) it can be a little confusing as to how you should approach such a drawing. This tutorial helps by providing an easy to follow guide that shows how to first outline the pumpkin’s overall shape and then how to add the ribs inside it in several steps.
Be sure to start the tutorial in pencil and make light lines because you will need to erase some parts of the drawing in between the different steps. You can darken your lines before coloring. A good way to do that is with a black pen/marker (if you have one handy).
Step 1 – Draw an Outline of the Pumpkin’s Overall Shape
Begin the drawing with an outline of the pumpkin’s overall shape. As already mentioned, you can then draw it’s various ribs/sections inside this outline. When viewed from the angle used in the example the pumpkin’s shape will be similar to an oval.
You can deliberately make the outline somewhat uneven to make the pumpkin look more natural (the shapes of pumpkins usually aren’t perfect).
Step 2 – Draw the Front Rib
Inside the outline from the previous step draw the first rib. In this example it’s in the middle of the pumpkin but generally you can start with whatever rib is facing the most towards the viewer (even if not perfectly centered).
Define the rib with a pair of curves as shown in the example. Leave quite a bit of room at the top of the rib for the stem (added in a later step).
Step 3 – Draw the Next Two Ribs
Add another pair of the pumpkin’s ribs (one on each side of the first one). Join the tops of these two ribs together with a downward curve to define the area that the stem grows out of.
Step 4 – Draw the Ribs on the Sides
Add yet another set of ribs. This one should pretty much run along the sides of the pumpkin’s main outline.
Step 5 – Draw the Stem
Coming out of the area define in the previous step add the stem. Make it wider towards it’s base and narrower towards the top.
Step 6 – Draw the Rib in the Back
Finally, add the last set of ribs, the ones in the background. The lines that define these should run from the outline of the stem to the pumpkin’s main outline.
Step 7 – Draw the Details of the Stem
Finish the line drawing of the pumpkin by first adding some details to the stem. In this case it can just be a couple of lines to show that it also has some ribs/unevenness to it.
Next (as was mentioned at the start of the tutorial) you can trace over your lines with a black pen or marker. You can also simply darken them by pressing harder on the pencil.
Step 8 – Outline the Reflections
You may want to outline a few reflections along the pumpkin’s ribs before coloring (as shown above) to make sure you don’t accidentally go over them. A good way to do this is either with an orange pencil/marker or with very light regular pencil lines. That way the outlines will simply blend as you color.
The reflections (light reflecting from the pumpkin) will help show that the pumpkin has a fairly smooth surface.
Step 9 – Color the Pumpkin
To color the pumpkin you can use pretty much anything you have handy (paints, markers, colored pencils, etc…).
Make the pumpkin orange, the stem green and the reflections yellow.
Conclusion
Drawing a pumpkin can be somewhat complex due to it’s main ribs. By using the step by step approach outlined in this tutorial you can make the drawing process more organize and easier to manage.
When drawing objects with a lot of parts/details it can often be a good idea to first frame their overall shape and then draw the smaller parts inside that.
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