You can do this! You can paint a pumpkin in five steps and I am going to show you how.
I always encourage people to make their artwork their own. Put your personality in your painting. If you want a blue pumpkin, paint it blue! You like sunflowers, add some sunflowers. Make it yours.
Before we begin, you'll need a few things.
Supplies
Canvas (I painted on an 8x8, but any size will do)
Paint
Paint brushes
Paper towel
Paper plate
Cup of water
Pencil or colored chalk
Paint - Use any colors you choose. I used two shades of orange, burnt sienna , yellow, green, blue, and white
Brushes - it would be good to have a variety of sizes to make painting easier for you, but not necessary. If you only had one to choose from I would go with a medium, wide, flat brush.
Now, let's get started.
Step One
The first thing you need to do is sketch your pumpkin on your canvas. I recommend using a piece of colored chalk. It wipes right off if you make any mistakes or want to change anything and is easy to paint over. A pencil can be used as well, however, if you use a pencil make the sketch very light. It's hard to erase pencil marks and if they're on too heavy, depending on what colors you use, they sometimes show through.
To create the shape of the pumpkin you can create two set of parenthesis ( ( ) ) and join them with a slight curves. Another option is to print a template from the computer and trace it on your canvas.
As you can see from my sketch above, I was just trying to get the basic shape and size on my canvas. It doesn't have to be perfect. As you paint you will shape it.
Step Two
Now it's time to fill in your pumpkin. Right now you're just putting down a base coat. I picked one of my oranges and filled it in. At this point you don't need to worry about shading or highlighting.
I recommend your brush strokes follow the shape of the pumpkin. In the above, you can see my brush strokes on both side and the center of the pumpkin. I used a wide, flat brush.
Step Three
This is where you'll add shading and highlights.
You may notice this painting is slightly different than the step two painting. It's the same painting, but as I was painting the stem I didn't like how it looked so I added two small humps behind it. You don't have to do this, but if you want to give it a try...draw then paint your stem at the top of the center hump. Let your stem dry for a minute then dip your brush (I recommend a small flat brush or a rounded brush) in water and tap it on your paper towel so it doesn't drip then put a little bit of paint on it. The water on the brush will thin the paint and you can add those little humps on the canvas behind the stem. If you don't like the way they look then they'll be easy to paint over because they'll be very light. If you like them then you can darken them.
Before you start adding colors, decide where your light source is coming from (left, right, top, bottom) because that will determine which parts of your pumpkin are darker and lighter. I decided to have the light come from the left which is why you see a little bit of yellow on the left hump, but the center and right side are slightly darker.
Decide which colors you would like your pumpkin to be and play around with them, swiping them on the pumpkin in the same direction as the humps. I used yellow and both oranges at this stage. Once you determine where the indents of the humps are, paint them in with a darker color - I used the burnt sienna here. Keep blending colors until you're satisfied. This is the hardest part and may take a little time. If you find yourself getting frustrated, stop blending and move on to step four. You can blend some more in step five.
Step Four
It's time to fill in the background.
I used a mix of green, blue and white. At first I mixed the three colors on my paper plate and put a base coat on the canvas, being careful as I outlined the pumpkin.
After the base coat was on I started playing around with the three colors adding more greens and blues in different areas on the canvas until I was satisfied.
Be sure to put a little bit of a darker blend or color under the pumpkin to represent shadow.
Step Five
We are at the final step!
This is where you'll add any details you would like. This is where you can make it even more your personality.
I wanted to add some more texture and color to my pumpkin so I played around more with mixing my oranges, yellow and burnt sienna. This is where you pick back up blending.
As you play around with your colors, keep the brush strokes moving. The more up and down (or slight curve in this case) your strokes are on the wet paint the more they'll blend. I have to warn you though, sometimes it blends to the point you lose a color or it turns a shade you don't like. Don't worry, add more color and blend again.
And don't worry if your pumpkin isn't a perfect shape, few pumpkins are.
I find so much joy in seeing others artwork. If you (and your friends and family) do a pumpkin painting, I would love to see it.
Here's a final (very important) tip: If you don't like what you painted, wait until the next day and look at it again. It'll look different the next day. Right now you are looking at every detail and tryin to make it just right. You've also been staring at it for a while. You'll see it differently tomorrow when you see your completed painting with fresh eyes.
Happy painting!
Rebecca ~
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