How To Draw A 3d Pumpkin

How to Draw a Pumpkin

A while back we learned How to Use Shapes to Draw. Today you're going to use a circle as a guide to learn how to draw a pumpkin.

This is a lesson that could be used in a classroom full of students or at home on your own. You'll learn step by step how to do a pumpkin drawing, and what to do with this knowledge after you've followed along.

* Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.

Art Supplies

Paper or sketchbook

Pencil

Eraser

How to Draw a Pumpkin

Begin by drawing a circle that is roughly the size you want your pumpkin to be. Don't worry if your circle is not perfect. After all, pumpkins are not always perfect. And as a matter of fact, odd shaped pumpkins quite often have more character than perfect ones.

How-To-Draw-Pumpkins-Circle

Pumpkin Stem Drawing

Next, draw the pumpkin stem. To do this, begin by drawing a curved line towards the top of your pumpkin. And then draw your stem coming out of that curved line.

How-To-Draw-Pumpkins-Stem

There are all sorts of stems you could draw. It could be tall and thin, or short and wide. It could be broken off or not there at all. The choice is all yours.

How-To-Draw-Pumpkins-Stems

At this time you can also start changing your pumpkin shape from being so much of a circle. To do this, make the top and the bottom of your pumpkin slightly flatter and curved a little bit.

How-To-Draw-Pumpkins-Shape

Pumpkin Drawing – Contour Lines

Now draw in some contour lines on your pumpkin. I started in the middle when I drew mine, but you can begin wherever you'd like. Make sure your ribs follow the shape of your pumpkin.

The lines should be curved, not straight. If the lines are on the left side of your pumpkin, they will curve towards the left. And the right half will curve towards the right.

These are the contour lines that will create a 3D pumpkin drawing, instead of one that looks flat.

How-To-Draw-Pumpkins-Ribs

If you make your rib lines straight, your pumpkin won't look round.

How-To-Draw-Pumpkins-Wrong

Next, add in the ridges at the top and bottom of your pumpkin where the ribs end. You want to draw curved lines connecting your rib lines to the ones adjacent to it.

How-To-Draw-Pumpkins-Ridges

How to Shade a Pumpkin

The final step is to shade your pumpkin. Add a darker shadow underneath your pumpkin. And shade around each of the ribs. When shading your pumpkin, keep in mind that each of the ribs is a raised section. The indented parts will be darker and the part that sticks out the most will be lightest.

How-To-Draw-Pumpkins-Shaded

What's Next

Now that you know how to draw a pumpkin, what's next? To get better at anything requires practice. To get better at drawing, requires practice and repetition. An easy way to get in a lot of repetitions is by filling up a couple of sketchbook pages with pumpkins. To do this, draw 100 pumpkins in your sketchbook of all different shapes and sizes.

One of my favorite ways to practice drawing something is by doing some artist trading cards. Because of their smaller size they are a bit quicker to finish than a full-size work of art. I will typically start making these after filling a couple of sketchbook pages. I've found that practicing first helps get my creativity juices flowing and my cards will turn out better.

Typically I will do a 7 day drawing challenge. During these challenges, I'll do an artist trading card every day for 7 days, sticking with the theme. Which is in this case would be pumpkins. These can be done using the same style or technique for all 7 cards. Or, you can challenge yourself to try 7 different techniques. I will do whichever one I'm in the mood for at the time.

Pastel-Pumpkin-ATC

How to Draw a Pumpkin Step by Step

Thank you for stopping by and checking out how to draw pumpkins. Hopefully you feel inspired to draw some of your own and maybe even fill up some sketchbook pages or make some artist trading cards. For more information on ATCs, take a look at How to Make Artist Trading Cards (ATCs).

Pin It For Later

Pumpkin-Drawings-How-To

So what do you think? Are you up to a challenge?

Posts Related to Drawing Pumpkins

Jack o Lantern Drawings for Beginners
The Elements of Art
How to Sculpt a Jack of Lantern with Sculpey
How to Make a Value Scale – for Shading

Roshanda is an art education blogger who is on a mission to coach and encourage as many aspiring artists as possible through the use of her blog. Learn more about her on the About Me page and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.