DIGITAL ART TUTORIAL - How to paint cherries

Digital art tutorial - How to paint cherries step by step

I LOVE fruit! Strawberries, raspberries, mangoes, bananas and... cherries! Cherries must be the worst, once I eat one of them, I just can't stop eating till I'm feeling sick. So a better option is to just paint a pair of cherries I guess! In this digital art tutorial I'll be showing you how to paint cherries with digital painting software and (preferably) a drawing tablet.

STEP 1 - Make a sketch

The first step is to make a sketch! You can keep it nice and loose. You can use a reference photo or real cherries, don't eat them yet though! (or make a picture of them before you eat them)

STEP 2 - Base color

Once you've made the sketch, add a new layer beneath the sketch and start painting the base color. I prefer using a dark tone for this, working from dark to light. The cherries will have some purples, browns and reds in them.

STEP 3 - Defining the shape

Once you got a nice base tone for your cherries, you can start defining the shape more. Add darker shadow tones and work on the light areas. You can turn down the opacity of the sketch layer during this phase and refine the edges of the cherries more.

STEP 4 - Detailing and drop shadow

To give the cherries a more realistic feel, they need a drop shadow. Add a new layer beneath the layers you've already got and start painting a shadow, you can built this up slowly. Work on the details of the cherries till you're satisfied. The cherries are bit shiny, so they need nice crisp highlights. I feel like eating them now!

Get in control of your cherry addiction and do some therapeutic cherry painting! Be sure to show me your final result and tag me in your post.
Here's a little recap of the steps taken...

DIGITAL ART TUTORIAL - How to paint cherries