How to Paint an Apple | Step by Step Tutorial

P_20190524_162048_HDR g - Copy.jpg

Hello dear Steemians! Today, I will share a tutorial on how to paint an apple using soft pastels as the medium. This is my first time using soft pastels and it turned out better than I expected. I learned this painting from a video tutorial by Sennelier Colours. Click here to have a look at it. By the way, Sennelier is a famous manufacturer of art supplies and it has been around for a century now.

Tools and Materials

A mechanical pencil with 2B lead to draw
A good quality artblock that is durable
Mungyo soft pastels
Tissue to clean your fingers after smudging

Step by Step Tutorial

This is my drawing of an apple and my set of soft pastels. I used a thick, sturdy paper with heavy pulp to paint. I have tested the colours on different papers. I found that a normal artblock or even a sturdy one isn't suitable for soft pastels. It is best to use sanded paper as it will be able to hold the paint well. Otherwise, the paint which has a dusty texture as soft pastels are soft, will start falling off like dust from the paper the moment you lift it.

I began my painting by colouring the whole apple in yellow.

Then, I painted some brown and pale yellow in the background.

I also painted the table in blue and the leaf in green.

Then, I smudged each colour with my fingers. I cleaned my fingers with a tissue before moving on to next colour. Smudging is the best way to apply the colours to the paper. You can also use a brush made for pastel blending if you like.

After that, I added some red over the yellow on the apple and smudged it with my finger.

I added some shadows using dark green on the apple and on the ground and smudged them. Dark green is the complementary colour for red which means they are the opposites on the colour wheel. Mixing them both creates a neutral colour best suited for shadows. I wanted the light to be from the left, so the shadows fall on the right.

Then, I added some details on the leaf and shaded it with dark green, light green and some yellow. I also added another layer of colours to the background to make it more intense. I added a small amount of black to the shadows of the apple and the top areas of the table as well.

P_20190523_025720_HDR g.jpg

I added more colours in the background. I also used some white to add some highlights on the apple. I added more brown and a small amount of black to intensify some parts of the shadows. I added a tiny amount of red as well while adjusting the shadows.

This is a screenshot of my video where I was adding some yellow to the background.

This is after I finished my artwork.

This is a closer shot that I took the next day. I painted at night, so I thought the pictures were looking a little dull although I snapped them with flash. Hence, I captured more pictures on the next day in natural light of the sun. They came out warmer like how the artwork appeared on the videos, as you can see on the screenshots. I also placed it on a white art block so that it will not look dull due to my vibrantly coloured pink table.

P_20190524_162048_HDR g.jpg

This is a another picture. I used the same picture for the thumbnail, except that the thumbnail image is cropped. I hope that you find this post helpful and enjoyed reading it. Have a great day ahead =)