Pumpkin Patch Drawing

Let's look at how to draw a pumpkin patch with pencil. First, begin by loosely drawing circles to represent the location and sizes of your pumpkins. I have a reference photo off to the side. After I draw my circles, I'm then going to place the stems where I see them, and the stems really are the basic form of a cylinder, so I'm thinking about how a cylinder would look. Next, I need to make it clear which pumpkin is in the front and which pumpkins may be in the back by erasing any lines from the pumpkins in the back. And then I will move on to showing the texture of the pumpkins. Again, I'm using a reference image and in my reference image I can see that the lumps and bumps that form the pumpkin radiate from the center or the stem at the top down to the center of the pumpkin at the bottom. So I'm curving those lines to show that they are going around the form. Think about the contour edge of the pumpkin and those lines again are going around that outside edge of that form. So where you draw those lines are really important in making your pumpkins look three-dimensional. Once these lines are all in place you're ready to begin shading. I like to look at the darkest values first. Sometimes I'll hold my pencil on its side so that I can really just get some pencil down on the paper very quickly. To blend and smooth out your pencil values, you can use a blending stick. These blending sticks are just rolled up pieces of paper that can be purchased. Don't push them down on the pointy part, however. Use them on their side and just use them to pull the pencil in the direction you'd like it to go. An additional tool we have available are ebony pencils. These pencils are very soft graphite. Because the graphite is so soft, it produces darker values. These values can be excellent for your darkest shadows. You want to use the ebony pencil last after you've already sketched everything out with your regular drawing pencils and even started to shade with those pencils. Lastly, don't forget that your eraser is also a tool. You can use your eraser to lighten and brighten highlights and to erase any smudges from the background of your paper. In conclusion, while you're being given a reference image for this assignment, you are still able to put your own creative twist on it. Just be sure to draw at least three pumpkins, fill your page, and include a wide range of value.