Hello October! And hello lovely autumn. Autumn is a wonderful season with nature painting the world in wonderful warm hues. Falling leaves,harvest and pumpkins.Ah so beautiful! The changing of seasons is something that I always look forward to although where I stay, autumn is not so predominant. So in today’s illustration tutorial , I’m going to show you how to make a vintage pumpkin illustration. So read on and follow the steps below to make your very own illustration.
Step 1: My first step is always to do a rough idea sketch either on my Moleskine or a rough printer paper. This will help me decide if I need to make any changes and it will save me time from all the erasing and thinking I need to do when doing the original one. After I’ve decided on what I should sketch, I draw a proper sketch on watercolor paper. I’ve used a 300 gsm or 140 lb cold pressed watercolor paper here. Make sure the paper is thick enough to handle the watercolor.
Step 2: By mixing, vermillion hue and deep yellow, I get a beautiful pumpkin orange color which I start to apply on the main part of my illustration. Keep continuing until all the different segments of the pumpkin are colored and covered.
Step 3: Now by mixing Viridian hue and Yellow green, I paint on the little stem end of the pumpkin. Make sure the pumpkin segments are dry before applying the green so that the color does not seep into it and mix.
Step 4: For the leaves, a mix of Viridian Hue, Yellow green and Yellow ochre were used. These created the various shades of green that I sued throughout the leaf and stem areas.
Step 5: After finishing the leaves,stems and vines, I started with the little peonies. For this fabulous color, I mixed Crimson lake and Chinese white which a hint of Cobalt blue hue. The outlines were done with a darker shade of the same mix.
Step 6:Using the darker shade of all the colors used, I then gave the leaves veins and segregated the pumpkin segments to get an almost vintage feel to the illustration. And there you have it. Your very own pumpkin illustration. The shades mentioned above are the names of the colors in Sakura Koi watercolor set.
As always the materials I’ve used for this illustration are 1.Watercolor brushes 2.Cold pressed watercolor paper and 3.Sakura Koi watercolor travel set.
What do you think?
How did you like this illustration? Do you think these steps were easy to follow? Id there anything else that you would like for me to do in the future posts. Let me know in the comments below.
Thank you so much once again for reading till the very end of the post. If you liked what I’ve shown above, please support my small blog by clicking the subscribe button. And if you would like to see some awesome inspiration, follow my board Illustration Love on Pinterest by clicking the image below. Until next time, Cheers!
Your art is so beautiful. Thank you for this tutorial. I’m no artist, but this, I may try. 🙂
The skill you have is incredible….Your tutorial makes it look so easy but I am always better for some reason with pencils then paints….Love your pumpkin and the colors!
You always have such beautiful art. Your tutorial makes it look so easy. Thank you for sharing it.
beautiful! I’d love a downloadable print to use in my upcoming Cinderella party! Thanks for linking up to Outside the Box
Thank you so much Carissa. I’ll send you an email with the scanned copy of the illustration so that you can print it. Please do send me a link where I can see how you used it in the party. I would love to see it 🙂
Thank you very much Cathy. I’m so glad you stopped by and supported. Have a great day:)
Thank you so much Christine. I love my pencils too . I feel like I have much control over them than paints but these are quicker to do and with the very limited time I have nowadays , paints work best!
Kelly I would love for you to try it and please send me the finished work. I can’t wait to see it 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by
Beautiful Fall Art! Love the colors!
Congratulations! You’ve been featured on Wicked Awesome Wednesday! Thank you for sharing the step by step process to paint a pumpkin! Feel free to drop by the website to pick up your “I’ve Been Featured!” button.
Zakkiya, if I order brushes from Amazon, what 3 sizes should I get? Do you have a favorite brand of brushes and paints for a beginner? Thanks so much….I LOVE this tutorial!
Hi Debbie. I do have a favorite brand and that is Silver Black velvet brushes but it is a bit on the pricier side.
My second favorite is the Princeton synthetic sable brushes which are brilliant qualty for its price
I’d suggest getting:-
– Princeton Synthetic sable round no.8 – http://amzn.to/2xXdgzf
-Princeton synthetic sable round no.8 – http://amzn.to/2xYFQeK
-Princeton synthetic sable round no.16 http://amzn.to/2xYFjtt ( When you’re confident enough to go big)
I hope that helps. <3