Q&A for How to Draw a Basket of Fruit

It is necessary to sketch the design first because if you were to make a mistake, it'll be easy to fix it and work on improving it until it's right again.

No, this isn't essential but it does make the drawing easier because you have an outline to follow and infill. The alternative is drawing it without guidance.

It is necessary to sketch and rub because you need a contour first. A contour gives shape to your drawing and when you make mistakes, you have to rub.

Start by drawing a horizontal oval as wide as you want your bowl to be. Then, make a thick crescent shape from the bottom of the oval to form the base of the bowl. If you want your bowl to have a base, draw a narrow ring at the bottom. Add some definition to your bowl by drawing a parallel oval around the rim. From there, you can add some color and details to finish up your bowl sketch.

It's actually more simple than you may think. Start with a horizontal oval that's as long as you want your basket to be. Then, make a thick crescent shape from the bottom of the oval to form the bowl of the basket. Draw a parallel oval around the rim to give it some definition. From there, sketch 2 arcs that stretch across the basket to form the handle, or skip the handle if you don't want one. To finish your basket sketch, add some hashed lines to give it a woven appearance.

If you've already got a basket or bowl sketched out, adding the fruit is no sweat. If you want to add apples, draw some half circles inside the middle of the basket and give each half-circle a slight dip near the stem so your apple isn't perfectly round. Sketch at least 1 or 2 circles or half-circles for the oranges. For bananas, draw a long curve that looks like a smile and make a parallel curved line about 1 inch (2.5 cm) above it. Connect the ends of the curves to make the stem and tip of the banana. Grapes are simple as well. Draw small circles clusters together to form a bunch. To take your sketch to the next level, use a blending stump to shade the fruit and give it dimension.

A blending stump is a pencil-like object that is used for blending colors. You hold it like any artistic tool, and it blends colors together.

After you've made the outline of your bowl, make rectangles like shapes that have a curve the same direction of the side of the bowl, long ways up and down Do this smaller as you go down. You can do the same side to side, to make it a more complex weave.

Make rectangle like shapes longways up and down, but with a slight curve going the same way as the side of the bowl. Make these smaller as you go to the bottom. You can go from side to side doing this over the top, if you want to make a complex weave.

This can happen, yes. If you do the coloring first, then do the pencil and blend with a tissue instead of a blending stump, it will have the effect of the shading over the color. The reason to use a tissue instead of a stump, is when you use a stump over colored pencil, it blends the pencil with the colored pencil. Tissues are very delicate and will only affect the pencil.

Lots of practice will help you master this skill. Practice drawing certain strokes and shapes and connecting them when drawing another figure. Eventually you will be able to draw rough shapes like this, and with more practice you can draw a basket of fruit without looking.

Use a paper towel or a blending stump to blend the colors. A kneaded eraser may work as well. the reason to use a paper towel instead of a tissue is because paper towels are less delicate and have little indents and grooves that will grab onto the color pencil and force it to smudge. A blending pencil or stump will have this same effect. Tissues are too delicate to blend colored pencils, and usually only blend graphite pencils well.

Try finding something oval shaped or reference, or to trace. If you can't, practice drawing circles. With each circle you draw, practice drawing it wider. You can draw a half ellipse (half oval) and another half ellipse as well, and practice doing that then make it into one swift movement.