There is absolutely nothing complicated about using pastels. In many ways, you will need the same skills that were described in detail in the article on drawing an apple. In general, still life was and remains one of the most beloved genres of classical fine art. Still life is the creation within a single composition of various objects that simply catch your eye. All that remains after this is to harmoniously arrange them next to each other.

And here is the still life that we will learn to draw in this lesson using pastels. As you can see, pastel is a wonderful medium with which you can achieve impressionistic images.

Pastel has always been famous for its bright and very saturated color, which is why many artists pay special attention to it. Using pastels you can achieve a wide variety of effects, such as layering colors, adding bright strokes to a painting, or blending color range using your fingers, which makes it possible to achieve a matte tone.

Pastels can be purchased in the form of regular crayons or pencils. Pastel comes in different hardnesses. In this case, a soft variety of pastel was used to create this still life. Yellow is used as a background, on which all other colors used to draw fruit are superimposed. The paper also matches the tone of the overall composition. Using the sharp tip of the pastel, the contours of the fruit are outlined, which are then painted over with the flat part of the pastel.

Let's see what we need to create this still life.

• Sheet of special paper for pastels, paper color gray or beige
• A hard black pastel chalk or pastel pencil that needs to be sharpened first. You will need it to create contours.
• 12 soft pastel sticks.

So, let's start drawing a still life.

Creating a Sketch

First of all, you need to carefully study how exactly the fruits are located and understand their outlines, how they fit together. Next, take a hard black pastel and sketch out the composition with light strokes. Let the strokes be light and not strong, because this is just a sketch, it does not have to be completely accurate.

Adding a background tone

Take a lemon yellow pastel and start applying it with the side of the background on all the fruits warm colors. In our case, this is an orange orange, a red apple, as well as a banana and a yellow pear. But we don’t touch the grapes yet. It is advisable not to go beyond the boundary of the contour and not to affect those areas that will later be used to display highlights. Use the pastel tip to create sharper yellow lines. They allow you to display the bottom curve of the banana, as well as its leg.

Once the outlines are outlined and the background color applied, it's time to move on to basic colors and glare. To mark the boundaries of the fruit, you need to use not only the flat side, but also the sharp tip of the pastel.

Orange takes shape

Using an orange pastel, you need to make several short lines in the shape of a sickle inside the orange. These lines should follow the outline of the orange. You can make lines either with the sharp end of the pastel or with its flat side. As a rule, orange blends harmoniously with light, warm colors, so orange will provide partial coverage for the lemon yellow background.

Green strokes for banana and pear

Now we again need both the sharp tip and the side of the pastel, which is green (khaki). Use it to add a green tint to pears and bananas. At the same time, carefully draw complex lines that should indicate the bulge of the pear in its lower area and, in fact, the stem of the banana.

Adding a Light Tone

To ensure the apple is drawn, we will need a light red pastel. The middle part of the apple needs to be painted over with even strokes, which should be repeated for the left part of the apple. Next, using a sharp tip, you need to enhance the color in the area located around the recess with the stem, and then more clearly highlight the outline of the fruit.

Let's move on to grapes

Using cherry-red pastels we will draw grapes. Using short strokes, you need to paint over the berries so that the strokes match the shape of the berries. Remember to leave empty space for future highlights.

Back to apples and oranges

Take the cherry red pastel again and apply the areas of the apple that are already covered with light red. Now, using dense strokes, you need to emphasize the shape of the apple, without affecting its middle left area. Then we take a bright orange pastel and shade the orange. When shading, also try to follow the shape of the orange.

Apply dark colors to the apple

Using the sharp tip of a dark purple pastel, you should highlight the outline of the fruit, as well as the recess in which the stalk is located. Using the side of the pastel you need to darken the red spot that is located right in the center of the apple.

Grapes take shape

Let's turn our attention to grapes. Using a dark purple pastel, you need to paint the inside of each grape, which you need to do with small and energetic strokes. At the same time, we need to emphasize the shape of the berries. Of course, don’t forget to leave areas intended for highlights unpainted.

Adding dark tones

Use yellow ocher to highlight the darkest areas of the pear and banana peel. In this case, the densest lines should pass where a slight shadow falls on the pear from the grapes. To highlight the shape of the grapes, outline the outer border of the berries using the sharp tip of a black pastel.

Glare for grapes

Now we take a white pastel and easily cover all the areas on the grapes that have remained white until now. However, some highlights need to be made clearer. To ensure that the highlights are positioned correctly, it doesn’t hurt to once again check the final result shown at the beginning of this article.

Increasing glare

We're not done with the highlights yet. On the orange you need to highlight a bright khaki spot and create a white highlight on it. Then white highlights should be made on the rest of the fruit, for which you will need the flat side of the pastel. Using the sharp end of a white pastel, you need to make a series of beveled lines in the recess with the apple handle, and then go over it with black and brown pastel. Using the same color, you need to slightly outline the borders of the apple and lightly shade the light brown spots, which should become a little darker. Now lightly rub the highlights on the grapes with your fingertip.

Finishing up the orange

It's time to deal with the orange. Using the flat side of the pastel, you need to add a few light red strokes to the orange, which will not only emphasize the shape, but also the outline of the fruit. Apply such strokes lightly, after which the red pastel should be lightly rubbed with your finger.

Adding a background and shadow

Using white pastel, you should add a few lines around the still life vertically and horizontally. The shading should not affect only those areas located to the right of the pear and to the left of the orange, since we will draw a shadow there.

To make a shadow, use the tip of a black pastel to make small strokes around the grapes, enhancing the shadow from them. Then use the flat side to add a small shadow and rub it with your finger so that it blends smoothly into the white background.

Finished still life

Well, here's what we got. Let's pay attention to some elements of the finished drawing.

A) Multi-layer color. Pastel allows you to easily apply many layers to your drawing. In this case, a light tone acts as the main one, and dark tones are applied to it, which allows you to achieve a volume effect.

B) Uniform background. The white background sets off the shapes of the fruits, painted in bright colors.

IN) blurry shadow. Due to the fact that the shadow of the fruit smoothly turns into White color background, it looks more natural.

As you can see, there is nothing difficult in drawing a still life, and pastel is an amazing medium that is really pleasant to work with.

Still life called the image of a number of inanimate objects. Translated from French it is “dead nature”. Vegetables, fruits, bouquets of flowers, various human-made objects can be material for still lifes. Drawing a still life develops artistic taste in a child, because the selection of objects in a still life is not random, but meaningful and specially selected. In a still life, the artist strives to reveal the beauty of the shape of objects or their color relationship.

Before we start drawing, let's think about how it is more convenient to arrange them on the sheet - in the length or width of the sheet.

Try to ensure that your objects are not crooked, stand straight, do not fall, and look like the teapot and cup drawn here.

When we draw the bottom of the teapot, we will draw rounded lines, remembering that we do not need to hold the pencil tightly in our fingers and press on it. Let's draw the rounded lines easily and freely: they will turn out more correctly.

When depicting a still life consisting of several objects, try to arrange them so that they partially cover each other - this will give greater naturalness.

In this figure you can see how the volume is conveyed by individual strokes: where there is no light, the strokes are darker. Darker strokes are also located in the place of the falling shadow. And in the place where the light falls, highlights are drawn.

Let's try to draw a still life consisting of four objects: a jug, drapery and two apples.

Now let’s draw a still life consisting of a jug, plate, cutting board and spoon.

Compositionally, the whole group is very diverse. A spoon lying at an angle “interrupts” the verticality of the jug and the horizontality of the board with the plate, thus introducing variety into the curvilinear shapes of the objects.

Drawing drapery

F he plays a big role in still life. The artist’s ability to “link” the background with the objects speaks of his professional level. Most often, drapery acts as a background when drawing a still life. Drapery- this is a fabric laid on a plane under an object or thrown over it so that it forms folds. Draperies are called curtains, tablecloths, bedspreads. Drapery will look different depending on the type of fabric and its quality. Rigid fabrics, such as brocade, give large and protruding folds, wool has smaller folds, and silk fabrics form light, soft and small folds.

To draw drapery, it is better to take a fabric that is smooth, wrinkle-resistant and plain (without a pattern). To find out the type of folds, the fabric is fixed on a vertical surface so that the folds fall down. When drawing fabric fixed at one point on a vertical surface, we must first of all see how the folds are formed. We see that folds form at one point and, expanding, diverge downward. They also form convex and recessed surfaces. Recessed surfaces are darker than convex ones.

When shading folds, apply strokes in the direction of movement of the folds, and in the recesses - along the tension of the surface of the fabric. The entire drapery is covered with strokes, and in shady places the tone intensifies. The folds of the drapery should be well drawn.

Did you know that the process of drawing not only instills in a person a sense of beauty, but also helps to cope with stressful situations, calming your nerves and creating peace in your soul? In view of this, it is recommended to devote at least some of your free time to this activity. Let's learn how to draw a still life with fruit with a pencil.

General information

To learn how to paint a still life with fruit, you must first understand what the term itself means. In addition, you need to know what attributes a future artist should prepare to create his own masterpiece. A painting depicting inanimate objects (it doesn’t matter, one or more) is called a still life. Translated from French this term sounds like "dead nature". Depending on your flight of fancy, you can use flowers, household items, fruits and vegetables in your paintings. Still life often contains an element such as fabric (of any color and texture).

Required Attributes

To cope with the upcoming work and master all the nuances, you need to prepare in advance necessary tools. You will need:

A sheet of paper or canvas (it all depends on what size you want to create your first masterpiece);

Simple pencil;

Fabric and objects that you will use as nature;

Good lighting.

If you plan to paint a picture, then, in addition to everything, you must decide what type of paints you will use (watercolor or oil) and choose brushes and a palette accordingly. And, of course, don't forget about water.

Graphics technique

In order for your painting to turn out most similar to the chosen composition, you must first master the technique. You should learn to convey highlights, shadows and texture. A still life with fruit in pencil begins with a sketch. It is depicted on a separate sheet. Here they simply record the arrangement of objects without drawing them completely. When the sketch is ready, you can begin to depict the elements on the main canvas. When drawing, do not press too hard on the pencil. Otherwise, when you delete an incorrectly drawn line, marks will remain on the paper. When creating the outlines of objects, you should not draw every line; draw a sketch with chaotic movements. You should know that artists use pencils of varying softness for individual lines. During the image process, the set allows you to create various effects on paper. That is why, if you want to do everything right and depict a beautiful still life with fruit, approach the choice of “tool” with great responsibility.

Creating a Sketch

As everyone understands, to start working, you first need to create a composition. You must decide on the main background of your painting, as well as what elements will be present in it - whether you will depict one object or decide to use several. For example, you can paint a still life with fruits and vegetables, or diversify your picture with a bouquet. It is advisable to use plain fabrics as a background. Next, use whatman paper to determine the center of the composition and sketch out a sketch of the future painting. The first thing you should draw are simple elements: an oval or a circle. For example, an ordinary apple is depicted using a circle; to sketch grapes, details in the form of small balls are used. The main thing is to make sure that the objects are located in their places, that is, maintain proportionality.

We depict objects

When you have managed to correctly position all the objects on the sheet, it’s time to move on to drawing them. To do this, write fruits into the figures shown using clearer lines. Make all details, contours clear and remove auxiliary lines. For creating the right image do not forget to use a pencil to position the shadows correctly. This action is performed using shading, initially darkening the darkest places with a gradual transition to lighter ones. The shadows are drawn with an extremely sharp pencil when applying layer by layer. The final stage is to check the image of all objects, special attention should be paid to the tone layout.

Still life with fruit - step by step

Let's explore how to create a painting using an orange, grape and kiwi as an example. It is better to use real items for this purpose, so purchase them in advance. Believe me, to acquire skills and practice, it is better to draw from life. To make it easier for you to create your first masterpiece, strictly follow our instructions.

Drawing details

First, we outline the location of the fruit on paper. To depict the halves of a kiwi and an orange, draw inclined lines and only then draw ovals. Now you can start directly drawing the fruit. Let's start with orange. To do this, we divide its sketch using an auxiliary line into two parts. Then we draw slices in each half, depicting them as triangular sectors.

We fill the area where the grapes should be located with circles, and for the kiwi we draw only the core. It is advisable to start shading the sketch with grapes. To do this, using the softest pencil (8 "M"), draw each circle in a circular motion. Please note that the lightest place in the grapes should be the middle, as well as the edges. This is done so that the berries do not merge with each other. Now let's move on to drawing the orange. First, let's shade the peel. To do this, use a “T” pencil to apply shading to the shape of the fruit. Then we will apply spots and dots. This is done with a "TM" pencil. This way you can convey the texture of the orange.

Draw the fruit slices with a “T” pencil. We move from the center to the edges. To more accurately convey the image of the fruit, use a “TM” pencil to depict “feathers”. To make the drawing more similar to the original, use an eraser to make the corners more rounded and erase a small circle in the center. It's time to portray a kiwi. For this purpose, use a “TM” pencil to apply strokes to its surface (without pressing). And to make the fruit more realistic, we will make small lines on the surface with stronger pressure. Now let's draw the core. In the center of the kiwi, using a “TM” pencil, draw rays (several layers). This way we will convey the texture of real fruit. Using a soft pencil, draw the seeds, then use an eraser to make the middle lighter.

grape leaf

If you have some free space left on your workspace, you can add an element such as a grape leaf to your still life. To do this, draw the shape of a leaf in the form of a spatula. After which we will create veins that must come out from one point (this characteristic grape leaf). We make a more accurate sketch of the leaf shape. Now you can supplement the veins with smaller branches and create the corners of this element. Let's start shading. Using a “T” pencil, from the point where the veins converge, draw dashed lines to the ends of the element. Next we will add volume.

To do this, apply an additional layer with a “TM” pencil. But you only need to do it at the edges and top of the sheet. The final stage of painting involves applying shadows and bringing out the veins of the leaf more clearly. Your painting is ready. Many people believe that painting a still life with fruit is much easier than painting, for example, a still life with a bouquet. In principle, there is no big difference between these paintings. When creating both drawings, it is necessary to depict every detail. The only difference is that still lifes with fruits and flowers have more elements.

In general, with the arrival of spring, it seems that there will be more time to walk and relax, but as usual there is three times more work and also studies, sessions, exams... The paradox of life! But I'm not going to complain! I accept this fight!

We don't have victories, we only have battles. And the best we can hope for is that we will find something worth fighting for. And if we are lucky, we will find someone who is ready to take this fight with us.

Marina Baidakova wrote to us:

Marina Baydakova

If it's not too much trouble, could I have a lesson on drawing a still life with a pencil? if possible in a simpler way, and then in a more complex way. Thank you!

To be honest, I myself have not mastered such complex techniques; I usually draw and the like. I think it's time to start studying serious matter! I don’t undertake to teach, but rather I’ll tell you what professionals advise in this matter.

I read a few books on this topic and here are some tips:

• When looking at nature and your drawing, squint and you will see that a lot is generalized and only the tonal colors that you need to convey in your drawing are visible.
• When working with paint, apply strokes to the shape of the object, often step back and look at your work from a distance.
• Try to listen and analyze any kind criticism.
• Do not paint the objects you draw with the same color. Look carefully and mix, add to the main color other colors present in this object, otherwise the still life will not be drawn, but painted.
• Don't give up if your first attempt isn't entirely successful. Repeat the same still life, only from a different point of view. How more work you do, the better. Quantity directly affects quality.
• Don’t throw away your works, even unsuccessful ones, but put them in a folder and after a month or two, lay them out, carefully analyze them and select those that, in your opinion, are most successful.
• Do not stop there, complicate the task with each work, alternating drawing with painting, working from life with working from memory, from impression.

The task is to not violate the idea that you have in mind during the drawing process. Therefore, you cannot draw starting with a separate object, gradually adding the rest of the image to it. In this case, it will inevitably be violated comparative sizes items, the drawing may not fit into the sheet or may be significantly smaller than needed. I began draw apples with a pencil: The first step was to define the contours of the future drawing using a pencil:
And then I colored them with pencils.
This is my first attempt, in the future I will try to make a step-by-step lesson. Try to draw apples too, or take any other example. Show your drawings and what else you want to see on. I did this tutorial a long time ago. Now I draw much better. Check out my new lessons, they are absolutely great:

1. Drawing ;
2. Still life from

Still life- An excellent choice for learning the basics of drawing and painting. There are a few important rules, which will tell you how to draw a still life. These rules are simple and quite feasible, but few places write or talk about them. Experienced artists use these rules intuitively. Beginners guess and rejoice at a successfully created picture, or vice versa - they worry about a bad experience in creating a simple plot.

The following tips will help you create various harmonious still lifes, using almost any technique, and avoid annoying mistakes.

How to draw a still life - rules for beginners

Naturally, still lifes are very different, they carry different goals and fulfill them in the most different styles. Today we will talk about the basic rules for depicting inanimate objects on canvas or paper.

To create a harmonious picture, you need to know at least the basics of composition and color.

How to draw a daffodil flower

What should a beginner do who wants to create something beautiful with his own hands right now? Will you delve into reading books on painting and drawing?

It will be enough for you to know a few important rules to avoid mistakes and get an excellent result.

Location of items

Still life always looks more beautiful, harmonious and interesting, three-dimensional:

• It’s good to combine these two types of arrangement: overlap and distance.

Examples of item placement

All objects overlap each other, or are located at a great distance from one another.

Vector illustration. Here, too, all objects intersect, overlap, or are located at a great distance.

Boring and non-boring arrangement of objects

Even rectangles can be arranged in interesting ways.

Composition with rectangles

When you place one object behind another, overlapping part of it, you create a certain depth in your work. The more shapes intersect, the more “deep and voluminous” your still life will appear.

Space

If you are just drawing a vase of flowers and there seems to be nothing to cover it with, think about it!

• Perhaps some leaf fell in front of the vase, or maybe a flower, perhaps you should lay a napkin or tablecloth, or maybe scatter berries on the table.

For example, the work of Alexander Sergeev:

In the foreground are leaves and a flower. These seemingly insignificant elements lead the viewer's eye from the very foreground of the shot, first to the fallen flower, then to the glass and vase, creating space and making the work more interesting.

Coloristics

When creating a still life, it is important simply not to overdo it with the number of colors used.

Rule of 2-3 colors

Choose 2-3 primary colors, feel free to use shades close to them and don’t worry about having problems with the color. I usually use 2 main colors- and a little extra color.

Examples of color solutions

Here I used only yellow-orange (warm) and blue (cool) shades. Green is optional.

"Boots" by Van Gogh. Two colors predominate here too.

Green and white clearly dominate here; strokes of blue and pink complement the work.

Still life with fish. The main shades are red-brown (warm), and blue (cool).

The rule of 2-3 colors is not always possible. Frequent heroes of still lifes - flowers or fruits come in a variety of colors and shades. In such cases, you should use the following advice: The picture should not have all the colors equally

Color ratio

Even in a variegated picture there are one or two dominant colors.

For example, if you have a bouquet of flowers of red, blue, white and yellow, plus green foliage. Some flowers and colors should prevail, others should be in the minority.

Here are examples:

Painting by A. Sergeev. The bouquet is dominated by white and red flowers. Blue, green, yellow are additional.

Still life by Vincent Van Gogh. Red poppies dominate.

Let's highlight the main thing

Having a certain idea, when drawing a still life from life or from an idea (from the head), you must:

• highlight what is most important in this plot, what subject dominates?

This rule is not always used, but your work will benefit from its application.

Ask yourself a question: on what subject would you like to keep the focus, the viewer’s attention?

The main item should stand out in some way: shape, size, color, position relative to others.

Work by A. Sergeev. The “main” flowers are identified unmistakably.

Even at the sketching stage, when you look at the sketch, you must clearly determine - What is the most important thing in your work?

• If intuitively it is possible to determine the main thing is excellent.
• If the look moves from one to another, not knowing what to grab onto- this means you still need to work on your composition. reduce something or enlarge, rotate, rearrange etc. Choose what suits you best.

Many people probably have a question now: What if I draw one vase of flowers?

Here, this rule does not need to be applied? After all, our most important and main character is “a vase of flowers”?

And here it is necessary and quite possible to apply this rule.

There is always a main flower in a bouquet of flowers.

If this is a bouquet of many flowers, it is worth highlighting a small group of flowers that are most successful illuminated, or most look expressively to the viewer, differ by color, size or form.