How to Draw a Tomato
1 / 12
Begin with the big shape.
It should fill most of the page with a margin all round.
¿En cambio, dibujando en papel?
Enderezamos y limpiamos la foto para ti.
Sobre este dibujo
A tomato is a squashed sphere with shoulders: wider than tall, gently lobed around the top, wearing a green star-shaped calyx whose points curl UP off the surface. The lobes are stated by the outline's shallow bumps and by nothing else - shading them individually is how tomatoes turn into pumpkins.
Like every simple form on this site, it is one mass plus value: block it in, break the outline where the real thing does, then let light do the rest.
Paso a paso
-
Paso 1
Begin with the big shape.
One shape, one motion. A slightly lopsided mass drawn confidently beats a perfect one assembled from nervous strokes, because you can correct a shape and you cannot un-see hesitation.
Cuidado. Building the mass from many small safe strokes.
Comprobar It should fill most of the page with a margin all round.
-
Paso 2
Make the silhouette uneven.
Nothing organic is a perfect oval. Push the outline in and out where the subject actually does - the asymmetry IS the likeness.
Cuidado. Leaving the construction oval as the finished outline.
Comprobar The outline should differ visibly from the oval underneath.
-
Paso 3
Draw a cross through the middle.
Two light lines through the middle are the rulers for everything that follows. Without them the features drift off-centre a few millimetres at a time.
Cuidado. Skipping the axes because the shape looks simple.
Comprobar The two lines should cross near the middle of the mass.
-
Paso 4
Draw the top feature.
Whatever sits on top attaches INTO the form, not onto its outline - it comes out of a dip or a mound, and drawing that junction is what attaches it.
Cuidado. Balancing the stalk on the outline like a hat.
Comprobar The top feature should overlap the mass's outline.
-
Paso 5
Draw the top hollow.
The hollow around the top is what makes the form read as having a top rather than an edge. One curve, and note which way it bows - it tells the viewer where their eye is.
Cuidado. Omitting the dip so the top sits on a flat line.
Comprobar The dip should curve, not sit flat.
-
Paso 6
Decide the light source now.
Pick a direction and commit. Every decision from here - shading, highlight, cast shadow - follows from this one, and changing your mind halfway is the classic way a drawing ends up lit from two directions.
Cuidado. Deferring the decision and shading by instinct.
Comprobar You should be able to point at the light source.
-
Paso 7
Add tone on the shadow side.
Work in one direction and build darkness in passes. Scrubbing back and forth gives an even grey - precisely the thing that makes a drawing look flat.
Cuidado. Scrubbing, and stopping two steps short of dark enough.
Comprobar The dark side should be clearly darker than the mid tone.
-
Paso 8
Add the bounced light.
Leave a thin lighter strip right at the shadow-side edge - bounced light from the surface below. It is the single cheapest thing that makes a form read as round.
Cuidado. Running the shading tight to the outline.
Comprobar A lighter line should separate shading from edge.
-
Paso 9
Draw the highlight where the light hits.
One highlight, small, off-centre on the lit side. Two symmetrical highlights read as plastic; a big one reads as wet.
Cuidado. A large or doubled highlight.
Comprobar The highlight should be smaller than your thumbnail.
-
Paso 10
Add the surface marks that say tomato.
Surface marks follow the form - they curve over the mass and fade near the highlight. Flat marks cancel the volume you just shaded into it.
Cuidado. Marks drawn flat across the curved surface.
Comprobar Marks should bend with the surface.
-
Paso 11
Draw the shadow underneath.
Darkest at the contact point, softer as it stretches away from the light. It anchors the object; without it everything you shaded still floats.
Cuidado. An even grey puddle not touching the object.
Comprobar The shadow should touch the object's base.
-
Paso 12
Go over the keepers and erase the guides.
Weight the silhouette, erase the axes and the oval, and leave the interior marks light. The weight difference is what makes it look deliberate.
Cuidado. Equal weight everywhere.
Comprobar Outline darkest, marks lightest, guides gone.
Lo que parece terminado
El mismo dibujo con cada guía borrado y sólo las líneas que pretendías mantener, al peso que querías que fueran. Si el tuyo todavía tiene líneas centrales y formas de bloqueo en él, este es el paso que no has hecho todavía - y toma unos treinta segundos.
El tuyo no se verá así, y no se supone que lo haga. Esta es la construcción con el andamio quitado, no un dibujo que alguien hizo para ser admirado - el punto es mostrarte cuáles de tus líneas eran guías.
Lo que este te enseña realmente
What transfers is the standard light kit - core shadow inside the edge, bounced light at it, one small highlight, a cast shadow that anchors. Every shaded form you ever draw uses all four.
The tomato draws the line between silhouette information and surface information: its lobes live entirely in the outline while the shading stays spherical. Knowing which channel a fact belongs in is the drawing decision this fruit exists to teach.
Practicar: Line confidence Proportion Value range
Lo que necesitas
Anything that makes a mark. On paper, press lightly for the first few steps - most of what you draw early is scaffolding you will erase.
Si va mal
If it reads as an apple, it is too tall: a tomato is clearly wider than high, with its weight sitting low.
If it reads as a pumpkin, you shaded the lobes: state them only as shallow bumps in the top outline and shade the fruit as ONE sphere.
If the calyx lies flat, curl it: the green points lift off the fruit's surface, each casting a sliver of shadow beneath itself.
Imprimir los pasos
Llévenselo de la pantalla, la hoja de paso se imprime en una página.
Preguntas que la gente hace
- How do I draw the top of a tomato?
- Shallow lobed bumps in the outline, a green star-shaped calyx with points curling up off the surface, and a short thick stem. The lobes live in the outline only - shade the fruit as one sphere.
- Why does my tomato look like a pumpkin?
- You shaded the lobes as segments. A tomato's lobes are outline information; its surface shades as a single smooth sphere.
- What proportions does a tomato have?
- Wider than tall - roughly five wide to four high - with the weight sitting low. A tall tomato reads as an apple wearing the wrong hat.
- Can I draw a tomato on paper instead of the canvas?
- Yes, and for a shading lesson paper is arguably better - a soft pencil gives you more range than a finger on glass. The printable sheet has every step, and a photographed result is measured the same way.
- How do I start drawing a tomato?
- One oval, drawn in a single motion, then correct the silhouette where the real thing differs. The oval is scaffolding, not the outline.
- How do I shade a tomato?
- Pick a light direction and commit, shade in one direction in passes, keep the darkest band just inside the edge, and leave one small off-centre highlight.
- Why does my tomato look flat?
- Almost certainly range - no true dark anywhere and no untouched light left on the page. Go two steps darker than feels safe and leave the highlight alone.
- Can a beginner draw a tomato?
- Yes - it is deliberately one of the simpler forms here, chosen so the shading can be the whole lesson.
- Does a tomato need a cast shadow?
- Yes, always. Without one the form floats on the page however carefully you shaded it. Darkest at the contact point, softer as it stretches away.