How to Draw a Tomato
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Begin with the big shape.
It should fill most of the page with a margin all round.
E tātuhi ana ki runga pepa?
Ka whakatūtū, ka whakamātauria e tātau te whakaahua mō koe. He ōrite tonu te tatau pepa.
Mo tēnei tātuhi
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.
He hipanga ki te hipanga
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Building the mass from many small safe strokes.
Whakamātautau It should fill most of the page with a margin all round.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Leaving the construction oval as the finished outline.
Whakamātautau The outline should differ visibly from the oval underneath.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Skipping the axes because the shape looks simple.
Whakamātautau The two lines should cross near the middle of the mass.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Balancing the stalk on the outline like a hat.
Whakamātautau The top feature should overlap the mass's outline.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Omitting the dip so the top sits on a flat line.
Whakamātautau The dip should curve, not sit flat.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Deferring the decision and shading by instinct.
Whakamātautau You should be able to point at the light source.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Scrubbing, and stopping two steps short of dark enough.
Whakamātautau The dark side should be clearly darker than the mid tone.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Running the shading tight to the outline.
Whakamātautau A lighter line should separate shading from edge.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake A large or doubled highlight.
Whakamātautau The highlight should be smaller than your thumbnail.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Marks drawn flat across the curved surface.
Whakamātautau Marks should bend with the surface.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake An even grey puddle not touching the object.
Whakamātautau The shadow should touch the object's base.
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Ka taea te whakahau 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.
Whakawhanake Equal weight everywhere.
Whakamātautau Outline darkest, marks lightest, guides gone.
He pēhea te āhua o te whakamutua
Ko te tātuhi ōrite me ia kaiārahi i whakakoretia, ā, ko ngā raina anake i hiahiatia e koe kia pupuri, i te taumahatanga i hiahiatia e koe kia pupuri. Mēnā kei roto tonu i ōna raina pū me ngā hanga ārai-i roto, ko tēnei te hipanga kāore i mahia e koe - ā, tata ki te toru tekau mā rua ngā taki.
Kāore e āhua nei a koe, ā, kāore e hiahiatia kia. Ko tēnei te hanganga me te whakawhāiti i te whakawhāiti, ehara i te tātuhi i hangaia e tētahi tangata hei whakamātautau - ko te take kia whakaaturia ki a koe he aha o o koe ngā raina kaiārahi.
Ko te mea e whakaako ana tēnei i a koe
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.
Whakamātautau i ēnei: Line confidence Proportion Value range
Ko te mea e hiahiatia ana e koe
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.
Mēnā he hē te haere
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.
Pānuitia nga hipanga
E tangohia ana i te mata. Ka tātuhia te pepa hipanga ki runga i tētahi pātaka.
Ko nga pātai e pā ana te tangata
- 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.