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Colored pumpkin sketch greeting card resting on a blue woven placemat.
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5 from 1 vote

How to Color a Pumpkin

Let’s color your pumpkin drawing and make it look 3-D! Fold the paper and use it for a pumpkin card, place card, thank you or birthday card.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Art Project
Cuisine: Art Project
Keyword: colored pumpkin drawing, how do you color a pumpkin, how to color a pumpkin, how to draw series
Servings: 1 card
Author: Shelly
Cost: $1

Equipment

  • Scissors

Instructions

  • We will make a pumpkin card first.
    Fold and cut the drawing paper so it will fit in an envelope. Do that now so you know what size to draw the pumpkin. Turn the card to the vertical or portrait direction.
  • To draw the pumpkin take a couple minutes to refer to the How to Draw a Pumpkin post if needed. Draw on the front of the card.
    To make the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern, draw the face.
  • Start by using colored pencils to color the entire pumpkin with a lighter yellow orange color as a base color.
    If you drew the jack-o-lantern face do not color the features, leave them white for now.
  • Start by coloring the entire pumpkin with a lighter yellow orange color. This will provide a base color that we will add to in the next steps.
    Tip: if you drew the jack-o-lantern face do not color the features, leave them white for now.
  • Use an orange color to darken the edges and ribs of the pumpkin, fading out to the center of the ribs. 
    Then use a red orange color to darken just the very edges and deepest part of the ribs of the pumpkin with a bit of fading out. 
    These colors should not be hard lines that stand out, but blended.
  • Do something similar with the leaf and stem using yellow green, green and a dark green. But there are no ribs so use the edges of the leaf and stem and the stem lines instead of the ribs.
  • Lastly, use a medium blue for shading the pumpkin. The blue I use here is a bit on the turquoise side. 
    Color in the features of the jack-o-lantern now with the medium blue if you chose to make a face on your pumpkin. Then continue with the shading in the next step.
  • We will pretend that the light source is in the upper right and shining down onto the pumpkin. Do some shading with the blue on the side of the pumpkin, stem, and leaf that are away from the light source.
    Also shade some on the ground under the pumpkin and to the side away from the light source.
  • Write a saying on the card that is appropriate for your purpose- Happy Fall ya’ll, thank you, happy birthday, etc.
    Place in an envelope you have or make your own envelope.
  • If you want to make a place card for Thanksgiving, make a small 4x4-inch rectangular card (fold tent style so it will stand up on the table). Draw the pumpkin on the left or right side of the card with the opening to the bottom. Add a name on each card instead of a message. These are so cute sitting on the table next to the plate or on top of the plate.

Video

Notes

I have a Three Ways to Make an Envelope post so you can make the envelope fit the card if you don’t have envelopes!