Draw a REALISTIC APPLE with ONLY EIGHT Crayola Colored Pencils

 It's almost fall!

And apples are one of the lovely parts of fall. Whether you like McIntosh, Macoun, or good old Red Delicious, apples are everywhere in the month of September--including right here.

This video shows how to draw and color a realistic apple using only eight colored pencils--and you don't have to spend a lot of money on supplies, either. In fact, these are from a set of 12 Crayola Colored Pencils, and they cost less that three dollars.

So grab your pencils, crayons, or even markers and join me as I draw and color this delicious fall apple. YUM!

For more videos on this fun channel for kids, look for @doodlebugartkids on YouTube. See you there!

XO Dea

Compare Coloring Styles and Get Creative

As a coloring book designer I have the privilege to see many talented colorists use many different styles in my books.

When I design a coloring page I have an idea of what it will look like completely colored...well, I have an idea of my version anyway.

I have drawn hundreds of images, and I am still surprised on a regular basis at some of the styles and color schemes used on my images--and I have to say I love them.

Here are some examples of the exciting ways my images have been colored:

Penelope's Pumpkins, uncolored.

Colored by Karikaribik on Instagram:

This was colored with Ploychromos pencils and Posca Markers. The colors are very earthy and rich, and very similar to what you would see in real life. Pumpkins are (for the most part) orange, and leaves are green. The flowers of a pumpkin plant are yellow. There is white highlighting throughout the picture done with a Posca marker, and the shading is done realistically, too. The ground looks dimensional and rolling because the shadows surround the objects on almost all sides. Love this.

Colored by colouring_inner on Instagram:

This was only marked as "colored pencils" so I can't even be specific which ones! It is very soft and pastel, and very original for a Halloween image. The sky is black, the ground is grey, and the pumpkins are periwinkle! Love!

Colored by me:

This was colored with Poychromos pencils, and blended with a Faber-Castell blender. The shadows fall in the direction the light of the moon would cast them, and the highlights are done by leaving them white, and not coloring there. The depth of this one is somewhere between the previous images.

Colored by Kimberley Calaminici:

This was colored with Derwent Inktense pencils, activated by water. It gives the impression of watercolor, and allows the colors to be very bright. She also used a white gel pen for highlights which is a lovely touch. She used a deep aqua blue for the sky which gives the impression of early evening. Very lovely.

It is interesting to me that we all made the mice the same color, and we also made the cat black.

This has inspired me to try and change up what I think a picture should look like, and make it into something new and different. I also want to try water-activated pencils, or maybe even paint.

I hope this inspires you to try new things while coloring. You can always make a copy of the images that you have, so you can do them in more than one way.

Show me your finished work! I'd love to see.

You can buy PENELOPE'S GARDEN HERE on Amazon or at my ETSY Store.

xo

Be Yourself ~ Not As Easy As It Sounds in the ART World (And How to Draw a Grumpy Bunny)

The internet has made what Disney called a small world even smaller. We get information in the blink of an eye, and we are exposed to far more than any other time in history.

We can get news from the other side of the globe faster than if your neighbor ran over from next door. What was once underground and very hard to see can now be considered mainstream. 

The web has leveled the art playing field somewhat--what was once relegated to a very select group can now be viewed by millions with the right amount of retweets or shares.

We see hundreds if not thousands of images a day as visual artists. We are lucky enough to look at the work of our peers, and in a matter of seconds we can find millions of images to help as reference points for our work.

Looking at other beautiful artwork can certainly elevate our practice, but I feel it can't help but influence our style, too. When we see a color combination we love we get excited and want to try and incorporate it into our work too. A new medium can have us running to the store so we can try it at home.

It is hard enough to develop a style that is recognizable yet unique, and now we have to contend with the daily hyper-viewing of images.

I am not complaining! I love the web and I love that I can see all the lovely art I could I ever dream of. But I am just a tad more aware of the fact that I need to stay true to me and my style, and not get seduced by something bright and shiny.

Every Friday I will be sharing a video that is geared towards helping kids learn to draw. I will be demonstrating in a way I liked to learn as a child--with fun and fancy images that are easily repeated and not too complicated. This week it is the grumpy bunny from the image above.

Please feel free to share this post or video with any artistic little ones you may know.

This is an image from a book I illustrated a few years ago for author David Rowinski called The Open Pillow. Another style for PPF.

So get going! Draw draw draw with abandon--and help your kids do the same. Before you know it you will have your own amazing style.

xo

Drawn with the Kuretake brush pen.