How to Draw a Pumpkin: Easy Step-by-Step Art Lesson for Kids
Below you’ll find an easy step-by-step tutorial for how to draw a Pumpkin and Pumpkin Coloring Pages. Their pumpkin shape makes them the perfect subject matter for so many different Fall (and Halloween) projects!
Simple Pumpkin Drawing and Crayons
Draw a Pumpkin Video
Pumpkins and Drawing
Pumpkins have it all when it comes to fun and easy art projects. The ridges of the pumpkin can help show off their dimension so they don’t look like flat circles, and the bright orange color is so festive to look at. Learning how to draw a pumpkin with all these features is easy to do when you take it step by step.
This sample pumpkin drawing shows that you don’t need fancy art supplies when it comes to coloring your pumpkin. I used Prang® crayons, pressed really hard to get the most pigment, and used yellow to get the color of the reflected light. Some crayons seem to blend a little better than others, and I’ve found the Prang brand does a good job.
Why Draw with Guides?
You may have noticed that all of the tutorials on this website have a dashed vertical line and horizontal line running through the center of each step. If students make their own centered lines on their own paper, before drawing, they will have an easy reference to follow. All they need to do is fold their sheet of paper in half both ways, make a crease, and unfold. The best part is, by the time the drawing is done and colored in, the creases will have disappeared!
Student Pumpkin art from around the World
Pumpkins from Germany 
Grade 2, Age 7
More Pumpkin Ideas
There’s no need to stop with crayons, when it comes to pumpkin drawing projects. The simplicity of their pumpkin shape make them the perfect subject matter for messier media too. This pumpkin drawing was turned into a pumpkin painting with just a couple of tempera paint colors. You can see that just the combo of the yellow and orange colors adds so much and makes this pumpkin drawing just jump off the page.
Here’s the other kind of paint that I used most often in my classroom — watercolor. Specifically liquid watercolor paint. You do need the more expensive on watercolor paper to get this textured look on the paper, but can it can offer some really nice pumpkin shape painting too. Even if you only paint it with one color. This student just added an extra layer of orange over the black lines inside to get a more shaded look. It’s more subtle, but also makes a really pretty work of art.
Pumpkin Drawing and Oil Pastels
Oil pastels make great pumpkin drawings too, especially when done on black paper. Most have really blunt ends so that means they work best for big shapes. But that’s just fine when you only really need a circle and curved lines inside. Oil pastels are known for their rich color, and when outlined with bold black edges, even the simplest of pumpkin drawings can have a dramatic look.
Pumpkin Drawing as a Collage Project
Here’s one more fun example of working with pumpkins, and turning it into a collage project.
The idea isn’t new, students have been cutting out pumpkin faces for years. This one is extra fun though as it pushes the look into the silly zone. The large easy shapes are easy to cut out, which make it perfect for younger elementary students.
It’s also fun to experiment with different looks for the eyes, and the arranging of the teeth, before anything is permanently glued down.
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Pumpkin Coloring Page
Materials to Draw a Pumpkin
- Drawing Paper. This is the good stuff you can buy in bulk for a good price.
- Pencils. I like how this brand always makes nice dark lines.
- Black Marker. A permanent marker will give you a dark black color.
- Crayons. The larger packs are nice for more color choices.
- Note: All of the above are Amazon affiliate links.
Directions to Draw a Step by Step Pumpkin
Time needed: 45 minutes
Draw a Pumpkin in 9 Easy Steps
- Draw a center oval.
- Add a curved shape on the right.
- Draw a curved shape on the left.
- Add a curved shape on the right.
- Draw a curved shape on the left.
- Place a stem on the top.
- Draw a vine with leaves and a horizon line.
- Trace with a marker or pen. Color with yellow and light green crayons.
- Fill in with orange, dark green and a sky color.
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How to Draw Three Pumpkins
If you’d like to learn how to draw pumpkins that look more dimensional, then this lesson a large and medium and small, all leaning in various directions, is a great place to start.
This tutorial will show students how to draw the pumpkin circles and radiating lines coming from the stem, but then add little “bumps” to each section to make them stand out some more.
The great news is that those that find the bumpy step tricky, can simply skip it and go to the tracing and color. The radiating lines alone create most of the dimensional look all by themselves.
Use the Button below to Download a Pumpkins Tutorial
Pumpkins Coloring Page
Positive / Negative Pumpkin
Collage art projects can teach valuable lessons about positive and negative shapes and still make some very cool Halloween art.
This positive / negative pumpkin project requires students to flip and glue down their cut out shapes to mirror the other side. You can’t get more literal than that as a definition of symmetry.
IMPORTANT TIP: The pumpkin mouth, eye and mouth shapes need to be cut out as ONE piece, as they are going to be used for the other side. Cutting things out in small pieces will create a puzzle that can maybe be put back together in a pinch, but can be a pain.
Note: The best way to cut out the eye is to just make a slit from the side and then cut out the triangle. When the paper is glued down, the slit will barely show.
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Materials for a Positive / Negative Pumpkin
- Black card stock or construction paper
- Orange card stock or construction paper, cut to 5.5″ x 8.5″ panels
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Black marker (for variation project)
- Silver metallic marker (for variation project)
Tips for your Positive / Negative Pumpkin Project
The steps to making this pumpkin are pretty basic, but it really helps to try to explain it in clear, basic steps. You can see how I diagrammed all the steps on my front board in a photo below.
One cool tip to share is that there will be no waste when they are done. Everything that is going to be cut out is going to be used!
Variations for a Positive / Negative Pumpkin Drawing
If your older students can do the initial cutting and gluing without a lot of struggle, try continuing the positive / negative theme a bit further and have them add details on either side with black marker, and a silver metallic marker (which will look pretty white without the expense of a white paint marker.)
More Fall Drawing Projects
Read More Drawing Article✅ . Pumpkin Drawing