On my blog I started an apple challenge and thought it may be interesting to have one here as well.

Apples are often thought of as simple fruits and not examined carefully enough to notice subtle lights and darks, patterning on the skin, colour etc. This challenge is designed to help you look more closely at the lowly apple and bring it to the realm of high art.

Create an apple drawing or painting and post it here. Explain the medium you used, the type of support you used and what you learned as you did it.

This is an open challenge, meaning there is no cut off date, so you can post pieces whenever, read back through comments and advice, see the variety of techniques used and learn.

Here are a couple from me to start the ball - or apple - rolling! The first is done in charcoal on newsprint paper. I enjoy the challenge of seeing how delicate charcoal can be when its usually considered a medium for bold pieces. The second is a macro view of an apple in oils. A close view in loose representational style gives a new perspective on this fruit and lets me experiment with colour and form.

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That's a good challenge and it doesn't have any time limitation . I'll give a try when I'll be finished with my ATC trade. I think I draw an apple last time in my childhood

I drew one like yesterday at work and it was a circle with a line and on top and a little leaf lol I don't have it anymore because it was so not worth keeping. I doodle all the time at work on receipt paper because that's how bored I am.

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This first picture is a line drawing with some colour mapping.
Since I drew it from life. I figured it would be a good idea to know the colours. In case it gets consumed.

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This one is done in charcoal on printer paper, same apple.
I was looking down at it a bit, but feel I still lost some of the length, or maybe shape on the bottom. I'll see if I can fix it when I do the coloured one.
Oh also if you are wondering about the light, I had a light coming from the left and my monitor light giving a glow on the right.

It looks quite appley to me Paulette. I love the charcoal, it works so well and has a good sense of solidity to it.

Nice apples! And a great idea for a challenge.

Decided to post mine here too

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I just try a compostion

Excellent transitions Sks. Great drawing.

NVA, wonderful painting. I love the colours here. Beautiful.

Here's another apple that I did this time using Yupo, a synthetic surface where the watercolour pools instead of sinking into the surface. Its unique and forces you to think carefully about your colours and brushstrokes.

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This is great! Is yupo anything like drafting film?

It likely has similar properties Paulette. I was considering seeing how some drafting film would work with watercolour last night after using the translucent yupo.

Charcoal pencils and white pastel pencil on grey Mi-Teintes. I've been meaning to try out this kind of "three-color" drawing technique for a while, and this is the first attempt. I like it!
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Great challenge Jeanette, I admire all the drawings very much especially the examples you gave, what a talent you have. It's been a long time since I tried a drawing like this, so naturally I think it's a flop, I used conte pencil and 5 erasers, took me one hour so I guess I rushed it.

Your apple is wonderful Ernest. Using darks and lights on toned paper really works well doesn't it?

Brian, great to see you join in. Your apple is luscious. I love the greens. My only suggestion would be to hit it up with some stronger darks in the shadow areas to really indicate the direction of the light.

Great apple, Ernest! I especially like the texture of the paper showing through. It gives a unique feeling to it. And I just love those transitions between values. Don't know what exactly is catching my eye there. I just don't want to stop looking and examining them.

Brian, believe it or not. I like your drawing. Yes, for more realistic look you would need some stronger darks and some stronger highlights, but for me it looks good as it is. There's no doubt that you drew it, your style is easy to recognise in this. And, in my opinion, it's the most important thing.

Thanks folks -- I like this piece and am going to try some more in the same vein.

Brian, yours reminds me of one of my favorite films:


I got Danielle to do an apple too. Hers is watercolor pencils on Strathmore Artagain black -- I really like it!
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Thanks Jeanette! I see what you mean, with having no time frame I hope to try another.

Thanks very much Soksno...see you always brighten my day, here is my Green apple again, I guess this one is more my speed.


Ernest that made me laugh, I remember that movie well, also reminds me of this....love your daughter's drawing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ0infCY4Gg

I recall the image but not the film. Refresh my old brain Ernest. Blue Meanies? Yellow Submarine or am I way off track?

Danielle's done a super apple. I love the strong contrasts and drama in it. Great work!

Uh.....Brian.....I hate to tell you this, but there's a worm in your apple....ewwwwww Great link to the song, I remember it from way back.

Yellow Submarine, indeed. Those are technically Apple Bonkers, though, and not Blue Meanies (but they play for the same team!)

All the apples are fantastic! here are my watercolour pencils apples, on plain paper.

Good strong colours and values here Sveta. The challenge with watercolour pencils is getting a smooth layer down first otherwise the lines just never seem to disappear. Then again, that can also be part of the piece too, adding interest.

Did you find the plain paper buckled a lot when you added water?

Sure, it all went creased! I 've caught myself to have become a little stingy on watecolour paper these days.

I have not drawn anything in quite a long time. This is not so much a drawing as it is a doodle (that is about the extend of my ability -- though I do have some very nice doodles).

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So like most doodles the drawing was organic and sort of drew itself. My hand gave the basic quick strokes outlining an apple and stem, and then there was a bit of a discovery process to actually find the apple in the strokes, Then to my amazement these lines shot off either side of the apple forming a sort of pile. I had no idea why I had done that (though I suppose the apple just needed some context) so I played with it until a stick appeared and then kind of went with a few scattered leaves. Initially the top part had some long vertical lines which resembled wall paneling -- these I decided must represent a need for a tree (apples do come from trees). So I had an apple on the ground under a tree -- well there just had to be a worm of sorts involved.

My medium was white copy paper. Drawing done with a mechanical pencil with 2B "led".

So I doodle. If I see an apple anytime soon I will attempt an actual drawing but for now this will have to do.

Great apple!

bummer you used my idea before I got a chance to post it, lol ....the worm

I thought I'd give it a shot... I like apples.

The first one is just a little pencil sketch.

Then I decided to try out pastels... I have never used them before so I took out my 8 year old Daughters pastel set and had at it. It was fun! I never knew how cool pastels are. I also learned you can't erase, lol. I tried to scratch some off but that didn't work so I just mushed some colors around with my finger.

I think I'm going to look for some pastel tutorials.

Thanks for the challenge and if anyone has any helpful hints I would love them. It's funny I just realized that I like to put a border or something around most of my drawings.

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That's a great doodle!!!!!

I like your worm better... I had wanted to make it coming out of the apple but chickened out and had him bury his head.

lol, I guess that's the image that I have in my head of a worm coming out of an apple (the smile was an added touch) it brings me back to feeling like a kid again!