Tutorial: How to paint apples in watercolour

Supplies you will need

• Watercolour paints
• Watercolour paper
• Paintbrushes
• Water jars
• Paper towel

Colours

• Scarlet Lake
• Cadmium Yellow
• Yellow Ochre
• Winsor Red Deep
• Sap Green

All the watercolour paint I use is Winsor & Newton Professional, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have these exact shades. You can create green, red and yellow russet apples!

How to paint an apple in watercolour – step by step

1. Start by outlining your apple shape. It should have a heart shape on the top, then rounded sides and a flatter bottom with a slight dimple. One one side, carve out a highlight in a curved triangle.
2. Fill in your apple shape with a light wash – I’ve chosen a red paint. Leave the highlight clear of paint. 
3. While still wet, darken the apple with a deeper red paint on the opposite side to the highlight. This creates a shadow effect and makes the apple look more rounded.
4. Still on wet, load up your brush with some other colours like yellow and drop them in, allowing the paint to diffuse out naturally. Subtle is best here, so it doesn’t look patchy when it dries.
5. Finish off with a curved stem and a leaf in a pale green tone, so it doesn’t clash too much with the red apple skin.
6. For an apple slice, use your red paint and create a loose curve. Allow this to dry.
7. Finish by filling in the shape with a pale yellow-brown mixture, and you’re done!

Now you can paint apples in watercolour! I love to fill up a whole page of these in different colours.

I also love to paint them in a muddy brown and use a pencil to create texture on top, for a russet apple effect. Happy painting!

More fruit watercolour tutorials

• Strawberries
• Figs
• Pears
• Peaches
• Plums