How to Draw a Basket of Fruit for Beginners

A basket of fruit might seem like a simple thing to sketch, but it teaches you a variety of useful drawing skills. You'll work on perspective and depth when you sketch the basket. If you draw real fruit, you'll also get practice with creating a still life. Read on to learn how to blend your lines to make your basket of fruit more realistic.

How to Draw a Fruit Basket

Sketch an oval with a curve below it for the basket opening and “bowl.”
Draw a ring at the bottom for the base and arcs at the top for the handle.
Make a criss-cross woven pattern on the basket’s surface.
Sketch half circles inside the basket rim to make apples and oranges.
Draw parallel smile-like curves that connect at the end to create bananas.
Make a cluster of small circles for grapes and connect them with lines for stems.
Draw a large oval with spiked leaves to make a pineapple.

Section 1 of 7:

Drawing a Basket

Download Article

1
Draw a horizontal oval that’s the width of the basket. Use a pencil and lightly sketch the oval. This allows you to go back and erase lines as needed. This oval will be the top rim of the basket, so make it wide enough for the fruit to fit inside.^{[1]
X
Research source}
- Keep in mind that you won't see all of the oval once you fill your basket with fruit.
2
Make a thick crescent shape extending from the bottom of the oval. To sketch the basket, draw a large curve from 1 end of the oval down and back up to the other end. The bottom line of the oval will make your basket shape look like a thick crescent.^{[2]
X
Research source}
- To make a shallow bowl instead of a deep basket, draw a narrow crescent below the oval.
Advertisement
Draw a narrow ring at the bottom to give your basket something to balance on. End the ring at the edge of the basket or stretch a full ring and erase the part that crosses the basket’s edge.^{[3]
X
Research source}
4
Draw a parallel oval around the rim to give the basket dimension. Sketch your surrounding oval so it's slightly smaller than the first oval you drew. Make the larger oval slightly narrower on the side of the basket that will be farther away from you. ^{[4]
X
Research source}
- The distance between the 2 ovals will depend on the size of your drawing. For example, your ovals might only be about ¹⁄₄ inch (0.64 cm) apart.
5
Sketch 2 arcs that stretch over the basket to make a handle. Draw 1 curved line from one side of the oval up and down to the opposite side. Then, draw another parallel curve. Make the distance between them as wide as you'd like the handle to be.^{[5]
X
Research source}
- Skip this step if you don't want your basket to have a handle.
Tip: To connect the arcs for the handle, draw a small line across the top of the 2 arcs at the very top.
6
Add hashed lines to give your basket a woven appearance. Make your basket weaving as simple or complex as you like. One option is to start by drawing lines that curve from the top left down to the bottom right of the basket. Keep making the lines about ¹⁄₂ inch (1.3 cm) apart. Then, repeat this, but make the curves go from the top right down to the bottom left.^{[6]
X
Research source}
- If you don't want to make the basket look woven, use a pencil and blending stump to shade the bottom and 1 side of the basket.
- Professional Artist & Art School Founder Rebecca Schweiger says a blending stump is very helpful when you draw with a pencil or colored pencil. Instead of blending the colors with your fingers, use the blending stump.
- Use a gentle circular motion, or apply gentle pressure and move it left and right or up and down to blend, says Schweiger.
- Refer to a real basket or photograph of a fruit basket to get ideas for the basket weave or style.

Section 2 of 7:

Drawing the Apples

Download Article

Draw half-circles inside the middle of the basket to make apples. When drawing apples, decide how many to place in your basket. Then, sketch a half-circle for each near 1 end of the basket. Give each half-circle a slight dip near the stem. Go back and draw a small stem poking out of the top of each apple.^{[7]
X
Research source}
- Draw the apples so they overlap a little, and remember that apples near the front of your basket will appear larger than those tucked in the back.
- Practice drawing apples that are pointed in different directions so you see the stem on some and the bottom end on others.

Section 3 of 7:

Drawing Oranges

Download Article

Make circular oranges with small flower stalks next to the apples. Sketch at least 1 or 2 circles or half-circles for the oranges. If you like, draw a very small circle on each orange and shade it in darker so it looks like the orange's flower stalk.^{[8]
X
Research source}
- If your oranges are tucked into the basket, make the ones near the front larger than the ones near the back.
- Draw oranges that are completely round in front of other fruits.

Section 4 of 7:

Sketching Bananas

Download Article

Sketch at least 1 to 2 bananas off to the side of the basket. Start drawing a banana with a long curve resembling a smile. Make a parallel curved line about 1 inch (2.5 cm) above it. Connect the ends of the curves to make the stem and tip of the banana. To create a cluster of bananas, draw another curved line parallel to the top line. Then, draw a small square at 1 end to make the stems.^{[9]
X
Research source}
- If you'd rather put the bananas in the middle of the basket, draw a cluster of them in the center. Remember that a cluster of 4 or 5 bananas is attached by the stem.

Section 5 of 7:

Drawing a Cluster of Grapes

Download Article

Draw small circles clustered together to form a bunch of grapes. Draping the grapes from the basket over the side gives your fruit basket an interesting dimension. Draw the grapes so they're small and coin-sized compared to the larger oranges and apples in your basket. If it helps, lightly sketch the outline of the cluster so you know the overall shape of the grapes. Then, fill in the outline with lots of small circles.^{[10]
X
Research source}
- To make the cluster look more realistic, draw a thin line between some of the grapes, which will look like a stem that connects them.

Section 6 of 7:

Adding a Pineapple

Download Article

Sketch a pineapple for an exotic fruit basket. To fill a large space in the basket, draw a whole pineapple. Sketch a large oval for the main part of the fruit. Then, draw spiked leaves that are pointing up and away from the center of the basket.^{[11]
X
Research source}
- To add detail to the pineapple, make cross hatches with a small dot in the center of each space.

Section 7 of 7:

Adding Dimension

Download Article

1
Use a blending stump to shade the fruit and give it dimension. For more realistic fruit, gently rub a blending stump over the drawing to blur your pencil marks. Think about how a light source hits your fruit basket so you know where to place shadows and highlights. To create shadows, sketch over the fruit again to add extra graphite. Then, smudge the graphite with the blending stump to make a shadow effect.^{[12]
X
Research source}
- For example, if the light is coming from the left of the basket, draw the shadows on the right.
- Lift graphite from the paper by rubbing a clean blending stump over the graphite. This is useful if you'd like to highlight a spot on a piece of fruit.
Tip: To keep your basket of fruit simple or cartoon-like, avoid shading the drawing. Instead, go over your lines with a fine pen and erase the pencil.
Go back over your drawing and look for lines that overlap pieces of fruit or the basket. Use a small eraser to remove these. Once you’ve cleaned up the lines, decide if you'd like your drawing to be colorful. Try using colored pencils, markers, or pastels to make your basket of fruit vibrant.^{[13]
X
Research source}

Tip: If you added a lot of shading with your pencil, applying color might hide some of that detail.

Community Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Question

Why do I need to sketch first?

Community Answer

It is necessary to sketch the design first because if you were to make a mistake, it'll be easy to fix it and work on improving it until it's right again.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 63 Helpful 166
Question

Do I have to draw an outline to draw a basket of fruit?

Community Answer

No, this isn't essential but it does make the drawing easier because you have an outline to follow and infill. The alternative is drawing it without guidance.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 61 Helpful 109
Question

Why should I sketch and then rub the lines?

Community Answer

It is necessary to sketch and rub because you need a contour first. A contour gives shape to your drawing and when you make mistakes, you have to rub.

Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
Thank you for your feedback.
If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
Yes No

Not Helpful 48 Helpful 108

See more answers

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Read Video Transcript

Tips

Go back and add watercolors or oil pastels to your finished drawing.

Thanks
Helpful 1 Not Helpful 4

Tips from our Readers

The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.

If you are using alcohol markers or watercolor, first use a light color, then layer darker colors on top. With watercolor and alcohol markers, it's easier to build up from light to dark than dark to light.
Keep going after you complete the fruit basket, if you want: add a person eating or reaching for a piece of fruit, or at least add a colorful background. This may lend more visual interest to your drawing.

Submit a Tip

All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published

Name

Please provide your name and last initial

Submit

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!