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You are here: Home / Blog / How To Draw A Radish

April 14, 2020 By Dave Nevue

How To Draw A Radish

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I have created a series of still-life drawing tutorials to help you enhance your realism drawing skills. Learning how to draw different items will not only help you enhance your drawing skills but also teach you how to see simple shapes that make a more complex subject. Learning to draw a radish is extremely simple and consists of only a few steps.

First, I will show you how to draw a radish’s outline, and then I will show you how to add value, highlights, and shadows with images and video, creating a three-dimensional illusion that will make the radish pop on your drawing surface.

Radishes come in various sizes and shapes, making them a fun subject for artists to paint and draw.

Radishes have nice curved lines that will help you to enhance your drawing skills.

Learning how to draw a radish is similar to learning how to draw an apple or how to draw grapes.

The skin of radishes, apples, and grapes is smooth which makes the light react similar to each fruit.

While this drawing tutorial will demonstrate how to add shadow and highlights for a realistic drawing, it can also be a fun exercise for kids.

Kids can learn how to draw the contour of the radish in just a few easy steps and color it with crayons or colored pencils.

I encourage all children to have fun with their creative minds ,and this easy drawing should be included in their coloring page portfolio.

I recommend using a reference image of radishes for your radish drawing.

I use Pixabay for reference images for most of my tutorials.

Pixabay offers stunning free images and royalty-free stock ,which you can use for practicing your art skills.

For my original drawings, I get most of my images at Wildlife Reference Photos or commissioned jobs.

how to draw a radish

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase by clicking on an affiliate link, Nevue Fine Art Marketing may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, Skimlinks, SareASale and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy

Reference image courtasy of Pixabay.

Drawing Supplies

Below is a list of all the materials I use for my drawings. I purchase all of my drawing supplies online at Blick Art Materials.

Drawing Paper

  • Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Board Pads 9″ x 12″ Smooth 
  • Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Board Pads 9″ x 12″ Velum 

Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper Review

Blending

  • Tortillons
  • Loew-Cornell Blending Stumps

Pencils

  • Tombow Mono Professional Drawing Pencil
  • Blick Studio Drawing Pencils
  • Pentel Graph Gear 500 Pencil

Value Finder

  • Gray Scale and Value Finder

Erasers

  • General’s Factis Magic Black Eraser
  • Tombow Mono Zero Refillable Eraser
  • Prismacolor Kneaded Rubber Erasers
  • Alvin Dry Cleaning Pad

Extras

  • General’s The Miser Pencil Extender
  • Sandpaper Block
  • Westcott Wooden Dusting Brush

How To Draw A Radish Step By Step

You can create the drawing larger or smaller if you wish. But if you draw the radish too small, you will find it difficult to add subtle value changes and details to the drawing.

Drawing Tip: The proportions of the subject you are drawing must be accurate if your goal is to draw a realistic drawing. The grid method to sketch the subject will help keep the proportions accurate. You can also use this to practice sketching radishes to enhance your sketching skills.

Learning how to see value changes and simple shapes of a subject is an essential part of the drawing.

This exercise and the other still-life drawing tutorials will help you see soft value changes and simple shapes that create a more complex subject.

Note: The lines in the drawing below are darker than I usually sketch for my drawings.

I only outlined the radish darker in this drawing tutorial, so you can see them better in this post.

Sketching the subject lightly will make it easier to erase the subject’s outline after adding the shading.

Nothing in life has a line around it.

If you are trying to create realistic drawings, you want to create a form and separate planes with values, not outlines.  

Values are the different shades you will be drawing with your graphite pencil.

Easy Radish Pencil Drawing

We will start by sketching the radish outline. This is also known as the contour or the radish.

Drawing Tips – Sketch the radish lightly so you can easily erase the guidelines later.

Keep in mind that you will adjust the drawing as you go along. This is just a rough sketch at this point.

Use the grid method if you are interested in drawing a realism drawing.

draw an oval

This how to draw a radish tutorial starts by sketching an oval shape for the radish bulb.

Notice in the reference image that the oval shape slows slightly from the top left to the bottom right.

Drawing Tip: If you are not using the grid method, use your pencil or a ruler to be more accurate with the proportions of the radish.

draw the root

Next, draw a curvey tail for the root of the radish.

Notice how the root starts above the left side of the bulb and gets thinner towards the end.

Drawing Tip: Sketching the radish lightly will make removing lines easier as you revise the drawing.

radish leaf

Draw a rectangular shape for the stem of the radish’s leaf.

Drawing Tip: Continue to refer to the reference image. Do not press too hard when you are sketching the radish. Pressing too hard will make it difficult to lighten up the lines, which will make it impossible to draw soft value changes.

draw stems

Separate the stems with parallel lines.

radish bulb

Next, draw a curved line that follows the contour of the radish to separate the deep red and white parts of the radish.

erase grid lines

The last step of drawing a radish outline is to erase all of the unnecessary guidelines you drew in the initial stage.

Drawing Tip: Study your drawing and the reference image to see if any adjustments need to be made before adding value to the radish.

At this point, you could give the contour drawing of the radish to your child to color.

You must add values, highlights, and shadows to draw a realistic drawing.

To learn more visit Drawing Tips For Realistic Drawings – The Elements Of Shading.

Add Value To The Radish

Adding value to the radish will create a three-dimensional illusion and make the radish pop off the drawing surface.

Before you add value to your drawing, stand back to think about what you will be drawing.

Identify which direction the light is coming from and where the darkest values are on the radish and the stem.

Is there a cast shadow?

A cast shadow is a shadow that casts from an object or figure. 

The cast shadow varies in value and is not a solid shape. The closer the cast shadow is to an object, the darker it will be. The farther the cast shadow is from an object, the lighter and less defined it will be.

Drawing Tip: The darkest part of an object is where the light does not hit.

Start by adding value with your 2H pencil to the darkest area of the radish.

Drawing Tip: Using a 2H pencil first will, condition the paper and add graphite to the bottom of the tooth on your drawing paper. This will prevent the little white dots you will get if you start with a softer lead. Start applying graphite with your HB pencil when you can not get any more value from your 2H pencil. If the area is still not dark enough, continue with your 2B pencil.

Work from dark to light and follow the contour of the radish.

Begin each line from the darkest area and draw towards the lighter areas reducing the pressure as you go, and lightly lift the pencil off the paper to feather the line to white.

Do not be concerned about the dimple at this point. We will add the fine details at the end.

draw from dark to light

Start by adding graphite to the darkest areas of the radish. 

This will be the red part of the bulb.

Notice on the reference image that there are darker values of red. You
will want to draw the darker and lighter value to create the round shape of the
radish.

Drawing Tip: Squint your eyes when you are observing the
lighter and darker values of a subject.

Keep looking at your reference photo to identify where the darkest darks are.

Don’t worry about adding too much detail at this point. The objective is only to add value to the darkest areas.

Drawing Tips: The darkest areas are where light does not hit.

add more graphite to the radish

Continue to add more graphite to the darker areas of the red part of the radish.

Use a 2H pencil until the area does not get darker, then use an HB pencil.

Gradually lighten up the value where the lighter sections of the radish are.

Drawing Tip: Work from dark to light to create a soft value change. Make sure your pencil is sharp, so the graphite reaches the valleys of the paper.

Drawing Tip: Continue to darken areas by drawing over an area with cross-hatching. Be sure not to leave any gaps between the lines.

erase areas of the red

The reference image shows that the red part does not separate the white area with a straight line.

Use an eraser to remove some graphite and make a jagged edge.

draw the dark areas of the radish

Use an HB and a 2B pencil to continue adding graphite to the darkest areas of the radish.

Draw in any lines that you miss.

Drawing Tip: Fill in any spaces or dots you miss while adding the graphite to the drawing surface. Do not put this off to another time because you could miss some imperfections making the drawing look less realistic.

add graphite to the white of the radish

Notice that the white of the radish is not pure white.

You will need to add graphite to the white area of the radish with a 2H pencil.

Work from dark to light.

The soft value change will create a three-dimensional illusion.

use a tissue to blend

Softly blend the white area with a tissue.

Blend from dark to light.

Do not use a kleenex with lotion, the lotion will ruin the drawing surface.

draw the radish stems

Draw the stems of the radish.

First, refer to the reference image to observe where the darkest areas of the stem are.

Each stem is a cylinder shape. The darker areas will be around the edge where light is no hitting the area.

draw the shadow of the stems

Draw in the shadow of the stems.  Do not make the shadow all one value. Doing so will make the drawing look unrealistic.

Even the dark areas have a soft value change.

draw the cast shadow

Next, you will want to draw in the cast shadow.

The darkest area of the cast shadow will be where the shadow hits the object.

The vale will get lighter the farther the shadow is from the subject.

Drawing the cast shadow will create a three-dimensional illusion making the radish drawing appear as if it is popping off the drawing surface.

blending stump

Use a blending stump to smooth the values of the cast shadow.

erase thin lines

Use an eraser to draw the small roots.

Radish pencil drawing

Congratulations, you have completed the radish pencil drawing.

You can continue the above steps to see how far you can take your drawings.

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Filed Under: Blog, Drawing Tips, Drawing Tutorials, Graphite Drawing Tips

About Dave Nevue

Dave Nevue is a Professional Pastel Wildlife Artist and the founder and CEO of Nevue Fine Art Marketing. He also authored the eBook The Productive Artist How to Live Your Dreams, and provides courses on art marketing at Nevue Fine Art Marketing Courses.

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