How to Draw a Cornucopia

Start near the bottom right of your paper with your black marker. Draw a circle. Put a zigzag line across the top of it for the leafy stem. Now draw a C shape right beside it, tucked behind the first one so the two overlap. Give it the same zigzag top. These are the front of your pile, so every other shape will hide behind them.

Draw a long oval for the corn, starting behind the second vegetable so you only draw part of it. Add a rainbow-shaped line on top and another underneath for the husk leaves. Draw a line down the middle of the cob, then a line above and below it. Cross them with short lines going the other way to make the kernel grid. Repeat for a second ear tucked behind the first.

Draw a big circle that starts at the vegetables, comes up and over, and connects back into the corn. You are only drawing the part that shows. On top, draw two curved lines for the stem, bend them off to the side, and close the end. Then add the pumpkin's contour lines: one curve down the middle and a curve on each side.

Draw a leaf poking out on the right. Make a curve, then a curve coming back to a point, and draw a vein down the middle with little veins off the sides. Add a second leaf under the corn and a third out to the left. Here is a handy trick: draw the middle vein first, then draw the outline around it. Many kids find that easier.

Start up next to the pumpkin stem. Draw a big C shape that curves around the left side of the pile and comes back in at the bottom. Draw a second C right inside the first to make a thick rim. Now fill that rim with short diagonal lines all the way around. That is the woven edge of the basket. A cornucopia started as a ram's horn, and later people wove baskets in the same shape.

Put the marker down and pick up your pencil. Above the rim, draw a small curl for the tip of the horn. Leave room above it. Then draw the bottom line of the horn: start at the bottom of the rim, curve around and up, and come in toward the curl. The two lines start far apart and get closer as they reach the tip, like a dinosaur tail.

Switch back to the marker. Start at the bottom edge of your pencil guideline and draw a curved band that reaches across to the other side. Draw the next band behind it with a little bump, and connect it back in. Keep going toward the tip. Each band should get smaller as the horn narrows. When you reach the curl, erase all of the pencil lines.

Look inside the opening, right behind the pumpkin. Draw two C shapes for potatoes. Add a bunch of grapes: one small circle, then half circles around it so they overlap. Draw a rainbow line behind the grapes with a zigzag top for one more vegetable. Finish with a couple of leaves in the back. Then draw curved lines on the inside wall of the horn, going the opposite way from the outside bands.

Grab your colored pencils. Color the basket tan, the pumpkin orange and the leaves green. The corn gets yellow, the grapes purple, the potatoes brown, and the front vegetables red and purple. Feel free to match the video or pick your own colors. Fill each shape all the way to the black outline so no white specks show.

Pick up a medium brown and color the inside of the horn dark, since it sits in shadow. Go over it again with a dark brown. On the outside, start at the bottom of each woven band and press hard, then fade out as you move up. Skip the front rim. Shade the leaves dark where they tuck behind the pumpkin, and add brown under the pumpkin and corn.