By CraftingStepByStepPublished Updated
Based on a video by Art for Kids Hub.
This apple pie drawing is a quick Thanksgiving win. You start with the pie tin, stack a wavy crust and a round top on it, then add steam and two shiny apples tucked in behind. The lesson comes from Art for Kids Hub, where a dad and his son draw side by side, so you can see how a grown-up version and a kid version both turn out. It takes about five minutes before coloring.
You need a marker, some paper and something to color with. That is the whole supply list.
The trick in this drawing is curves. The bottom and top lines of the pie tin both bend a little, like a smile. Straight lines would make the tin look flat, like a trapezoid. Those two gentle curves tell your eye it is a round dish seen from the side. The domed top crust does the same job. Draw it tall and it looks like a pie piled high with apples.
The apples use overlapping. You draw only the part of each apple you can see, and the pie hides the rest. It is an easy way to show that one thing sits in front of another.
A black permanent marker gives you a bold outline that will not smear when you color over it. Printer paper works for practice. For a drawing you want to keep, a sketch pad holds up better under heavy coloring. The video uses colored pencils: gray for the tin, light tan and orange for the crust, red for the apples and green for the leaves. Crayons and washable markers are fine for younger kids.
Want shiny apples? Leave a small white spot on each one, or add it with a white pencil. A little darker color along one side of the tin and the crust adds shading. You can skip that to keep the lesson easy.
Watch your size, too. The steam and apples add height and width, so start the pie tin a little below the middle of the page. That leaves room above for the steam swirls.
The same pie tin works for any pie. For pumpkin pie, skip the domed top. Draw a flat oval for the filling inside the crust rim, color it orange, and add a swirl of whipped cream. For a single slice, draw a tall triangle with a wavy crust on the wide end and a few apple chunks showing on the cut side. Real pie lovers can pick their favorite. The drawing does not care.
Draw a small pie on a folded card and write a thank-you inside. Make one for each seat as a place card. Kids can draw the dessert table while the adults cook. Pair it with our turkey drawing and a pumpkin drawing for a full holiday page, or add it to a Thanksgiving centerpiece display.
Want to shade it like the video? See how to shade for the basics.
10 steps · about 5 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Start near the middle of your paper. Draw two short slanted lines, one on each side, that lean in toward each other at the bottom. Make them the same length. Now connect the bottom ends with a line that curves down a little, like a wide smile. That curve is what makes the dish look round instead of flat. Leave plenty of space above it for the crust.
Tip
Keep the tin low and wide. A tall tin looks like a bucket.
Go to the top of the left slanted line. Draw a line across to the top of the right one, and let it curve down slightly in the middle, the same way the bottom does. You now have the full pie tin. Both curves bending the same way give the dish a 3D look, as if you are looking at it from a little above.
Tip
Make the top line a bit wider than the bottom so the tin flares out.
Start at the top left corner of the tin. Draw a small curve that pokes out past the edge and comes up. Then run a wavy line across the top of the tin to the other side and curve it back in. Draw a second wavy line under it, following the same bumps. This is the crimped crust edge, the tasty part that hangs over the dish.
Tip
Small, even waves look like crimped dough. Big ones look like a cloud.
Put your marker at the left end of the crust rim. Draw a big rainbow line that goes up, arches over, and comes back down to the right end of the rim. That dome is the top crust of the pie. Draw it tall if you want a pie packed with apples. A lower dome looks more like a flat, homemade pie.
Tip
Start and end the dome inside the crust rim, not on the outer edge.
Bakers cut slits in a pie crust to let the heat escape. Draw one small raindrop shape in the middle of the dome. Add a second raindrop to the left, tilted a little on a diagonal. Add a third on the right, tilted the other way. Three vents fanned out like this make the top crust look curved.
Tip
Keep the vents small. They should fit near the top of the dome with room around them.
Above the pie, draw an S curve that goes up, then come back down beside it to make a thin wavy loop. Cross over the first line if you like. Add a second steam line next to it and a third on the other side. A few tall, thin swirls make the pie look fresh out of the oven.
Tip
Leave a small gap between the steam and the crust so the lines float.
This is an apple pie, so add an apple. On the left, draw a curve that starts at the crust, goes up and around in a circle, and comes back into the side of the pie tin. Stop the line where it meets the pie. That is overlapping. You only draw the part of the apple you can see, and the pie looks like it sits in front.
Tip
Let the apple poke out above the crust so it is easy to see.
At the top of the apple, draw a short curve for the dip where the stem grows. Draw a small stem coming up out of it. Off the stem, draw a leaf: a curve out and a curve back in to make a point. Add a line down the middle of the leaf for the vein. The stem and leaf are what turn a circle into an apple.
Tip
Tilt the stem a little. A dead straight stem looks stiff.
Draw one more apple between the first apple and the pie. This time draw only a rainbow-shaped curve, because the first apple and the pie hide almost all of it. Repeat the same details on top: a little stem, a short curve where it grows, and a leaf pointing the other way with its own center line.
Tip
Point the second leaf away from the first one so they do not bump into each other.
Now color it in. Use gray for the pie tin and draw a few darker lines down it for the ridges of the dish. Color the crust light tan with a little orange on the rim. Fill the vents brown. Color the apples red and the leaves green. Leave a small white spot on each apple so it looks shiny. Add a bit of shading on one side if you want more depth.
Tip
Color the light crust before the red apples so the red does not smudge into it.
Keep going
How to Draw a Cornucopia
How to Draw a Pie
E6000
E6000 Craft Adhesive, Clear (3.7 oz)
The industrial-strength craft glue that bonds glass, wood, ceramic, metal, fabric, and concrete. The one adhesive most craft projects reach for.
Gorilla
Gorilla Dual-Temp Full-Size Hot Glue Gun
Dual-temp so it handles delicate florals and heavy materials alike. A precise nozzle and built-in stand make it the everyday craft-table gun.
OLFA
OLFA 18" x 24" Self-Healing Cutting Mat
The pro-standard cutting surface. Gridlines for square cuts, self-healing so blades never leave grooves, and big enough for paper, fabric, and leather.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links on this page may be affiliate links - clicking them and buying doesn't change your price, but helps support CraftingStepByStep.
Sunday How-To
One short email with the week's best step-by-step guides. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Test your knowledge
5 questions covering what you just read. No signup, no score saved, and you can stop after this one.
Question 1 of 5
Why do the top and bottom lines of the pie tin curve?
Quick reference
5 questions, answers, and one-line explanations. Tap to expand.
1.Why do the top and bottom lines of the pie tin curve?
Answer: They make the round dish look 3D
Straight lines would make the tin read as a flat trapezoid.
2.What do the raindrop shapes on the crust stand for?
Answer: Steam vents cut by the baker
Bakers slit the top crust so heat and steam can escape.
3.How does a taller dome change how the pie looks?
Answer: It looks piled high with apples
A higher top crust suggests a deep, generous filling.
4.Why draw only part of the apple behind the pie?
Answer: The pie hides it, showing depth
Overlapping tells the eye that the pie sits in front of the apple.
5.How do you make the apples look shiny when coloring?
Answer: Leave a small white spot on each one
A bit of uncolored paper reads as light reflecting off the skin.
Did this work for you?
Curated theme pages that include this tutorial.
Hand-picked next reads based on the one you just finished.
Pick the categories you want to hear about. Weekly digest of new step-by-step tutorials. No spam, easy unsubscribe.
Send me tutorials about
