DIGITAL ART TUTORIAL - How to paint a cupcake

Digital art tutorial - How to paint a cupcake step by step

Cupcakes aren't just delicious, they're also so much fun to paint! In this digital art tutorial I'll be showing you how to paint a cupcake with digital painting software and (preferably) a drawing tablet.

STEP 1 - Make a sketch

The first step is to make a sketch! You can keep it nice and loose. You can use a reference photo or real a real cupcake ofcourse, but I'm sure it would be too hard too keep your hands off of it!

STEP 2 - Base color

In the next step you'll lay down the base color. Make it any color you like! As long as it looks tasty ofcourse ;)

STEP 3 - Building up shapes

Once you've got the base color down, it's time to start building up the shape of the cupcake. Check out your reference and try to focus on where the light and dark areas are. Build up the contrast slowly. You can make separate layers for the paper, the cupcake and the heart, this way you can paint on all parts of the cupcakes, without having to worry about the edges.

STEP 4 - Detailing

You can spend as much time on this part as you want. Work on the details of the cupcake, really focus on getting the highlights and shadows right. At this stage the opacity of the initial sketch layer is reduced to 0%.