How to paint a still life of a hot cocoa mug

Welcome! This blog post features a guided tutorial of how to paint a still life of a hot cocoa mug. This activity helps artists to build skills using the elements of art, VALUE & COLOR, to create a sense of 3D FORM.  Furthermore, it helps artists to understand how the LIGHT SOURCE affects the shadows and highlights created on a still life object.

This lesson can be finalized with so many different art materials ranging from colored pencils, shading pencils, watercolor, pastels, and so much more! 

In this tutorial, the materials that I will be using include:

• A surface to paint on (either a canvas or a taped down piece of thick white paper)
• Pencil for sketching
• PAINT (white, black, red, blue, brown)
• Paint brushes
• Water/ napkins

STEP 1:

On your surface, use pencil to lightly sketch the contours of your hot cocoa mug still life composition.

*optional* Add a candy cane or peppermint stick.

STEP 2:

If needed, tape down your paper to prevent warping while you paint.

Paint your moon in the upper right corner white. Mix a light blue tint by adding white to your blue to lighten it. Using brush strokes that curve around the moon paint the light blue fading down to the blue hue. Do not stress if it does not blend perfectly, because the next step will finalize the background more.

It’s okay if your blue paint goes slightly into the area of your cocoa mug!

STEP 3:

Add some expressive, visible brushstrokes in the background. These will be created by using a paintbrush heavily loaded with paint. The brushstrokes will be short, thick and curving with the contours of the moon.

STEP 4:

Paint the ground with swirly brushstrokes of white for the snowy ground. You can add little bits of blue into these swirly brushstrokes to give it some texture.

Paint the cast shadow from the hot cocoa mug diagonally opposite from the light source of the moon. Use a light blue and continue the swirly brushstrokes.

STEP 5:

Now let’s paint the red (or a color of your choice) hot cocoa mug. In the upper right corner of your mug, mix in white with your red paint to create highlights. In the bottom left corner of your mug, mix in black with your red paint to create shadows. Note how the brushstrokes curve to flow the form of the mug.

STEP 6:

Paint the candy cane white. Consider adding a little bit of grey paint on the left side of the cane to create a shadow.

STEP 7:

Use red paint to create the classic candy cane pattern.

With thick white paint, add a few highlights on the side closest to the moon.

STEP 8:

Let’s paint the hot cocoa! If needed, add a little bit of white to the brown to lighten it up!

STEP 9:

Using a brush that is loaded with thick white paint, add some marshmallows or dollops of whipped cream into your mug.

STEP 10:

Use white paint to splatter some snow on the surface!

Then, use black paint to add a cast shadow.

DETAIL ON STEP 11:

Check out this detail photo of the cute little marshmallow’s cast shadow!

FINISHED EXAMPLE:

Voila! You have a finished still life painting of a hot cocoa mug!

This lesson proved to be a great success for my middle school artists around the winter season! Not only did it focus on building fundamental painting skills, it made everyone feel warm and toasty as the weather chilled. We decided to explore using construction joint compound in a piping bag to create dimensional whipped cream and model magic clay to sculpt cute, little marshmallows! I loved the relief aspect it added to this painting.