Leprechaun Drawing with Colored Pencil Techniques

To make a skin color, first color the base skin with the skin color of your choice. (More about dark tones below.) Then, use a darker skin tone to add some shading along the side opposite the light source. The darker color will make a face look more rounded and give it some form.

Here are the steps I used to add shading:

• First, add shading under the nose and inside the ears.
• Next, add shading under the eyebrow and along the side of the nose opposite the light source.
• Finally, add shading under the lower lip.

Use a cool color, such as purple or blue, in shadows. For this leprechaun, I used blue to add shading in the remaining areas.

The skin is lightest when the light hits it, such as the nose, cheeks, forehead, and chin. This lighter area is called a highlight. Use an eraser to lighten parts of the face that stick out.

Give the cheeks a glow. Use a warm color like pink to add some extra color to the cheeks.

Start with light green as a first layer. Be sure to color heaviest on the side nearest the light source (on the right in the example). Next, use a darker green (or blue) for the top layer.

Color it heaviest opposite the light source (on the left, in the example).

You can get How to Draw a Leprechaun from 

my website or Teachers Pay Teachers.

Technique Summary

For the skin:

• Add a base color to the skin.
• Add shading with a brown … OR
• Make the shading more interesting with a warm and cool color.
• Use an eraser to lighten the highlights
• Add some pink to the cheeks

For the clothes:

• Add a light green making it heaviest on the side closest to the light source.
• Overlap a dark green (or blue) making it heaviest on the side away from the light source.