Colored Pencil Dragon Eye
Learn how to draw a dragon eye with colored pencil with this easy to follow tutorial! This drawing is perfect for the classroom or artists at home. My students love drawing eyes, and they always impress me with their creativity. I teach this Eye Self-Portrait Unit that focuses on color pencil blending and symbolism.
I have always demonstrated how to draw a basic eye, and students can either stick with the basics or express their identity with their own creative spin. After watching students draw amazing animal and dragon eyes for years, I had to try it out myself!
This tutorial will show you how to draw a dragon eye with colored pencil. I start by demonstrating the basic dragon eye shape and added shading and blending with Crayola colored pencils. I told my students to let loose, dragons aren’t actually real (or are they?!) so have fun with color combinations and eye shapes.
Here are some of my favorite eyes from my latest group of sixth grade artists:
I love starting a semester with this artwork because it has just the right blend of teacher directed instruction and freedom for individual student voice. If you are doing this in the classroom or through distance learning, I have found guided practice to be key. The focus for the first few class periods is creating value scales with pencil and colored pencils and then practicing color blending. Once students feel comfortable with these concepts they move on to whatever style eye they are comfortable with.
We draw our eyes on sketch paper and then cut them out and glue them on watercolor drip backgrounds. Students love the flow of color and how unpredictable the drips can be. This is always a fun class period, and gives students confidence before embarking on their final eye drawing.
What are your favorite colored pencil lessons? I’d love to hear from you!
