How to draw a succulent with colored pencils - a step by step tutorial

Recently I thought of drawing something using only green pencils and it resulted in creating this tiny step by step tutorial.

Originally drawn on 15x15 cm size of paper so that you can finish the drawing within one day!

Media used:
Polychromos pencils:

Other media:

Kneadable eraser (optional - for correcting mistakes or removing smudged pencils)
Derwent Drawing Chinese White pencil

Paper:

Whatever you want!
I used pale mint Palazzo Botanical Garden for Sketches, 140g (15x15 cm) - but you can use white bristol board or tinted paper.

Step 1

I started with creating a frame. It's width is 3 cm. So the drawing area is 9x9 cm on 15x15 cm sheet of paper.
Use dark color to sketch the leaves. You can use Indigo color or dark grey if you want.

Step 2

Let's start filling in the leaves in the center of our plant. Use 157 and 158 shades to mark darkest places. Then add lighter green & turquoise tones.

Step 3

In this step we will color the center - use Polychromos with numbers 157 and 158. While coloring you can move the pencil in a circular way starting with pressing the lead lightly to the paper, then gradually increase the pressure and create dark, almost black parts. Then switch to 165, 154, and 149 Polychromos pencils. Add these colors here and there so that the leaves will look more interesting than colored only with one tone.

Step 4

In the next step I used only 157 color. I mark the darkest parts of the plant as you can see on the scan. I will continue this method - darkest color first, lighter second - for me this is the fastest way of finishing the drawing (but you can focus on consecutive leaves and draw them fully from start to the end).

Step 5, 6, 7

I created more leaves using only 157 Indigo color.

Step 8

After finishing this layer, I took 158 color and added it on each leaf.

Step 9

Another layer I applied was the one done with 165 color. It was added on each leaf, in some places I applied more of this shade.

Step 10

In this step I took 154 light turquoise color and added it on the whole drawing. It changed the drawing a bit and worked like a blending pencil.

Step 11

Now take Derwent Chinese White pencil and add light to the drawing by covering the parts of the leaves and to emphasize their outlines.
Sometimes you'll need several layers to create pure white color over the previous layers.
You can differentiate the drawing a bit by using more turquoise / light green tones here and there.
Our succulent is ready!


* It is forbidden to copy this article (and drawings included in it) without the author's permission.