Tips for Coloring a Goblin

The Wonderful Thing About Goblins: Nobody Can Tell You They're the Wrong Color

People come with recognizable skin tones.

Robins have recognizable feathers.

Oak trees behave within certain botanical expectations.

Goblins?

Goblins have given us no such trouble.

Your goblin can be green, blue, orange, gray, purple, pink, brown, spotted, striped, freckled, muddy, luminous, or an alarming combination of several of those.

This makes goblins perfect subjects for experimenting with color, texture, light, personality, and exaggeration.

There is no reference photograph waiting to prove you wrong.

Decide Who Your Goblin Is First

Before choosing colors, decide something about the character.

Is this goblin:

mischievous?

shy?

grumpy?

ancient?

cheerful?

woodland-dwelling?

cave-dwelling?

magical?

extremely proud of a hat no reasonable person would wear?

Personality can help choose the palette.

A cheerful garden goblin might suit moss green, peach, rust, and gold.

An ancient cave goblin could use gray-green, violet, brown, charcoal, and muted blue.

A magical goblin might be turquoise with violet shadows and golden eyes.

You're not merely coloring skin.

You're designing a character.

Start With More Than One Skin Color

Even if your goblin is “green,” don't reach for one green pencil and color the entire creature.

Build a palette.

For green skin, you might try:

Yellow-green

Olive

Moss

Blue-green

Brown

Violet

Perhaps even peach, pink, or gold.

Just as human skin contains subtle color changes, fantasy skin becomes much more believable when it contains several hues.

Try It: Three Green Goblins

Draw or copy three simple goblin faces.

Color the first with:

yellow-green + gold + olive

Color the second with:

moss + brown + burgundy

Color the third with:

blue-green + turquoise + violet

All three are green.

Yet they may immediately seem like entirely different creatures.

The first might belong in a sunny garden.

The second looks woodland-born.

The third may know magic.

Or taxes.

Possibly both.

Use Underpainting to Change the Skin

Our underpainting techniques become especially fun with fantasy creatures.

Under green skin, try a very light layer of:

yellow for warmth,

blue for cooler skin,

violet for mysterious shadows,

red or pink for lively undertones,

or brown for earthy, weathered skin.

Then layer the main skin color over it.

The undertone will quietly influence everything above it.

Give the Face Temperature Changes

A goblin face becomes more expressive when the nose, ears, cheeks, and lips aren't exactly the same color as everything else.

Try adding subtle warmth to:

the nose,

ear tips,

cheeks,

knuckles,

elbows,

and fingertips.

On a green goblin, this might mean:

yellow,

peach,

rust,

muted red,

or even violet-red.

Don't turn the goblin into a traffic light.

Use these colors lightly beneath and between the greens.

The Goblin Nose Deserves Respect

A magnificent goblin nose is practically its own landscape.

Treat it as a three-dimensional form.

Identify the light source.

Keep one area lighter.

Darken beneath the nose and around the nostrils.

Add reflected color from the cheeks or surroundings.

A little warm color at the tip can make the nose feel alive.

If the goblin has a truly spectacular nose, let it be spectacular.

This is not the place for restraint.

Ears Need Dimension Too

Large pointed ears can easily look flat.

Use darker values:

where the ear joins the head,

inside folds,

beneath overlapping edges,

and on the side facing away from the light.

Keep thinner outer edges slightly lighter where light passes through them.

You can also introduce warmer color into the ears than the surrounding skin.

That small shift makes them feel thinner and more organic.

Try This: The Goblin Ear Test

Color one ear entirely with the goblin's base skin color.

Color the other using:

base color,

a warmer inner-ear color,

a darker fold,

and a small edge highlight.

Compare them.

Tiny changes create surprisingly large differences.

Eyes Are an Opportunity for Something Strange

Human eye colors are beautiful.

Goblin eye colors do not have to be human.

Try:

amber,

gold,

lime,

turquoise,

violet,

red-brown,

silver-gray,

or nearly black.

You can even make the iris unnaturally bright if the creature is magical.

Remember our glass lesson when coloring eyes.

Eyes are glossy.

Preserve a sharp highlight.

Darken around the iris and pupil.

Use reflected colors.

A tiny bright highlight can bring the entire face to life.

Teeth Don't Have to Be White

Perfect white teeth can look strangely artificial on a rustic goblin.

Try:

cream,

ivory,

pale yellow,

warm gray,

or very light brown.

Keep the darkest values where teeth meet the mouth.

And unless your goblin has recently returned from a remarkably successful orthodontist, a little irregularity probably won't hurt.

Goblin Hair Can Be Anything

Goblin hair is another excellent place to experiment.

Try natural colors:

brown,

black,

gray,

auburn,

or white.

Or ignore nature entirely:

moss green,

deep violet,

blue-black,

rust,

or silver.

Use the hair techniques we've already practiced:

mass first → locks second → directional strokes → selected individual hairs last.

Please do not draw all 11,846 goblin hairs.

The goblin does not have that kind of patience.

Neither do we.

Add Texture to the Skin

Goblins don't have to be smooth.

Consider:

freckles,

spots,

wrinkles,

scars,

tiny bumps,

mottling,

age marks,

or patches of uneven color.

But add texture selectively.

Keep important areas—especially around the eyes and expression—clear enough that the face remains readable.

Texture should enrich the character, not bury it.

Make an Old Goblin Look Old

For an elderly goblin, don't simply add gray hair.

Try:

muted skin colors,

cooler shadows,

subtle brown or violet around wrinkles,

lighter or grayer hair,

age spots,

less saturated lips,

and stronger creases around the eyes and mouth.

A little warmth in the nose and ears can keep the character feeling alive.

Clothing Should Belong to the Goblin

Once you've established the skin palette, choose clothing colors that support it.

A green woodland goblin might wear:

rust,

mustard,

brown,

cream,

and burgundy.

A blue cave goblin might suit:

charcoal,

violet,

deep teal,

silver-gray,

and muted red.

A cheerful Edenglow goblin might happily appear in:

orange,

moss,

gold,

plum,

and an absolutely unnecessary amount of patchwork.

Use complementary colors when you want the character to stand out.

Don't Make Every Piece of Clothing Different

Fantasy characters tempt us into using every pencil.

Green skin.

Purple hat.

Red coat.

Blue trousers.

Yellow boots.

Orange scarf.

Pink belt.

Turquoise bag.

At some point, the goblin begins looking like it lost a fight with the pencil box.

Choose a limited palette and repeat colors.

If the hat contains burgundy, perhaps repeat burgundy in a patch on the trousers.

If the boots are brown, use that brown again in the belt.

Repetition makes even a whimsical character feel designed.

Mini Challenge: One Goblin, Three Personalities

Use three copies of the same goblin.

Create:

The Garden Goblin
yellow-green, moss, gold, rust, cream

The Midnight Goblin
blue-green, indigo, violet, charcoal, silver

The Ancient Goblin
olive, brown, burgundy, ochre, gray-green

Keep the drawing identical.

Notice how strongly the palette changes the character's apparent personality.

Give the Goblin a World

Don't forget the background.

A woodland goblin may pick up reflected greens and golds.

A cave goblin may have cool blue-violet shadows.

A goblin beside a lantern may have warm orange light across one side of the face.

A moonlit goblin might receive cool blue highlights.

This is where all those earlier Studio lessons begin working together.

Skin + light + shadows + reflected color + palette + texture = character.

The Lantern Test

Put your goblin beside an imaginary lantern.

Choose which side the lantern is on.

Add warm cream, yellow, gold, or orange to the surfaces facing it:

cheek,

nose,

ear,

hands,

clothing,

hat.

Shift the opposite side toward cooler shadows.

Suddenly the goblin belongs inside a scene rather than looking like a colored figure pasted onto one.

Don't Color the Line Art

If the illustration contains lots of wrinkles, folds, patches, buckles, buttons, pockets, warts, hair, teeth, and assorted goblin paraphernalia, you don't have to emphasize every detail equally.

Decide what matters.

Usually the viewer should notice:

face → eyes → expression → major clothing shapes → smaller details

Use stronger contrast around important areas.

Let less important details remain quieter.

Even goblins need visual hierarchy.

Edenglow Challenge: Invent a Goblin Species

Forget existing goblins.

Create your own.

Decide:

Where does it live?

What colors would help it live there?

Is its skin smooth, furry, scaled, spotted, or mottled?

Does it glow?

Does it change color?

What color are its eyes?

Does age change its coloring?

Do young goblins look different from adults?

Create a six-color palette for your species and make a swatch card.

Now you've moved beyond coloring someone else's creature.

You're worldbuilding with color.

Edenglow Studio Tip

Fantasy gives you freedom, but believable fantasy still benefits from rules.

Your goblin can be absolutely any color.

Once you've chosen that color, though, give it light, shadow, temperature changes, texture, reflected color, and a palette that makes sense within its world.

That's the wonderful bargain fantasy offers:

Reality doesn't get to tell you what your goblin looks like.

But good color theory can help you make everyone believe it exists anyway.