Dolphin Leaping Past a Lighthouse and Rolling Waves Coloring Page

This is the fullest scene on the page. A dolphin leaps in the left foreground while a tall lighthouse stands on a rocky point behind it, gulls cross the open sky, and heavy surf fills the lower two thirds with curling spiral crests and long sweeping troughs.

Work back to front. Establish the sky first, then the lighthouse and its rocks, then the water, and finish with the dolphin, which keeps the animal crisp instead of muddied by whatever went down around it.

Depth is what this drawing wants. Put your palest tones on the horizon and the lighthouse and your darkest in the nearest wave troughs, and the scene opens up. Foam crests should stay as bare paper, since white is the only thing that convincingly reads as spray.

Real lighthouses each carry a unique pattern of stripes or bands so sailors can tell one from another in daylight, which means whatever banding you choose here is historically defensible. Around two hours. For adults and older teenagers.