Common Walking Leaf Frog - Sketch & Drawing

Post by Madeleine Dube, September 30th 2023

Amphibians

I was looking for some inspiration for a drawing - I hadn't drawn for some time - and I fell upon this amazing black and white picture of a Burmeister's Frog (Phyllomedusa burmeisteri) in a book from 1967 titled Larousse Encyclopedia of Animal Life. I was mesmerized by the shape of the frog and its contrast with the trunk on which it was standing, and how the shadows were creating a strong dramatic impact.

This isn't a drawing that took me a lot of time to complete. My initial sketch was kind of straightforward but I did got captivated by the curves and shapes of the frog's contour.

For completing the drawing in ink, I used Copic Multiliner pens. I struggled a bit with how much details to add in. Sometimes when too much details are added, the drawing loses its impact. Here, the large shadows play a dominant role in the sketch, drawing attention. If I let myself loose by adding too many small skin details, the attention of the viewer will be distracted to the skin details and the shadows will lose their impact.

I wanted to learn more about this type of frog, but the information available on the web is somewhat limited! I only found a Wikipedia entry, whose text seems to have been copied on the other websites referencing this frog. However I found some amazing pictures of the common walking leaf frog on this website. I just love the shape of the head and the brightness of its skin colors! It just makes me want to draw so many more drawings of this frog.

Learn How To Draw a Common Walking Leaf Frog - Phyllomedusa Burmeisteri

Read this blog to learn How to Draw and Color a Realistic Frog using Copic alcohol markers - Phyllomedusa burmeisteri.