Open your oil pastel sketchbook and go straight for color that actually fights back: hot pink sunsets, orange skies, turquoise water that almost glows against toned paper. Tropical islands are made for this medium, because oil pastel wants to be pushed thick and layered wet-on-wet, and nothing takes that treatment better than a palm tree at sunset or a parrot in full color.
Below are 27 little island stories, each one a scene you can actually finish today: a fisherman, a turtle, a girl in a hammock, always doing something, always somewhere specific. Pick whichever one makes you want to pick up your pastels right now and start pressing color onto the page.
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Start with the easiest bird on the island: a toucan perched on a palm branch over a turquoise bay. Lay the branch in first with a dark green-brown stroke across the lower third of the page, then block the bird’s body as one black oval sitting on top of it.
The beak goes last, and it is the fun part: orange and yellow pastel pressed side by side, blended just slightly where the colors meet so it still reads as one glossy shape. Keep the bay behind simple, two or three horizontal strokes of turquoise and white.
Today’s tip: press the beak color down heavy before you blend it, oil pastel needs real pressure to look glossy instead of chalky.
Think proportion before you touch the pastels here, because a fisherman who is too tall or too short will throw the whole beach scene off. Make the boat about three times the height of the standing figure, that ratio alone keeps the sand, the boat and the man all feeling like they belong on the same beach.
Sketch the boat’s hull first as a simple curved shape, place the figure leaning into the rope beside it, then add the white sand as one wide pale strip beneath both. The water behind stays a flat band of turquoise.
Today’s tip: draw the figure a touch smaller than feels right, a fisherman who looks slightly dwarfed by his boat reads as more believable than one drawn too large.
Light does a lot of the work in this one, so decide where the sun sits before you draw a single line. Put it low on the horizon behind the turtle, which means the sand in front of her stays warm and bright while her shell catches a dark silhouette edge facing you.
Draw the turtle’s shell as a wide dome with simple panel lines, her flippers mid-stride toward the water, and let the sand hold long shadow streaks stretching toward the viewer since the light comes from behind her.
Today’s tip: keep the turtle almost in silhouette, just a sliver of warm color on her shell’s rim, it reads as true sunset light far better than a fully lit turtle would.
This scene carries real color contrast, so start with the usual mistake: painting the hammock too flat and the sky too plain, which makes the whole page feel empty even with a figure in it. Fix it by committing early to a hot pink hammock against a turquoise sky, the two colors doing the real work of the composition.
Block the two palm trunks first, angled slightly inward to frame her, then the curve of the hammock between them, then the girl’s shape reclined with a small book shape in her hands.
Today’s tip: if the hammock looks stiff, go back in with the side of the pastel stick and drag one soft curved stroke along its lowest edge to loosen the line.
Keep the tools simple for this tiny scene and lean on a blunt pastel edge for the crab’s shell, since a rounded stroke reads as a shell far better than a sharp pencil-like line ever could. Lay the tide pool first as an oval of darker turquoise sitting inside the paler sand around it.
Place the crab’s body at the pool’s edge, legs drawn as short quick strokes radiating outward, and finish with a few white pastel dashes to suggest foam where the pool meets the sand.
Today’s tip: use the flat broad side of the pastel for the shell and only switch to the pointed tip for the thin legs, mixing the two gives the crab real texture.
Building on that last crab, try one with more going on: a hermit crab hauling its shell up a piece of driftwood on the sand. The driftwood goes down first as a long pale grey diagonal shape crossing the lower half of the page.
Then the crab’s borrowed shell, a warm striped spiral in orange and cream sitting at the log’s upper end, with a few small legs peeking from underneath. Background stays loose, just turquoise water in the distance and a strip of warm sand.
Today’s tip: give the shell a spiral stripe pattern in two contrasting warm colors, that pattern alone sells the whole hermit crab idea even with a simple body shape.
Measure before you draw this one: the iguana’s body, from nose to tail tip, runs roughly as long as three rocks stacked beside it, and keeping that ratio stops the lizard from looking either too small or too enormous for its perch.
Block the dark volcanic rock first as an angular grey-black shape, then lay the iguana along its top in profile, spine ridge drawn as a row of small triangular bumps along its back.
Finish with a wash of hot orange sky behind to push the dark rock and dark lizard forward in contrast. Today’s tip: keep the iguana’s green cooler and greyer than the bright foliage elsewhere on the island, that temperature shift reads as scaly skin.
Give this scene a quick version and a longer one. In ten minutes, block a simple running figure, a diamond kite shape above, and a flat band of sand and sea beneath, done.
With forty minutes, add a long curved kite string, a few gulls as small dark checkmarks in the sky, and texture in the sand with short dragged pastel strokes to suggest footprints behind the boy.
Either way the kite itself should carry the brightest color on the page, hot pink or orange against the turquoise sky, since it is the single shape your eye should land on first. Today’s tip: draw the string last, one single curved line, so it stays light and does not compete with the kite’s color.
Vary this one once you have painted a toucan already: a bright parrot perched on a wooden post above a small roadside fruit stand piled with mangoes and papayas. Draw the stand first as a simple wooden frame with rounded fruit shapes stacked on top in warm oranges and yellows.
The parrot sits above it on a thin post, body blocked in layered green, red and blue pastel pressed in bold adjoining patches rather than blended into one flat color.
Today’s tip: keep the fruit shapes simple circles and ovals, the real color interest belongs to the parrot, so do not compete with it by over-detailing the fruit below.
Perspective matters most here, since you are looking down through water at a reef below a floating figure. Set your eye level as if you are floating just above the surface too, which means the snorkeler’s body stays mostly flat and horizontal, barely breaking the waterline.
Draw the water surface first as a pale turquoise band, the coral reef below in warm pinks and purples, and the snorkeler’s dark silhouette floating across the upper portion.
Today’s tip: keep the coral colors warmer and brighter than the surrounding water, that temperature jump is what makes a reef read as glowing beneath the surface.
Start the first three marks in order here: the two palm trunks angled toward each other, then a single curved branch connecting them, then the monkey’s body mid-swing gripping that branch with one arm extended.
Leave the leafy palm fronds for last, since they frame the scene rather than anchor it, loose dark green strokes fanning out from the top of each trunk.
Give the monkey a warm brown body with a paler belly patch, and let the sky behind glow in hot pink to push the dark trunks and monkey silhouette forward. Today’s tip: angle the monkey’s tail in the opposite direction from its swinging arm, that single twist sells the motion instantly.
This quiet scene pairs nicely with the busier fruit stand idea from earlier if you want a full set of island market moments. Place an old woman seated on a weathered wooden pier, a small basket of shells beside her, the sea stretching turquoise beneath the pier’s gaps.
Block the pier planks first as horizontal pale strokes, then her seated figure wrapped in a warm shawl, then the basket and its scattered shells in small pale dabs.
Today’s tip: let a few gaps show between the pier planks with turquoise water peeking through, that small detail does more to sell the setting than any added background.
Reach for a dry brush style trick here, in this case the dry edge of a pastel stick dragged lightly over the paper’s tooth, which gives the old anchor a rusted, pitted texture rather than a smooth clean shape.
Draw the anchor first as a simple dark curved form half-buried in sand, then wrap the octopus around it in loose curling arms, each one a different warm or cool patch of color rather than one flat body tone.
Today’s tip: vary the octopus’s arm colors slightly, one arm warmer, one cooler, it reads as light shifting across its skin underwater rather than looking like a flat cartoon shape.
Keep proportion honest here: a flamingo’s leg length roughly equals its whole body height, and drawing that leg too short is the single fastest way to make the bird look wrong. Measure one flamingo carefully, then repeat the shape at different sizes for the rest of the flock.
Place them wading through shallow water at low tide, bodies a bold warm pink against the pale wet sand and turquoise shallows reflecting their color.
Today’s tip: let a little pink reflect faintly in the water beneath each bird, a few soft pink strokes in the wet sand ties the whole flock to its setting.
Try the quick ten-minute version first: a dog mid-leap chasing an incoming wave, body a simple dark silhouette, the wave a pale curling line, the sky behind a flat warm wash.
Given forty minutes, add splashing water droplets flicked up by the dog’s paws as small bright dashes, texture in the sand with dragged pastel lines, and layered color in the sky moving from hot pink near the horizon to deeper orange above.
Today’s tip: keep the dog’s silhouette fully dark against the brightest part of the sky, that contrast is what makes a sunset beach scene feel like golden hour rather than midday.
Build on the earlier fisherman scene with a smaller, quieter one: a child crouched at the tideline gathering starfish into a woven basket. Block the child’s crouched silhouette first, low to the ground, then the basket beside them, then scatter a few bright orange starfish shapes across the wet sand.
The usual mistake here is spacing the starfish too evenly, which looks planted rather than natural. Fix it by clustering two close together and leaving the third farther off toward the water’s edge.
Today’s tip: vary the size of each starfish slightly, uneven sizing alone makes a scattered group look far more believable than three identical shapes.
Light placement changes everything in this one. Put the sun low behind the banana tree, which throws the bat’s hanging silhouette into near-complete darkness while rimming its wing edges and the tree’s broad leaves with warm orange light.
Draw the tree’s wide leaves first, layered in dark green with warm highlighted edges, then the bat hanging upside down from a branch, wings folded close against its body.
Today’s tip: give the bat’s wing membrane just a thin edge of warm light rather than lighting the whole body, that single rim of color reads as backlighting instantly.
Keep this composition honest with a proportion check: the woman’s figure should stand roughly five times her own head height, a standard ratio that keeps a walking human figure believable even at this loose, painterly scale.
Draw the hillside path first as a winding pale line climbing through warm greens and browns, then place her figure midway up it, two round water jugs balanced at her sides.
Let the turquoise sea show as a sliver at the bottom of the hill behind her, grounding the whole scene as island rather than generic countryside. Today’s tip: angle her shoulders slightly forward, that small lean communicates the weight of the jugs without any extra detail.
This one is pure action, so plan the first three marks carefully. Lay the dive angle first, a steep diagonal line from upper corner toward the water, then the pelican’s folded-wing silhouette along that line, then the splash shape where its beak meets the surface.
Leave the surrounding water texture for last, soft turquoise strokes radiating outward from the splash point to suggest the disturbance spreading across the bay.
Today’s tip: tuck the pelican’s wings tight against its body during the dive, a bird with wings still spread wide looks like it is gliding rather than plunging.
Scale keeps this one working: make the sandcastle smaller than it feels like it should be, since two small children kneeling beside an oversized castle reads as a toy rather than something built by hand in an afternoon.
Block the two kneeling figures first, close together and facing the castle, then the castle itself as a cluster of simple rounded and triangular shapes, then the wide flat beach stretching out behind them toward turquoise water.
Today’s tip: press small fingertip dots of pale pastel around the castle’s base to suggest scattered shells, a detail that reads as beach instantly without extra drawing.
Edges matter most in this one. Keep the gecko’s outline soft and slightly blended into the wall’s warm color, since a gecko drawn with a hard crisp outline tends to look pasted on rather than resting naturally against the surface.
Paint the hut wall first as a flat warm pink or orange plane filling most of the page, then press the gecko’s pale, slightly translucent body against it using soft blended strokes rather than a sharp line.
Today’s tip: use a blending stump to soften just the gecko’s belly edge where it meets the wall, that one soft transition does more than any amount of added detail.
This scene turns the usual bright island palette on its head, with evening light instead of midday sun, so get the mistake out of the way early: do not paint the whole scene in flat blue just because it is dusk. Keep a warm lantern glow at the center and let everything else cool around it.
Draw the seated fisherman first with the net draped across his lap, then the lantern beside him as a small warm orange glow, then the surrounding dusk in deepening blues and purples radiating outward from that light.
Today’s tip: press the brightest, warmest color only directly around the lantern, the contrast with the cooling blues around it is what sells the evening light.
Try the ten-minute version first: a sea lion’s rounded body on a simple grey rock, mouth open mid-bark, flat turquoise water behind. That alone reads as a complete scene.
With more time, add a second smaller sea lion nearby for scale and company, texture the rock surface with dragged strokes of grey and warm beige, and let spray from a nearby wave catch a little white highlight.
Today’s tip: tilt the barking sea lion’s head slightly upward and open its mouth as a simple dark oval, that small gesture alone carries the whole sense of sound and motion. Ocean oil painting ideas cover plenty more water texture tricks if you want to keep building on this one.
Give this one real drama by committing to eye level: set your horizon low, near the bottom third of the page, so the sky and its hot pink and orange color get most of the space above a small silhouetted hiker standing at the cliff’s edge.
Block the cliff shape first as a dark jagged silhouette jutting from one side, then the small hiker figure standing near its tip, then let the sky fill everything above and the sea everything below in long warm horizontal bands.
Today’s tip: keep the hiker tiny compared to the sky, a small figure against a huge sunset is what makes the scale of the view actually land.
Build on the earlier swinging monkey with a quieter cousin scene. Measure the mango against the monkey’s own hand, it should look roughly half the size of its head, which keeps the fruit from reading as oversized or like a tiny berry.
Draw the tree branch first as a simple diagonal, the monkey seated along it holding the mango in both hands, then the leaves around it in loose dark green clusters framing the scene.
Today’s tip: press a bright warm orange into the mango’s shape while the surrounding leaves stay cooler and darker, that single contrast makes the fruit the clear focal point.
Keep this one about the usual beginner mistake: drawing the surfer sitting too high on the board, which flattens the whole sense of water. Fix it by letting the board sit low, mostly submerged, with only its top edge and the surfer’s torso clearly visible above the waterline.
Block the rolling waves first as layered curved bands of turquoise and white, then the surfer’s silhouette paddling flat across the board, arms mid-stroke in the water.
Today’s tip: let the nose of the surfboard tip slightly up out of the water ahead of the surfer, that small lift is what makes the whole pose read as paddling rather than floating still.
Close out your island sketchbook with a scene you can vary endlessly once it works: swap the fireflies for stars, the family for a single figure, the palm grove for a beach fire, and you have a whole new evening scene each time.
Draw the dark palm grove silhouettes first against a deep blue-purple dusk sky, then the small family figures seated together in the foreground, then dot small bright yellow-green points of light scattered through the trees for fireflies.
Today’s tip: press the firefly dots down last and keep them small and scattered rather than evenly spaced, that randomness is what makes them read as actual insects in motion rather than stars.
What to Do Next
Pick whichever island scene is pulling at you most, maybe the toucan for a fast start or the fisherman if you want more proportion practice, and open your toned sketchbook to a fresh page. Block your first three shapes, press your boldest color in last, and let the page fill edge to edge before you call it finished.
Frequently Asked Questions
What paper works best for an oil pastel sketchbook of island scenes?
Reach for toned paper with some tooth, tan, grey or deep blue work especially well for tropical scenes since the toned ground shows through your strokes and saves you from having to fill in every background inch with color.
How do I get oil pastel colors to look as bold as hot pink and turquoise together?
Lay the lighter color first, then press the darker one against it rather than over it, and blend only right at the seam. Pushing hard with fresh sticks and avoiding too much blending keeps both colors reading as saturated and bold.
Do I need to sketch the scene in pencil first?
A light pencil guide for the main shapes helps while you are still learning proportions, but many people skip straight to blocking in shapes with the side of a pastel stick once they feel comfortable placing a horizon line and a figure by eye.
How do I stop my oil pastel drawing from turning muddy?
Build color in a few confident layers rather than scrubbing back and forth with many colors in one spot, and let each layer have its own clear purpose, base tone, shadow, then one bright highlight, instead of blending everything together at once.
Can I finish one of these tropical scenes in a single sitting?
Yes, every idea here is built for that. Block the two or three main shapes first, keep backgrounds loose and simple, and save fine detail for just one focal point, the bird’s beak or the turtle’s shell edge, so the whole scene comes together within an hour or so.