Notebook with a sugar skull drawn in it with pencil. Text overlay that says "Sugar Skull Pencil Drawings: Day of the Dead Artwork"

To be honest, I don’t personally celebrate the Day of the Dead or Halloween. Regardless of the fact that I posted some cute Halloween drawings last year. However, I think that sugar skulls are fascinating! On this page I added some sugar skull pencil drawings that are simple enough that most artists should be able to replicate them! One of them is a tad more complex, but I encourage you to try it!

Materials Used

1 – Smiling Sugar Skull with Heart

This first one is my rendition of the sugar skull drawing from HelloArtsy. I made very minor changes to angles and edges that I felt fit my style a little more. But I recommend taking a look at the original on their site as well!

Sugar Skull pencil drawing 1

2 – Unique Sugar Skull Design

Most sugar skulls use round shapes, flowers, lines and dots. I thought, “what would a sugar skull look like if I made it more… pointy?” and voila, this is what I came up with. Even the cheekbones in this sugar skull pencil drawing are sharp.

Sugar Skull pencil drawing 2

3 – Happy Sugar Skull with Flower

This sugar skull sketch is pretty similar to our first, but with a few changes. I replaced the designs on the forehead and chin, and altered the flowers in the eyes a bit. I also rounded the edges of the skull a little more.

Sugar skull pencil drawing 3

4 – Intermediate Sugar Skull Drawing

The first three drawings I added above are basic enough for most artists to achieve without too much trouble. This one, however, adds a lot more lines and designs. I wanted to include this for anyone looking for a bit more detail or something to give more of a challenge. Personally, I like this one best. I think it captures the feel of the classic sugar skull design without being overly complicated or difficult to draw.

Sugar Skull pencil drawing 4

Sugar Skull Drawing Tips

If you’ve been to this site before, you’ll probably be more understanding of how few drawings I typically add to these articles. I’m a dad, and free time can be hard to come by, unfortunately.

However, I do want to mention a quick tip when creating sugar skull pencil drawings!

I’m 100% all about artists using other artwork as references. Use my drawings and recreate them if you like! I only ask that you credit me as a reference (like I did for HelloArtsy above) if you publish your artwork anywhere online. However, I encourage you to convert it to your own style! Even if it’s only some minor changes, it’ll really make it yours!

You could even combine elements from various sugar skull drawings you find across the internet and use them to create your own completely unique design. The possibilities really are endless.

But most importantly, I hope that you really enjoy it. If you do, then you’re doing it right!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day!

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