My youngest son managed to drag a dusty binder of my old Pokemon cards out from a heavy storage box in our chaotic garage last weekend. Naturally he flipped right past the holographic water types and zeroed in entirely on the giant orange dragon.
We must have spent 3 and a half hours just talking about fire breath mechanics and whether big wings mean you fly faster. So obviously the next logical step was bringing you these Charizard coloring pages to feed the sudden obsession in my house.
Finding good quality line art that isn’t just a pixelated mess on the internet is a total nightmare. Our team actually sat down and drew these specifically so the lines print crisp and clean on your home printer.
Grab a fresh pack of crayons because these fire types need a ton of warm wax. I honestly can’t wait to see how your kids tackle the stormy skies and volcanic backgrounds we included here.
Featured Charizard Coloring Pages
Charizard Coloring Pages Highlights
Diving Toward the Ocean
This one shows the dragon diving really fast over the water with its wings tucked back tight. The sense of speed here is intense.
The jagged mountains in the back add a great sense of scale to the whole thing. My boys love using a deep navy blue for the ocean ripples to contrast the bright orange body. It makes the whole picture pop right off the page.
Face Close-Up with Smoke
We wanted something zoomed right in for this one. You get a really good look at the face with thick smoke curling out of its nostrils.
The flames rising up in the background give you a great excuse to use all your warm colors. Honestly this is the one I colored myself while drinking my morning coffee yesterday. It was weirdly therapeutic to just blend reds and yellows for about 14 minutes.
Facing Off Against a Storm
Standing strong on a jagged cliff edge while a massive storm rolls in behind. The lightning bolts crashing down from the dark clouds look very dramatic.
Coloring those dark brooding storm clouds is a fun challenge for older kids. They have to figure out how to shade the grey without making the whole page look like mud. These free Charizard coloring pages are perfect for practicing weather effects.
Flying Above the City Skyline
The contrast of a giant mythical creature soaring over normal skyscrapers at dusk is just cool. The little windows on the buildings take some patience to fill in.
The setting sun sitting just behind the buildings is a really nice touch. I always print these printable Charizard coloring pages on thick paper so the markers do not bleed through. I tell my kids to use purples and pinks for the sunset sky.
Flying Through Volcanic Ash
There is an active volcano erupting right below in this chaotic scene. The little specks falling all around are pieces of hot volcanic ash.
I think leaving the ash dots pure white against a dark smoky sky looks the best. Sometimes you don’t need to color every single inch of the paper. Negative space does a whole lot of heavy lifting.
Gliding Above the Lake
Here the dragon is flying super low right over a calm body of water. You can see the pine trees lining the mountain shore in the background.
The reflection on the water is a tricky thing to teach young kids to color. I usually tell them to just lightly scribble a lighter shade of whatever is above it. It doesn’t have to be perfect at all.
Cracking the Ground Beneath It
This is pure raw power right here. The heavy landing actually splinters the earth into giant rocky cracks under its massive feet.
Filling in those deep cracks with pitch black or dark brown really makes the ground look unstable. Kids always seem to gravitate toward the action shots like this. These coloring pages of Charizard are definitely the favorites in my classroom.
Mountain Ledge with Falling Snow
A fire type in the freezing cold is a fun contradiction. He is perched up high on a snowy ledge while big thick snowflakes fall around him.
You can practically hear the ice crackling under those claws. The winter aesthetic makes these Charizard coloring sheets feel a bit different from the usual fiery backgrounds. We just used light blue for the shadows in the snow.
Tips for Coloring Charizard Coloring Pages
1. The Flame on the Tail
The tail flame is the most iconic part of this character. You cannot just use a single flat orange crayon and call it a day. Why do we always rush the best parts? I tell my kids to slow down here.
Start with a bright yellow right at the base of the tail where it is the hottest. Then gently blend out into orange and finally a deep red at the very tips of the fire. It makes the fire look alive. And isn’t that the whole point?
2. Blending the Orange Body
Finding the right shade of orange for the main body can be surprisingly frustrating. A lot of standard crayon packs have an orange that leans a bit too neon. Which is awful. I prefer mixing a standard orange with a very light layer of brown.
It grounds the color and makes it look more reptilian than cheap plastic. Just trust me on this one. I have no idea if that is anatomically correct for a fictional dragon. But it looks way better on paper.
3. Those Underbelly Colors
The belly and the underside of the tail need a pale creamy yellow. Sometimes we use a regular yellow and just press really lightly so it doesn’t get too bright. It takes about 11 seconds to ruin a drawing by pressing too hard.
If you press too hard it ends up looking like a giant lemon. Having a stash of these free Charizard coloring pages means your kids can mess up and just try again. Print out extras. Let them fail.
4. Wing Membranes
The inside of the wings is a weird teal or turquoise color depending on which reference picture you look at. It is a fantastic contrast to all that warm orange. I honestly think it’s the best part of his design.
Grab a blue-green marker and do long smooth strokes. If you chop it up with little short scribbles it looks messy and textured in a bad way. Smooth strokes follow the natural stretch of the wing skin. It makes a huge difference.
5. Handling the Backgrounds
We intentionally put a lot of environmental details into these designs. The cities and mountains give the character an actual place to exist. It builds a whole world on the page.
Please do not ignore them. When you fully color the backgrounds on these printable Charizard coloring pages it turns a simple activity into a finished piece of art. It teaches patience too. And lord knows we all need more of that.
6. Shading the Smoke
Several of the pictures feature thick smoke coming from the nostrils or erupting volcanoes. Grey can be a very flat and boring color if you aren’t careful. It just sort of sits there lifeless.
I like to add tiny touches of purple or dark blue into the deepest shadows of the smoke clouds. It gives the smoke actual weight and makes it feel thick in the air. This is a trick I learned back in my teaching days. It works every single time.
7. Using Markers vs Crayons
My kids are currently in a phase where they refuse to use anything but alcohol markers. They blend beautifully but they will bleed through normal printer paper immediately. It is a mess.
If you print these coloring pages of Charizard for your kids try to use a heavy paper. It absorbs the wet ink without completely ruining your kitchen table underneath. Ruined furniture is not worth a pretty picture. So check your paper weight.
8. Adding White Highlights
After the whole page is fully colored it can sometimes look a bit flat and dull. This is where a simple white gel pen becomes your absolute best friend. I buy them in packs of ten.
Add little white dots to the eyes and sharp little lines on the claws of these Charizard coloring sheets. It instantly brings the whole drawing to life with a tiny pop of light. You will be shocked at how professional it looks. Your kids will feel like actual artists.