August Schleich was a German animal painter, etcher and lithographer, known by friends as "Schleichgustl", son of the engraver and inspector of the topographical Bureau Johann Karl Schleich (1759-1842) and brother of Engraver Karl Schleich (1788-1840) and Adrian Schleich (1812-1894).

August Schleich studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich. In Munich he occupied himself almost exclusively with animal painting.

August Schleich invented “smoke painting”. Lights were scraped off the layer of soot produced by a candle flame on a plate or piece of paper, in a manner resembling mezzotint mezzotints. The finished image was sealed with a layer of varnish. The process was also imitated by the Munich animal painter Eugen von Kramer. August Schleich also created etchings and lithographs.

Schleich also experimented with electroplating, invented by Franz von Kobell in 1842.