In this lesson, I will try to show you how to draw a sky with a small number of clouds quite quickly and quite simply.
For painting, I used a simple round soft brush, and for the lesson I used a brush from the Adonihs package - Cloud Brush 2
Materials for the lesson:
A little advice: Try not to use the cloud brush too hard and often. Otherwise, your drawing will not look very believable. This brush is very good to use for creating a general background and a barely noticeable haze. Detailing and drawing the clouds themselves, if possible, with a soft brush with varying degrees of pressure and opacity.
(click on image to enlarge)
First, I filled the canvas with a gradient fill. I took the dark blue and light blue colors shown in the picture below. Since we are trying to draw the sky, which we look at from the bottom up, the lower part of the canvas will be farther from us, which means lighter and paler. Keep this in mind while drawing and try to maintain this ratio throughout the work.
Now that we have done the most important thing, let's try to make a sketch. You can, of course, create on the fly, but I prefer to arrange the composition somehow before starting to draw. I wanted to display light feather clouds from below, place the sun on the right, and under it a small cloud. Well, the hero of the picture will be a trail from a flying plane. Once you've sketched, it's best to keep it on the topmost layer and turn it back on periodically to compare with what you're getting. True, not infrequently, the composition may change in the course of drawing. But it's not scary. The main thing is that this does not happen by accident and then you do not have to fix everything.
My main brush for painting clouds is soft round brush(Soft Round Brush). I usually draw on a large canvas (this drawing was made in the size of 2400*3200 pixels). But the whole time I was painting, it was reduced to 25%.
I find it comfortable to paint with a very large range of brush radii. Yes, and for the aircraft and small parts, you will need an increase, otherwise accuracy may not work.
So soft round tassel with a very large diameter, I highlight the surface where the sun and cloud will be. What does it mean to illuminate? I just paint on top of the places I need with low opacity and pressure (approximately 20-30%) - where the sun, cloud, feather clouds will be. That is, randomly, but deliberately, I fill the canvas with a lighter color. In order for the work not to be completely monotonous, I add the same blue color to the center, but slightly different from the existing ones. You can choose any color you like. Just remember that it should also be bluish-yellow.
Advice: Don't skip this step. Due to laziness and the desire to quickly start drawing clouds, many people skip this seemingly insignificant step. But it is he who forms the beginning of the volume of the sky. If this is not done, then your sky will look flat, and the clouds will look sharp and cardboard.
Still the same brush, but already with a small diameter, I outline the first bands of clouds in the distance. I paint with a slight opacity (20-30%) sometimes with straight lines, sometimes with hatching or even spirals. Try different options and keep the ones that seem more suitable to you. In fact, there is nothing complicated here. The main thing to remember is that you need to draw with different diameters and, as it were, layer by layer, gently pass over the top.
Advice: Try not to immediately increase the clouds to white. Do it gradually. Remember that the lines should not be solid and continuous, and most importantly, they should not be dense and thick. That's why we paint with soft tassel and at low opacity. Only by the end you need to increase the opacity and carefully detail with thin stripes or spirals.
I continue to add stripes of clouds at the bottom of the drawing and sketched out the base for the clouds, which I plan to place to the right of the airplane. Please note that I did all this with a low opacity and even for light detailing I used a range of approximately 40-50%.
Now I have taken brush from the set for painting clouds and with a very low opacity (20-30%) and walked along the upper right part of the picture, gradually mixing the colors, taking with the pipette those that turned out in the picture. Thus, we get a smooth transition. There is not much to explain here. This step is identical immediately to the first step after filling the gradient. The only difference is the brush.
I did not like how I positioned the cloud on the left and using the filter Liquify I slightly modified it and pulled it to the left. In general, this tool is quite useful for fixing what you don't like. The main thing here is not to overdo it.
Advice: Save more. Especially if you are just a beginner artist, then save more files so that you can roll back. If possible, paint on a small number of layers, merging them together along the way. A large number of layers is not a crime, but they eat a lot of memory from your computer. Well, a small number of layers gradually kills the fear of corrections.
Now that we've tweaked the image a bit, I'm back to round soft tassel. I increase the opacity to 50-70% and paint with a very small diameter. What am I doing? That's right - I detail the clouds a little. The main thing to remember here is that the strokes should be short, sometimes even just dotted squiggles, spirals, strokes. Do not draw long, unbroken lines, straight or curved. Do everything in small pieces. And if at the same time you still have pen pressure working well enough, then you will see how much difference there will be between a solid squiggle and pieces. So, I detailed the clouds on the left a little and darkened the clouds on the right a little, as I began to miss the clear sky.
After carefully studying my drawing, I decided to abandon the arcuate cloud on the left and painted over it with a large soft brush with a low opacity, applying layer by layer. The most important thing here is not to be afraid to abandon the idea and come up with something new. There is nothing wrong with redrawing. But usually this understanding just comes with time. Now, with a cloud brush, with low opacity and a small diameter, I sketched in the cloud on the left and intensified the cloud on the upper right, creating noticeable transitions that can be mistaken for soft cloud transitions.
Advice: If you just draw a line with a cloud brush, you will get just a spot with torn edges. In order to get the volume, again, you need to make small strokes with this brush. By overlaying them in random order and have an exclusively visual look, whether you like it or not.
All this time I paint exclusively in white or, taking the color directly from the drawing with an eyedropper, when I made the general mass for the spot on the right, where the sun will be. But for the cloud, I also took a dark blue color and added it below and a little between the white. Since light falls on the cloud from above, a small shadow will be from below. It is almost imperceptible, but gives a sense of volume.
Armed again (and again, again) soft tassel With the opacity already high (about 70%), I added detail to the clouds on the left, giving them a little more volume. And again, I do this in very smooth and short strokes. Sometimes I just point.
Then I took a light yellow color and added it to the top right corner (soft round brush with low opacity (~30%) and large diameter) where I have the sun. Remember to keep the top left corner dark and clean. There you can add a little purple in order to enhance the depth.
Further actions are not much different from all the previous ones. I enhance the whites on the feather clouds with small and large diameters with varying degrees of opacity. If I don't like a place, I don't erase it, but draw over it. brush with a larger diameter and then detail again. If you erase, you will get a gap, which then will be more difficult to fix than to paint over.
I clean the sky where there are no clouds, as it is a little dirty with a lighter color. I smooth the transitions from dark blue and down to light. All this is done elementarily with the same brush with a large diameter and low opacity.
The process is coming to an end. I again process all the clouds a little and reduce the saturation at the very bottom. It seemed to me that the clouds were superfluous there. They stuck to the bottom of the picture, removing the feeling of volume. I reduce the saturation very simply - with a brush with a large diameter and low opacity, I just paint over it. The main thing here is not to regret what you drew.
Advice: In such cases, try painting on a separate layer, and then play with its transparency settings, choosing the interval that seems most ideal to you. And when you are satisfied - merge the layers.
I filled the remaining space with two stripes from the plane using a cloud brush with different opacity and diameter.
1. First, with a thin round soft brush, I painted one stripe, then I duplicated it and, having turned a little as I needed with the transformation, placed it next to it.
2. By increasing the resolution, tassel for the clouds at 100% opacity, I went over the entire length of the stripes, gradually increasing the radius of the brush.
3. Switching to eraser, I lowered its opacity and set the eraser brush to the cloud brush and corrected the stripes that I have spread a little to the sides, since the cloud brush does not lay down in a straight line.
4. Still the same eraser, but with a larger diameter, I rubbed the tail a little, making it more transparent and dissolved in the sky.
5. Well, then I painted the plane itself with a couple of strokes. The plane is drawn in such a situation simply with a rigid round tassel in white. That is, we draw only glare from the sun. And that's it.
I slightly tighten the contrast automatically and see that this way I like the result more, although the difference came out and is not too noticeable. I add a filter Render->Lens Flare(Filter - Rendering - Highlights), setting the point with the "sun" in the upper right corner. I leave all values by default.
Advice: If this results in circles in the upper corner, go over the top with a brush to mask the result of the filter.
That, in fact, is all!
If you are not entirely clear how this work was drawn, you can download a PSD file with the original size of the work and with a large number of layers.
When planning to draw nature, a van cannot do without an image of the sky and its main feature - clouds. We will tell you how to draw clouds correctly and beautifully in this lesson.
Blue sky above
A blue sky with clouds on a sunny day is our main goal, because such a sky has the greatest contrast. You can draw in nature, or you can take a photo, which is especially convenient for beginners, since you won’t have to be distracted by changes in the sky.
So, the desired part of the sky is selected, now let's carefully study it. Let's note all its features: which clouds, where and how the shadows are located, where are the brightest areas. Let's do the first one.
markup
We paint over the blue areas with a 2B pencil. We do not touch the light areas of the clouds, reserving the white color. We will only make a border in the place where they should be. At the same time, we designate feather clouds with light hatching (later we will erase it).
Light and shadow
Hard pencil (B) dark areas to add volume. Do neat shading down to the light areas. After hatching in the dark areas of the clouds, we then soften them with an elastic band. When the drawings have been given the necessary volume, we clean up the places of the feather clouds with an elastic band.
Adding details
With the soft edge of the elastic we add smoothness to the details of the sky, we use the hard edge to create white lines, the main thing is that the graphite layer is not too thick. Our drawing has quite energetic hatching, which helps to give the necessary dynamics to the whole drawing. You can create a smoother and more realistic painting by making finer shading using the B and 3B pencils on softer paper. Of course, here you will need a certain perseverance. do not be afraid to experiment, make different variations and use different materials when creating a drawing and your sky will be the way you want.
This is a rather difficult lesson, so it may take you quite a lot of effort to repeat it. If the first time you didn’t manage to draw clouds, don’t despair and try again. Try your best to complete this lesson. If, however, it still doesn’t work out, you can try to complete the lesson “”. But I believe that you will succeed.
What you need
In order to draw clouds, we may need:
- You need Photoshop software.
- A little patience.
- Good mood.
Step by step lesson
Natural phenomena are difficult to draw. That is, it is not difficult to draw them, but to achieve realism is much more difficult. I always recommend looking at the original in order to repeat exactly what you are going to draw. In the Yandex image search, it is enough to search for “clouds in the photo” to get a large amount of the necessary material.
By the way, in addition to this lesson, I advise you to turn your attention to the lesson "". It will help improve your mastery or just give you a little pleasure.
Tip: do different things on different layers. The more layers you make, the easier it will be for you to manage the drawing. So the sketch can be done on the bottom layer, and the white version on the top, and when the sketch is not needed, you can simply turn off the visibility of this layer.
When completing the lesson, please note that due to differences in program versions, some menu items and tools may be called differently or not at all. This might make the tutorial a little difficult to follow, but I think you can do it.
So, first create a new document, fill it with a blue gradient. We make a sketch. The image below is a sketch of a cloud painted with a soft brush. As you can see, and light are indicated immediately.
Next, I changed the soft brush to a harder one. Marked the edges of the clouds. Remember that it illuminates them from above, because the color should be dazzling white, and draw darker contours from below, since this is the shaded side of the cloud. Work carefully, try to draw with soft transitions.
Now we need to get rid of the big white spot in the center of the cloud. Maybe you think that there is no point in erasing it, because we will put other objects on top of it anyway, but I think that there should be order in everything. I will also darken the bottom of the cloud a bit. Thus, after some changes, our drawing should look like this:
Remember that such clouds can only be created in a certain position, because that's when the light, shadows and foreshortening will be located correctly. So, below is a diagram of the correct location of the gaze, clouds and sun.
If you want a different arrangement of objects (the top right picture shows you the case of the position of the clouds between the gaze and the sun), then your drawing should look like the figure below. The majority (which is facing the viewer) of the same cloud will be in shadow. Thus, when drawing the cloud in this position, we will use more dark colors, and only at the edges, on the sunny side, we will add blue.
We continue to work with this cloud. Now we'll add some detail and highlight some parts of the clouds that are probably not big enough to create a deep shadow.
It took me only ten minutes to create these clouds, and I used only two types of brushes. One brush is soft, and the other is hard, like a cloud or dissipating smoke. To do this, I worked a little in the Brush Preset, changed some parameters (you can see them in the pictures below). Once you've learned how to create this brush, you'll be able to create some pretty pretty objects.
So, now we will try to use the resulting brushes in our work. First, we need some pictures that can be found on the Internet (references). I found some photos of clouds taken from above (probably from a window). Everyone who has flown in an airplane has a rough idea of what clouds look like. My choice fell on certain photographs: the clouds are illuminated by a bright white light.
So, I studied the structure and shape of the clouds. Now I have a rough idea of the location of objects in the picture: clouds will stretch all the way, on the right they will slightly dissipate, stretching towards the distant horizon. More or less like this:
Now I slightly changed the contrast and saturation of the picture. Drawn and added small clouds. You must realize that all clouds cast shadows both behind and below them. I'm showing air currents by lifting some of the clouds. So now your picture looks like this:
I again had to add more contrast and saturation. So, now the bulk of the clouds begin to take on a realistic, beautiful look. Although it needs some improvement.
It's time to add depth and a "cosmic" feel to the drawing. We now need to concentrate on the clouds in the background, add a few details to the main clouds. Air currents create not only from clouds, but also "chasms" in them. To show these holes, I used a deep blue color. Lowered the opacity of the layer with small background clouds. Because I want to give a nebula to the picture, as it happens at large distances.
When you draw something or someone long enough, the feeling to soberly assess the picture and find mistakes is dulled. Therefore, when the picture is ready, call someone to soberly assess the situation and help find errors.
So my painting is finished. The clouds look realistic and breathtaking and give the viewer the impression of flying. And that's exactly what I was aiming for. This work took about three hours.
I sincerely hope that you enjoyed the lesson on how to draw clouds and hope that you were able to repeat the lesson. Now you can pay attention to the lesson "" - it is just as interesting and exciting. Share this tutorial with your friends on social media. networks.
Start by just looking up
Ever since my artist friends encouraged me to paint the sky in one of my works, I have always focused on the clouds. I am still amazed at the beauty that can be seen just by looking at the sky! Over the last couple of years I've been exploring the importance of toning the sky correctly and adding clouds to improve the overall composition of my landscapes. I think I could spend hours fiddling with each of the white clubs!
Start looking up and studying the clouds. Take pictures of them and you will be surprised at what you start to "see"!
What is the sky for?
Is it important to add it? There is not a cloud in the sky, so why shade it then? I thought about it. On my site there are early works in which the sky is without tinting. For quite a while, I didn't even "see" the shades in the sky. And this continued until I noticed the effect of adding a shaded sky to the landscape. Here are some of the features that a toned sky brings to a drawing:
- Increase the range of shades that you have. Now, the whiteness of the paper can only show highlights, for example.
- Consistency in the composition of your drawing.
- Strengthening the sense of reality of your landscape.
- Adding atmosphere and "mood" to the plot.
In a subsequent series of drawings illustrating the importance of tinted skies and showing why sky and clouds are preferred in landscape composition, I chose a very simple white barn plot - the only change I make is the addition of sky and clouds.
In the first picture - a drawing without a sky. It is very empty and the sky (the whiteness of the paper) merges with the barn.
The second picture is improved by shading the sky. White barn now
focal point, as the darkened sky emphasizes and at the same time makes the whole scene much brighter.
The third picture combines both the toned sky and the addition of clouds. Clouds add depth to the scene, shrinking with distance. For the viewer, they also create the visual impression of a single directional flow. Clouds lead the eye through the whole drawing and, of course, add interest.
Cloud types
Stratus - thin, light clouds
Cumulus - white lush, soft, fluffy
Gloomy rain - dark thunderclouds
Backlit - clouds at sunset
Hints:
Clouds are lighter near the horizon and darker the higher up in the sky.
- Clouds obey perspective - the farther away, the smaller and denser they are to each other
- As long as the sky is not the center of the drawing, thin, light or small clouds work well.
- Use clouds to guide the viewer through the entire landscape.
- Clouds have a shape and volume - they have no edges and no lines.
- The darker the clouds, the darker the main tone should be (this will allow you to use more shades)
Necessary materials:
This is a list of materials that I personally prefer to use. Naturally, some of them can be replaced. Experiment and practice should adapt this technique to your drawing style.
- Mechanical pencil H and 2H (0.5 mm)
- Suede leather
- Shading - small
— Klyachka
- Small ruler (or T-square)
- Thick paper (Strathmore)
- Makeup brush
4 stages of drawing the sky with clouds:
Step 1 - cross hatching
When crosshatching, I usually keep my hand overhead. I believe that only such a complete lack of pressure on the pencil allows you to create light and consistent strokes.
I cross-hatch the paper with three layers I of graphite, softness H. The first layer is applied horizontally. The next two are diagonal.
Step 2 - shading
Using the suede wrapped around the index finger, we level the layer of graphite. Shading with suede is done with a uniform, firm pressure. You may need to run the suede several times to get an even tone. Confidently cover the edges of the work area, even "going" to buildings, trees and beyond the horizon line. Then it will be much easier to erase with an eraser than to paint over
missing parts.
Avoid touching the surface of the paper with your fingers. This is what causes the magical appearance of spots or fingerprints during the shading process. If they appear, it is very difficult to fix (unless they coincide with the place where the clouds will later be) and it often happened that I had to start from the very beginning!
I'll add 2 more layers of intersecting strokes with a 2H pencil and blend them again with suede. This will complete the alignment perfectly. I align the borders of the picture with a ruler and a nag.
Step 3 - Sketching the Clouds
I use a plastic Mars eraser with a cut edge; and use it to draw
clouds in the sky. For light, thin clouds, I take a nag and just run it several times over the surface of the paper.
Step 4 - Detailing
Use a 2H pencil to mark the darker areas near the white tops of the clouds. For shading and working out details, shading is needed here. With the help of shading, erasing and applying new layers of graphite, clouds appear on the paper. We soften the clouds with a nag. To make the clouds darker, darken the background sky. This will allow the white fluffy clouds to take shape and become heavier. Remember that if the focus of your work is not on the clouds, they should not compete with the rest of the landscape. They should remain subtle and unobtrusively follow the viewer's eye through the entire plot. Usually, I use wispy and barely visible clouds in most of my landscapes.
As a rule, it takes me 5-8 hours just to draw the sky and clouds.
PATIENCE is the key to building great clouds.
It is worth once mastering the technique of creating soft tones and basic types of clouds. And then an endless number of variations and possibilities will appear before you. Every season, every day, every hour, every moment the sky changes its mood and shape, thus giving an inexhaustible source of inspiration for landscapes.
Images of sunsets and dusk
Here is a quick sketch (about an hour long) of clouds in the early evening, the sun is just beginning to go down. The clouds are backlit by the sun and therefore darker than the sky. The trees are mostly in the shade and most of the details are muted. This is a small drawing - approximately 11x18cm. The tone of the sky is lighter than the clouds and is just a reversal of the regular cloud pattern. 
http://demiart.ru/
Original by Diane Wright
Natalya Cherkasova
M. Yanushkevich
Thundercloud is crying
It is impossible for her otherwise!
How can the cloud not cry?
We need to water the land!
For a flower to bloom
Green forest.
For the river to run away
Just she doesn't get enough rain!
To drink the river
Must be a heavy downpour!
Boris Zakhoder
"RAIN"
Rain sings a song:
Only who will understand her -
Neither I nor you understand
But flowers will understand
And spring foliage
And green grass.
Grain will understand best of all:
Germinate
Hello, dear colleagues and visitors of "MAAAM"! I would like to bring to your attention our drawing with children.
Here, the technique of applying with a brush and finger painting. were drawing blue paint with brush droplets rain. And with a finger "poke" movements painted over cloud of gray paint. A mix of classic drawing tassel and unconventional drawing with a finger not only set the children in a very positive mood, but also developed fine motor skills of the fingers in a variety of ways. Before drawing the guys and I found out who needs it and why rain. Learned what is heavy rain - downpour, and rain, which is called mushroom. Played mobile game: "The sun and rain". We played finger game:
"Rain"
- Rain, rain, water
Forefinger to tap on the palm of the other
There will be a loaf of bread
form a circle in front of you
There will be rolls, there will be drying,
clapping one hand alternately with the other
There will be delicious cheesecakes.
connect the thumb and forefinger together, forming a large circle.
Before class, I prepared worksheets for drawing.
The drawing sheet was glued along the edges with strips of colored self-adhesive paper. painted clouds. Made the background three pencils: simple, blue and pink. Retouched.
Here is the result of the work.
Children draw with pleasure. All the guys decided that their the rain will be a downpour to well water the earth and plants with moisture. In the older group, with interest and pleasure, they managed to draw one more picture clouds. One drawing was taken home, another appeared at our exhibition of children's works.
Here's what the guys did.
