Sketch technique: how to draw clouds

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The initial stages of artistic mastery include the ability to create sketches, sketches, contours, work out individual details. Possession of a pencil, the technique of pencil drawing are the first steps in mastering painting. They are important for work in any genre: portrait, still life, landscape.

Clouds float across the sky, clouds

Working through the landscape in perspective, novice artists are faced with a problem: how to draw clouds? Regardless of whether he works with living nature or a photographic image, it can be solved in the following way. To get started, just sketch out the cloudy sky:

• Study carefully the "model" you are working with. Catch the characteristic shapes of clouds, their relative positions. Try to remember as accurately as possible.
• Now the first step is how to draw clouds: take a drawing sheet, a simple pencil and apply dashed lines in three layers. The main one is horizontal, and the additional ones are diagonal. The hatching should be quite dense, but let the diamond-shaped texture be visible.
• The second step of howdraw clouds, - background alignment. A soft cloth (for example, flannel) or blotting paper is taken, and with it all the shading is carefully rubbed evenly over the sheet. You can lightly press on the paper - this will allow you to grind those lines that have been drawn too boldly. It is not recommended to touch the drawing with bare hands: the fingers will erase the graphite, leaving traces that will be difficult to disguise later. To make the background more distinct, before drawing the clouds further, you can shade the sheet again and rub it again. In this case, the tone will lie more evenly.



• It's time to work out the cloudy areas. Here the very photograph mentioned above, or personal impressions, will come in handy. The easiest way is cirrus clouds. The movement of air masses can be conveyed by easily walking over the drawing with an elastic band. Blurry light stripes will appear - exactly like weightless clouds. The form can be arbitrary. How to draw cumulus clouds? With the same rubber band we make circular movements, somewhere erasing the pencil stronger, somewhere softer. It is important to have elastic bands of several varieties: soft and hard. In this case, it is the softest eraser that is needed.
• Now with a harder pencil we process the gaps between the clouds, outline the cloud contours, give the picture volume. Toning should emphasize all the necessary bulges, the play of light and shadow. Proceed by the method of hatching and circular lines. To make the transitions smooth, smooth the background again with an elastic band.
• Pay attention to the lighting. ATIn the landscape, light plays an important role, often being the compositional center of the picture. If your clouds are backlit by the sun, this also needs to be expressed and emphasized.



• And finally, some more tips on how to draw clouds with a pencil. Firstly, at different times of the year, as well as at different times of the day, the sky changes its appearance, and with it the type of clouds also changes. Thunderclouds look much darker, heavier than the sky on a fine day. And the cloudiness in winter or late autumn is completely different than, for example, in early spring or in the middle of summer. Secondly, the sky should not outweigh the main plan of the picture, unless it is the idea of the artist himself.

Here is your sketch ready. Now you can transfer it to the canvas in color and paint. Good luck in your artistic career!