The initial stages of artistic mastery include the ability to create sketches, sketches, contours, and to work out individual details. Possession of a pencil, pencil drawing technique are the first steps in mastering a painting. They are important for work in any genre: portrait, still life, landscape.
Clouds floating in the sky, clouds
Working out the landscape in perspective, novice artists are faced with the problem: how to draw clouds? Regardless of whether he works with live nature or a photographic image, you can solve it as follows. To get started, simply sketch the cloudy sky:
- Study carefully the “model” with which you are working. Catch the characteristic forms of clouds, their relative position. Try to remember as accurately as possible.
- Now the first step is how to draw clouds: take a sheet for drawing, a simple pencil and draw dashed lines in three layers. The main one is horizontal, and the additional ones are diagonal. Hatching should be fairly dense, but let the diamond-shaped texture be visible.
- The second step in drawing clouds is to align the background. A soft cloth (for example, a flannel) or blotting paper is taken, and with it gently the entire hatch is evenly rubbed across the sheet. You can slightly press on the paper - this will allow you to grind those lines that are drawn too boldly. It is not recommended to touch the drawing with bare hands: fingers will erase the graphite, there will be traces that will then be difficult to mask. To make the background more distinct, before drawing clouds further, you can shade the sheet again and grind it again. In this case, the tone will lie smoother.
- It was the turn to work out cloud zones. Here the same photograph, mentioned above, or personal impressions come in handy. The easiest way is cirrus clouds. The movement of air masses can be transmitted by easily walking through the figure with an elastic band. Blurry light streaks will appear - exactly like weightless clouds. The shape may be arbitrary. How to draw cumulus clouds? We make circular movements with the same rubber band , somewhere erasing a pencil stronger, somewhere softer. It is important to have gum in several varieties: soft and hard. In this case, the softest eraser is needed.
- Now with a harder pencil we process the gaps between the clouds, draw around the cloudy contours, and 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. In the landscape, light plays an important role, it is often 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 at different times of the day, the sky changes its appearance, and with it the type of clouds 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 this is the idea of the artist himself.
Here is your sketch ready. Now you can transfer it to the canvas in color and paints. Good luck in the artistic field!