Fish girl attempts to play the funny little fairy flute
I haven't played it yet so if there's actually a lore reason don't @ me
people have been asking about my technique for painting landscapes. I don’t have formal instruction I’m following, but here’s I guess a run-down that might be useful:
I’ll start with a general idea of the kind of terrain I want to paint, the weather, season, and time of day. I’ll usually also have a concept of the general composition, e.g., what particular elements of the foreground and background I want to feature, where the viewpoint in the scene is, where the light source is, if I will be drawing any characters, where will they be, and how those things will relate in the layout of the canvas.
I’ll look for as many reference photos as I can find. Even if I don’t end up referring to a photo while I paint, looking at it once may refresh my memory or give me ideas. I try and find photos that show the daylight and weather conditions I want, in addition to the terrain features. Every once in a while I’ll want to depict a particular kind of plant or something that requires more specific reference photos for accuracy, but usually I am not so meticulous.
Depending on the particularity of the scene, I might sketch with a pencil tool, or I might just start painting. I’ll take a guess at what colors I want and block out the general shapes of the composition, but inevitably won’t like my first guess and will redo this process several times, sometimes recoloring what I’ve already painted and sometimes wiping it and starting over. (It can help to keep the sky on a different layer from the landscape so they can be adjusted separately.)
I start from broad strokes in middle tones and medium darks, and move vaguely in the direction of filling out the details with intermediary tones, and eventually dark darks and highlights. It’s not a hard and fast rule, and I’ll likely go over everything several times. I used to only use circular brushes, but have lately begun to use textured brushes, particularly for leaves, grass, and dirt.
Some other thoughts/tips:
- Different levels of distance will correspond to different vertical sections of the canvas between the bottom and the horizon. It can be useful to consider what kinds of features occur at different distances and use that to add variety and interest. For example, perhaps there are trees for the next hundred yards, and it’s a field after that meaning bright colors peeking between the more nearby trees. Or maybe we’re on a grassy hill that grades off after a quarter mile and the next thing we see is the neighboring hill which has the same grass but in less distinct texture because of the distance.
- Shadows often don’t have to be very dark if they’re a contrasting color to the dominant light. So a pink/orange light might cast medium blue shadows. That can go a long way to coordinating and theming the colors of a piece
- Cirrus and stratus clouds are way easier to draw than other kinds of clouds, and they look so unassuming and ordinary that just tossing a couple into the sky can add a ton of realism to a piece.
- An artist’s preferences for what locations/terrains they like to paint, in what seasons, weather, and time of day, are aspects of their style.
Summer departs early in the mountains.
Miles on dates with Jel and Dav
