Presentation

Hello! Welcome, here once again with a new tutorial on how to paint landscapes. When an illustration is made, in our mind we have a beautiful idea to capture, but when it comes to acting, the illustration we make does not captivate. Why is it like this? The fault could be an incorrect composition, bad colors. These are the topics that will be addressed in this tutorial that will help you paint landscapes that captivate the viewer.

► Composition

If the horizon is in focus (which is normal in landscapes), it is advisable to position it so that it crosses the canvas at one third or two thirds of the height. In other words, you don't want the line of sight to be in the middle of the canvas, and you should move up and down depending on your level of interest above or below the line of sight. To guide us in this direction we use the golden section or...

 

• RULE OF THIRDS

 

The main object should not be placed in the middle, but should be moved from one of the corners. This solution is called the golden rule or, simplified, the rule of thirds. According to this rule, we can divide the image into two-thirds of the vertical and horizontal, and place the important elements where they intersect. Interceptions are the biggest point of interest. The illustration seeks to align the elements on these central lines.

In practice, the rule of two thirds is shown in the following illustration. The moon and the pyramid are located more or less at the interceptions, in the center, where the greatest focus of interest is.

Clip Studio Paint has a section with Ruler tools, which are very useful when creating perspective references.

• LANDSCAPE FRAMING

 

If the main object in the image is far away, it is recommended to complement it. This is the moment of framing. Some areas can be added around the main object, which are usually trees in nature. In the following example, I added trees to the illustration that decorate the corner, this way attention is only focused on the center.

• LINES THAT GUIDE THE LOOK

 

All lines are a very important element in the landscape, which otherwise has a random arrangement. From the point of view of composition, rivers, roads, furrows in the field, balanced mountain slopes or any geometric object you can imagine are interesting.

S-lines are made up of two or more turns and if they start from the edge of the illustration, which is very common, they guide the viewer's gaze from the edge to the end of the line. Another type are the converging lines that generally extend to the horizon. Their convergence, and thus also their effect. As in the previous case, the viewer automatically follows them and his gaze slides to their intersection.

• REFLECTION ON THE WATER SURFACE

 

Illustrations with reflections on the water surface often break the first rule about the horizon in the first third of the height. This, in many cases, is placed in the center, which highlights the symmetry, since both halves of the photo, the upper and the lower, are very similar.

A section is dedicated to each of the rules here, but this does not mean that they are mutually exclusive. For example, this last illustration of the reflection on the surface of the water can be easily combined with the frame, giving us a different shot.

 

 

► Harmony in colors

From a color standpoint, we tend to expect to find a number of combinations that we innately like more than others. In this way, when a multitude of similar colors appear in the scene, we will feel more pleasant than when there is a confusing mixture of several disparate colors. Finally, when the colors we use are balanced from an analogous point of view, they are pleasing. It must be clear that both in the case of complementary and analogous, the result is satisfactory for the viewer.

 

• ANALOGOUS COLORS

 

We will take into account the color wheel and we will quickly find that there are colors that are relatively similar around a secondary color, for example: orange, orange-yellow and orange-red. It is really important to value this color constancy, since, as they appear located on the color wheel, it may be the most common harmonious combination of colors in nature.

Analogous colors are neighbors on the color wheel, which have a common tone. This situation is very common in nature, much more than complementarity. If you want to use analog colors you just have to follow a clockwise or counterclockwise direction when choosing the colors, since these are the colors consecutive to the starting point.

• COMPLEMENTARY COLORS

 

If we look at the color wheel and locate the primary colors, remember: in RGB they are red, green and blue, we will have to draw a line that crosses the center of the circle until it meets the color on the other side, it will always be a secondary color. Complementary colors provoke psychophysical reactions in humans through simultaneous contrast and successive contrast.

Successive contrast consists of the predisposition of our vision by which exposure to a primary color induces us to perceive its complementary color. This is not twisted, is it? An example: if we see a shape of a primary color, when we look away and look at a white surface we will see that shape in negative but in its complementary color, better, right? Simultaneous contrast is much simpler.

• COLOR BALANCES

 

Colors harmonize best with each other when the area they occupy is inversely proportional to their brightness. To understand it better we will say that a pure red and a pure green have the same relative brightness, so in the scene they must appear in a 1:1 proportion, however, when combining other colors such as orange and blue they can complications arise, for this Goethe established a series of light values, of relative brightness: yellow 9, orange 8, red and green 6, blue 4 and violet 3, in this way it can be much easier to establish what proportion to include of each one .

 

This scheme shows several color combinations based on the relative brightness theory mentioned above. On the left an image in which red and green appear in equal proportions; in the center violet and yellow in inverse proportions to its brightness. On the right, a hypothetical case: if we are on a tropical beach, during a storm, we find the green of the palm trees, the cyan of the water, the yellow of the sand and the gray of the clouds.

► Guide your gaze

The illustrator's mission is to convey what he saw in his mind into reality. And to achieve it you have to know how to explain what you want.

 

• COLOR CONTRAST

 

Using a color that contrasts with the predominant colors of the composition undoubtedly attracts the viewer's eye. The image below is a great example, for the central tree I selected a more vibrant color than most of the background elements; The result will be that the viewer's eyes will focus on this point.

• SIZE DEPTH

 

Placing different sizes helps us focus an illustration. Small, medium and large shapes are parameters we use to know how close or far an object is. The biggest things are those that are closest and the smallest things are in the distance.

Clip Studio's warp tool is very versatile, not only do you have the option to reduce or increase the size, but you can also modify its structure and angle according to your desired perspective.

• BOKEH EFFECT

 

With the bockh effect we can achieve a visual effect with blur. When taking photographs, objects close to the lens or far away can be blurred so that the main focus is on a particular object. You can do the same thing in your illustrations, you can do this with the blur tool that Clip Studio has. In particular, to make this effect "Gaussian Blur" is used.

Clip Studio has various types of blur that are found in the Filters section, Gaussian Blur is the one I use the most when blurring or creating the sensation of brightness.

► Perspective

• ILLUSTRATION PLANS

 

The plans are the most important thing to build any scene. The plans help us to build the elements of the illustration in an orderly manner and in order of importance. For the closest plane in the point of view, it is called Foreground; the second closest plane is called "Second plane" and the third farthest plane "Third plane". It may be more or less flat than these, but this simple structure is the most common and easiest to display.

The differences in size, color and texture of the planes give the sensation of depth and distance. It is important to take into account what depth plane the focus of attention will be drawn on, so that the planes before and after the center of interest guide you to it.

It is advisable to think in layers not only conceptually, but also when working on those layers that are contemplated in the drawing, physically separating them into drawing layers, this allows us to correct errors without the need to damage other parts of the illustration.

• ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE

 

Atmospheric perspective indicates how an object moves away from the viewer; when moving away we see this object with reduced clarity, value and saturation. Remote objects appear to have a colder temperature. Basically, it looks like this. Foreground colors are highly saturated and dark, while those in the background lose saturation and become lighter.

The objects that are in the farthest part will have the color that corresponds to the atmosphere. As explained previously, the furthest colors are light and unsaturated, you can even lose a large part of the object in the background color.

Farewell

Well, without anything to say, thank you for coming this far! ପ(๑•̀ुᴗ•̀ु) ॣ৳৸ᵃᵑᵏ Ꮍ৹੫ᵎ ॣ

Vibrate high!!! We won't see you another time ( •⌄• ू ) ✧