I've always loved painting landscapes so I think the tips I have to share will be helpful for everyone. I've grouped them into three categories.

Scale

Scale and object placement can make or break your art. It's very important to take your time and set it up correctly. Reference material can be helpful even if it's not what you're painting. It just helps you understand the scale in an environment that's similar. For example, a photo with trees can still help me if I'm painting a fantasy scene with giant space flowers instead. I recommend using a grid to break it up into foreground, middle, and background. If you can't find a reference that will help you, there are some tips that apply to most illustrations.

The first is what I call the “2 to 1 rule”. Put two objects close together and one far apart.

This can help your placements feel more organic. I recommend keeping each object on a separate layer so that you can adjust them easily.

In examples #1 and #2 I've evenly spaced or bunched the trees together. You'll notice that it doesn't feel very natural. In example #4 I've used the 2 to 1 rule and it looks much better.

I've also placed one tree partially out of frame to help placement feel more organic. If you take some photos outside and look through them, you'll likely notice that not all objects are fully in the frame.

In example #3, I've used the 2 to 1 rule but I didn't use size properly. The largest tree is in the middle and it looks odd. Example #4 has a gradual decrease in size from foreground to background which helps visually communicate depth and distance.

 

 

Atmospheric perspective is another way to help communicate scale and distance. Things that are further away have more air, fog, rain, etc between them and the viewer. Use a softer brush on distant objects or use a blur filter. You may also use lighter colors and slightly increase transparency as I've done in the example below.

There are a couple of other things I want to talk about in these examples. Notice that I've made the color of the water relatively similar to that of the sky in both the day and night examples. Generally the sky will appear darker further up and lighter closer to the ground.

I've also used the shape of the water and shading to make it look deep even though the angle only allows us to see a small area of it.

Setup

I like to “frame” my scenery so that it's as if you've pulled the curtains apart and you're peering into this wonderful new place. The easiest way to do this is with the placement of trees or large objects. This helps leave room for your focal point and draw the eye towards it as well.

In comics and illustrations scenery is often used when characters are on a journey, going from one place to another.

We can use shapes and the overall “mood” to communicate a transition. For instance in my example above I wanted to communicate movement from a darker spooky forrest into a bright open field. I've used the spanish moss on the trees and darker colors, then brighter colors with flowers and the waterfall. I've also somewhat defined a path in the middle of the canvas to both help communicate that transition and draw the eye to the focal point.

Foliage

Most natural scenery will have plant life and leaves, so I want to talk about the best way to paint them.

I think the most common beginner mistake is painting the leaves all from the same angle. In reality most plants sort of fan out so we're likely going to see many different angles and some curvature as well.

In my examples below you'll notice the one on the left looks flat, almost as if it's a sticker or we're viewing it from above. The one on the right has a more realistic shape and looks as if it could be sitting in front of us. I've used the center line of the leaves to help communicate the shape to the viewer and some of the leaves are folded over as they were in my reference.

I like to start with some dark green in the center and then pull from it with the lighter green. This requires a brush or pen that uses color stretch.

There are some types of foliage in which the leaves will be darker towards the tip. In this case I've painted the entire plant with one base color. Next I created a new layer and painted around the edge as shown, then used a blender to spread it out.

Foliage can be time consuming and repetitive but there are some tools that can help. The obvious solution is to paint one and keep duplicating it, but it doesn't look very organic. What I like to do is take the time to paint a few different ones and then duplicate them, but change them afterwards. For example, flip or rotate, lock transparency and change the color slightly, or use the mesh transformation tool (my favorite).

Below are examples of all of those methods in a piece I'm working on that needs a lot of plant life to fill the background.

Another option is making a brush to serve the same purpose. It will depend on the situation which is easier.

I hope this was helpful and thank you for reading!