Hello! I'm Stefani and today I bring you a tutorial to create a landscape, all step by step, perfect for beginners!

Lose your fear of making backgrounds with natural landscapes! Drawing backgrounds can seem like an overwhelming task, however, if you break it down into simple steps, you'll be able to create any background more easily and enjoyably!

Sketch

Today we will draw a landscape of mountains and a waterfall.

 

1- We open a new canvas of: 1600x120 px

2- With a brush that we feel comfortable with, we will start drawing. First, as a reference, divide the canvas horizontally in half.

3- Below, we will start drawing a rocky mountain; it's a line creating a kind of Zigzag.

4- For the mountains, imagine they are triangles (with a veeery wide base). The lines that form the triangles are not straight; they are irregular and have many deformations. The more imperfect, the better.

These triangles join together to form mountains.

To add volume to the mountains, draw a line from the top of the mountain downwards, as an irregular line that can have a bit of a Zigzag.

5- We add some elongated triangles to allude to pines. These will be at the base of the mountains, mainly on the left and right edges, to leave the waterfall area without pines behind.

6- We draw the tree.

To do this, we visualize that the tree trunk is composed of a cylinder, a cylinder that is not entirely straight, but rather has a wider base.

For the branches and the root, it's the same: they are cylinders that are wide at their point of origin and gradually become thinner towards the end. Remember to use irregular lines! That's a constant in landscape drawings!

 

After drawing the trunk, I usually draw reference lines to keep its volume in mind.

If we want the tree to look more interesting, instead of making the trunk straight, we can draw a line that goes in a soft zigzag (or as exaggerated as you like), and arrange the cylinders based on that line.

 

Then we will add the cylinders for the branches and roots, and then proceed with the lineart.

Branches are similar to trunks: cylinders with a wide base and a thin tip. They branch off, redundantly, into smaller and thinner cylinders. To make your branch look more dynamic, apply irregular lines.

Following that same logic, I drew the tree in the drawing. The base where the tree stands occupies approximately half of the canvas.

 

Then, for the tree leaves, it's a fairly simple stroke where you outline curves with indentations, as if it were a somewhat flattened cloud, and make sure they are in the areas where the branch tips are.

As for the grass, I used strokes that form small points, something quite simple, and I made very simple plant shapes. Make all this vegetation as simple as you like, as we are going to redraw it.

And just like that, the sketch is ready! I added a few more details to the rocks on the sides of the waterfall, please ignore that as I will erase it later!

Atmospheric Perspective

How exciting, now the good part begins! I'd like to briefly introduce you to a very important concept for any landscape drawing: Atmospheric perspective

 

This is based on imitating how the atmosphere affects the appearance of objects as they recede from the observer. Farther elements appear paler and with less detail, while closer ones appear sharper and with more contrast.

 

To apply atmospheric perspective in our drawing, we must:

Divide the landscape into depth planes: foreground, middle ground, and background.

 

1) Foreground: The elements closest to the observer, which usually occupy the lower or central part of the drawing. They should have more details and contrasts.

2) Middle ground: The elements that are at an intermediate distance. They have fewer details and softer colors than the foreground.

3) Background or distant plane: The farthest elements, usually located at the top or edges of the drawing. They have fewer details, muted and blurred colors, and appear smaller.

With this clear, we are going to take a tonal value scale to start applying it to our drawing. In the foreground, we start with the darkest values, and as we reach the background plane, the values lighten.

If you need to add more values to your scale, feel free to do so!

Note: Create an individual layer for each value you use.

Now comes one of my favorite moments, choosing the color palette! For this, we will use the Gradient Map tool!

 

If you are new to this tool, don't fear, it's very intuitive. The tool replaces the colors of the original image based on the hue or brightness value of each color. Each color in the original image is replaced by a corresponding color in the gradient, according to its position on the grayscale.

The darker colors of the image are converted into the darker tones of the gradient; similarly, the lighter colors are converted into the lighter colors of the gradient.

Light colors are on the right side and dark colors are on the left.

 

We can create our own gradient, however, the advantage of Clip Studio Paint is that it has pre-made gradients and you can even download some from the assets!

 

In this case, we will use one that was already default, its name is “sunrise (purple)”. I moved the colors in the gradient to my liking, I invite you to do the same.

                                 + The gradient map will create a layer. We are going to duplicate that layer and apply it to each of the layers we created when we painted our value scale. There should be 6 sketch layers.

 

The layer containing the sketch is set to “overlay” blending mode, so that it integrates better with the new colors of the drawing.

To create the waterfall, on a new layer, which we will set to 52% opacity, we paint the waterfall with white, simply a rectangle. On another layer, with a light yellow color (HEX: FFFAD7), we will make small strokes alluding to illuminated water.

Foreground

Before continuing, we are going to establish that the sunlight comes from this direction, and based on that, we will do all the shading. In this case, the light comes from the upper left side of the canvas.

 

 

Tree: Trunk

1- We are going to draw the shadow that the leaves cast on the trunk.

We create a new layer, in overlay blending mode, with a blue color.

2- Now we are going to apply light. New layer, with a light color (in this case, I chose an orange), I started placing strokes on the left side of the trunk, since the light comes from that direction. The strokes follow the volume of the trunk.

3- Shadows: new layer, with a fairly dark blue color, we will start applying shadow along the trunk, branches, etc. I lowered the opacity of the brush I used a bit, always following the shape of the trunk and on the right side, as that's where the shadow is being cast. We also use that dark color to add details on the left edge to better define the shape of the trunk.

 

4- Additionally, we add a soft gradient, of a dark color, on the highest part of the branches and the tips of the roots.

 

5- Add a somewhat saturated fuchsia color in the darker areas of the tree: the side of the trunk and branches closer to the right, and also use the same color to add details to the trunk and branches to give it three-dimensionality.

 

6- Details: review your lights and shadows and add any details you think are missing, a little more light, or definition in the strokes, whatever you consider correct. In my case, I added small strokes to better define the volume of the tree.

 

 

7- Branches: add more small branches that are distributed where the leaves are. For these, use the two darkest colors of the trunk, two blues.

Tree: Leaves

To draw leaves on trees, I separate them into two parts: the "front" and the "back". The front part contains the leaves that overlap the branches, and this is where the light generally hits with the most force. The back part is where I place the shadow.

 

A super simplified way to draw tree leaves is:

1- Define your "back" side and assign it a color.

2- Define your "front" side and assign it a color.

3- Now, to the layer where the "back" part is, you add light (according to the direction the light is coming from). Generally, light hits the upper part of the leaves.

Putting it into practice in a drawing:

 

1- We add color (a dark one) to the "back" part.

2- With a lighter color, we draw the leaves that overlap the branches; these follow the direction of the light (this is the "front" part).

3- We add shadow to the "front" leaves, using a color slightly darker than the one we used for those leaves, but not as dark as the shadow on the "back" part.

4- On a new layer, in overlay mode, with one or two light blue colors, we make several strokes on the "back" part to prevent it from looking flat. Play with the opacity if necessary in this step.

5- We add light to the top of the tree, so that the light affects both parts of the leaves.

And done!! I added shadow to the trunk, and a gradient map to give it a slightly more autumnal look.

Returning to our drawing, let's keep in mind that in this particular case, as we are viewing the tree leaves from a low angle and the framing does not show the entire tree, in the drawing we will mostly see the "back" or shadowed part, and the leaves overlapping the branches will not be many for the same reason.

1- Our shadow space is already defined, so now we are going to define the "front" leaves. We place them in the upper left part of the leaf area, overlapping branches only on that side. This is done using a desaturated fuchsia color.

2- With a new layer in overlay blending mode, we will make leaf strokes. The colors we will use are the same fuchsia tone and a purple. (We lower the opacity to 41%)

3- We are going to fix the edges of the back leaves, without forgetting to leave small "gaps" between leaves.

 

4- Again with the same fuchsia we used before, on a new layer with overlay blending mode (opacity: 55%), we are going to make strokes on the edges of the leaves.

 

5- We are going to place the shadow of the front leaves.

 

6- Finally, we add some illumination to the edges of the leaves. In my case, I used a fairly light orange, added the light on a normal layer (layer 1: normal 86% opacity), duplicated it, and lowered its opacity to 19% to then set it to Add blending mode.

 

 

Grass and Vegetation

How I draw grass and vegetation is quite simple:

 

1- In the area where we are going to draw grass, we will make elongated strokes that overlap each other. Use at least 3-4 colors, preferably analogous ones. Play with their luminosity as well as opacity, so that you have a variety of color.

2- We are going to unify the color patches with strokes that resemble grass. The strokes are right on the line where the patches meet. The trick is to overlap the patches with these strokes.

3- Add loose strokes with colors different from the patch you are painting.

4- If you want to go further, you can create other types of shapes for the vegetation. Don't worry about details, only about the silhouettes. You can do this manually or with a brush!

 

5- If you want to add flowers, it will be enough to draw the silhouette of the flowers, or even small color dots (you can also put a dot in the middle).

I usually add several flowers together, never just one; I usually add a minimum of 3.

Returning to the drawing

 

1- I made the color patches with different colors, and erased the previous edges as I will redraw them later.

 

2- I started overlapping the patches with basic strokes to imitate grass and added some brush details.

3- I started drawing vegetation silhouettes, with different colors, overlapping a little among themselves.

 

4- I continued adding more vegetation silhouettes, varying the colors as well as their saturation and luminosity.

NOTE: The lighter colors (yellow-oranges) were placed towards the left since the light comes from that direction; the blues and purples are closer to the right.

 

6- I added a couple of flowers in the grass.

Middle Ground

Remember that in this plane, what we see already begins to lose some contrast and sharpness, which makes it less detailed than the foreground.

Rocky Mountain

1- We are going to change the original color of the mountain to a slightly darker tone.

 

2- We are going to draw the illuminated part of the rocks. We will draw irregular shapes that do not have pronounced curves; in fact, the fewer curves, the better.

 

We will use a lighter color than that of the mountain (but not with too much difference in luminosity). Let your imagination guide you to create the shapes, incline them, and make indentations. Try to avoid entirely straight lines.

 

The shapes should fit together like a puzzle, but don't forget to leave negative spaces; these spaces will act as shadows.

 

Also, when adding figures to the upper part, there will be more because the light reaches better, and they will be closer together. Additionally, the figures will be touching the upper edge. In contrast, in the lower part, there should be fewer figures, and they will be more separated.

 

 

3- Better define the shape of the rocks, draw strokes that cross them, add some soft shadows, and define the edges if necessary.

 

4- Define the edge of the rocky mountain, create new indentations and reliefs according to what you have already drawn.

5- Now, with a somewhat bluish desaturated color, we are going to make a couple of strokes that act as the shadow of the rocks. Note: only a few strokes and always vertical. Additionally, with the same color, on a new layer, we add a soft gradient at the bottom of the rocky mountain.

 

Note: With a clipping mask, I removed some parts of the rock in the lower left since I had placed too much on that side. I preferred to leave that negative space as it subtly guides the eye towards the waterfall.

6- Finally, with a light orange, you can add some light, using overlay blending mode or another luminosity mode. I used an opacity of 40% on the layer.

 

The light was placed near the waterfall to guide the eye to that point. The area where the light is located is on the upper edge and some rocks around the waterfall where some light reached.

 

 

Waterfall

1- This is the waterfall we currently have.

2- On a new layer, we are going to make line strokes from bottom to top. Make sure the strokes have a thin tip at the end.

3- Change the strokes we made in the previous step to a slightly darker color than that of the waterfall. Add light to the waterfall with light yellow at the top of it, and some strokes in the middle.

4- On a new layer with overlay blending mode, add a soft-edged stroke around the waterfall's light, using a light orange.

5- With the finger tool, we are going to swipe (a) from bottom to top in the shadow, and (b) from top to bottom in the light.

Done!

Background

Remember that this plane is identified by being less contrasted and having little detail, so what we draw we will try to do in the simplest way possible.

Pines

To tell the truth, this is one of the easiest parts, as these are very simplified pines and we will use the help of a brush!

1- We will erase the reference strokes we made earlier.

2- Now with the brush, we are going to start placing pines. We will use 3 color variations: mainly a light orange (the one we had originally), a darker orange, and a yellow.

The brush will do much of the work, honestly, it's very useful.

Activate the "blend colors" checkbox on the brush and it will give more color variation!

Lighter/yellow colors go towards the left.

 

3- Finally, on the right side, we add a color more towards purples, and they will be ready!

Remember not to create too much value contrast with the colors you use!

Mountains

When drawing mountains, keep their volume very much in mind. I recommend that when drawing them, you make a stroke in the middle (in a zigzag shape) to divide the mountain. According to that stroke, you can create the volume on both sides, and according to where your light source is, create the shadow.

 

Mountains usually have very pronounced shadows, and in the illuminated part, we add shadow details, as mountains have relief. If it's completely smooth, it might look a bit strange in the drawing.

1- Identify the light source (upper left) and start coloring the most illuminated part of the mountain. Use a soft yellow, without creating too much contrast; remember that we are in the background plane.

 

2- We make strokes with a slight color variation between soft yellows and oranges for the shadow; the strokes follow the relief of the mountain.

3- Add a desaturated orange on the edges of the mountain closest to the right and on the mountain in the back, at the top, to distinguish it better from the middle mountain.

 

 

For the sky, it's actually quite simple

1- Unify the sky with a soft, light tone, and at the edges, add a soft gradient with a slightly darker shade of yellow.

2- Draw cloud silhouettes using 2-3 colors: the lightest colors in the center and darker clouds at the edges, but remember they are still light tones.

And done! This is our landscape. Thanks for following the tutorial <3