References

References are essential to help you have a better understanding of the elements in the scene, how they interact with each other and, mainly, how colors are used.

 

So before you start drawing, do your research calmly and gather good references that have elements similar to those you want in your landscape.

Horizon Line

The horizon line will divide the landscape. Below the line will be the elements closest to the viewer and on the ground. Above will be the sky, clouds and mountains.

Note: The horizon line is a key element to draw with perspective, but in this tutorial we’ll use it only as a guide.

Thinking in Layers

Use layers to divide the landscape elements. The area closest to the viewer will be on a layer above the more distant elements.

Details

Values

Thinking in layers will also help define the values ​​and details of the landscape.

Elements further away will be lighter and less detailed, while those closer to the viewer will be darker and more detailed.

Lineart

Use thinner lines for the more distant elements, or even no lines at all. While elements closer to the viewer will have thicker lines.

You can edit the line width in the brush tool property panel.

Atmosphere and Depth

Colors

Colors will help the values ​​convey the sense of atmosphere and depth of the landscape.

 

More distant elements will be less saturated, and the hue will tend more towards the color of the sky/atmosphere.

 

In this case the sky is blue, so the colors of the grass, trees and mountains will become bluer the further away they are from the viewer.

You can use the hue and saturation slides to adjust the colors easily.

Shading

After that you can finish the landscape using the techniques you already use. Keep in mind that the shadows will also be less saturated and detailed in the distance.

Depth

Depending on the focus point of your landscape, you can use the Gaussian Blur filter to increase the sense of depth.

 

In our case the focus point is the character, so we can Blur the elements in the distance as the one closer than the character.

 

Use the slide to adjust the blur intensity to suit your style.

The "Mist"

To increase the sense of atmosphere we will add a “mist” to the bottom area of each layer of the landscape.

 

You can do this by using a selection, or a clipped layer, and applying a desaturated color similar to the sky color (or use white) with a soft brush.

Adjust the layer opacity to suit your style.

Blend Modes

To wrap things up I like to add a vignette with a dark color with the blend mode set in multiply and low opacity close to the corners of the canvas.

 

And a lighter color on the focus point (usually in the middle) with blend mode set to Add (Glow) and low opacity as well.

 

These serve to blend the whole image together, and feel that the elements are part of the same landscape.

And we're done!

These are just a few key points for creating a landscape.

Mixing these tips with your own technique and style, I'm sure you'll achieve great results!

 

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Leave a feedback too, any doubts I’ll try to answer asap.

 

Thank you!