Video: How to paint and shade clouds

Hello everyone, it is me anasofoz (or Tutorial Geeks in youtube). I present to you a video showing my workflow for shading & painting clouds:

 

 

This video is for intermediates, I assume that you are not a total beginner to Clip Studio Paint and you know your way around the program. In this article I will detail the steps and techniques I use for clouds painting & shading. I hope you enjoy :)

Step 1.1: Colors

The first step is creating a new document then using the Gradient tool for the sky .

Choices you make for colors are very important because they will determine the time of the day for your painting.

 

Since this is a shading tutorial in the first place it is vital that you know what colors to choose for your painting and where to place them. So before going any further we need to study colors in Clouds.

Studying Clouds

If you try to study clouds you will notice at least 4 main colors in there, Dark grayish blue for the places where rain might come from, then you can observe that the cloud color gradually transitions to white. Notice that some areas in the cloud have the same color as the Sky.

Depending on your painting style and the time of the day, the choice of color may be affected.

 

Another important thing to take note of is your light source position. A “light source” can be anything that emits light, in our case it is the sun. The closest part of the cloud to the light will have the brightest color, the further you go the darker that color will be.

 

>>> TIP: It is very helpful for you to observe how light affects objects in the real world, understanding that is vital if you want to master shading.

Step 1.2: Colors

So now that we have basic idea of what colors we want to use, make a new layer then choose the Watery brush with the settings below and choose a dark blue shade, I usually pick a color from the sky then I play with the Value and Saturation in the HSV wheel.

>>> TIP: Using the HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) wheel can improve your choice of colors drastically because you start seeing colors in a more quantified representation. Seeing colors in terms of “Percentages” or “values” rather than abstract concepts will help you with color choices.

Start “Blocking” the cloud dark areas. By “Blocking” I mean rough painting, only the general shape is needed with no accuracy. Then add even darker shades where rain will come from.

On areas where your light source (sun) hits the cloud add a light grey color then add the border of the cloud with white color.

I use the white color to also add inner details to my cloud.

Step 2: Blending

Blending our colors is a very sophisticated process, it requires patience. I believe it is the most important step of drawing clouds. Therefore, I created a custom blending brush for this process, you can download it from this link:

 

This brush is just like the Blend brush but it has a texture to it. feel free to play with the settings of it and adjust it to your liking.

Now is the time to start blending. Since this brush gives some color while blending, I recommend you use ALT key in the keyboard to pick colors from the canvas, this way you have more control of how blending will turn out.

>>> TIP: While blending don't keep your pen on the screen for a long time. Do a circular stroke then lift the pen then repeat. This technique helps adding texture to your cloud.

Keep Blending until you are satisfied with the result.

Step 3: Details and Adjustments

Details make all the difference. I will present 4 important details and adjustments I made to my cloud.

Step 3.1: Overlay and Multiply

I duplicate the cloud layer and turn it into Overlay mode, this pops the colors, I also play with the opacity of that layer. Next I make a new multiply layer and with the Soft Air Brush and a Dark blue color I go over area where I would like to enhance my shadows.

Step 3.2: Glow

You can also add a glow behind the cloud. Make a new layer below the cloud layer then change it to Glow Dodge and reduce the opacity, Now use the Soft Airbrush and paint behind the Cloud.

Then you can Blur that layer by going to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur

Step 3.3: Perlin Noise

Create a new layer and change the mode to "Screen". Create another Layer above it then go to Filter -> Render -> Perlin Noise. Play with settings the press "OK" when done.

Now Clip that layer to the Screen Player as Shown:

Select the Screen Layer and with the Soft Airbrush and a white color go over areas of the cloud you want to give a bit of a texture to.

Step 3.4: Correction Layer

You can group all the layers (without the sky), then add a correction layer above them and clip it to the Group Folder.

 

>>>TIP: To add a correction layer right click on a layer then choose correction layer, then choose whatever correction layer you want ( example: Color Balance )

 

I used Color balance to adjust the colors of my clouds

Extra: Mini Clouds

Painting some mini clouds can help with the overall look of your cloud. They dont need to be complex, keep it simple!

I use the darker pencil to paint them.

Step 4: Gradient Map

What if you want your clouds for sunset? Do you have to repaint everything?

There are some great news: No you don't have to worry about that!

 

Simply add a Gradient Map correction Layer then Clip it to all the layers of the cloud. Now you get to change the colors of your cloud easily!

And that's it! your cool looking cloud :D

Closure

Thank you for reading this tutorial and I hope you learned something new!

 

You can check my youtube channel here:

My Devianart: