Clouds are one of the key elements in landscape paintings. Painting clouds may look easy, but if you don’t understand some fundamental rules, you will be frustrated.
The general rule is– the position of the sun in relationship with the clouds determines where the light and dark parts of the shadows are.
In most cases, the sun will be above the clouds.
So Imagine holding a cotton ball under a light. You want to paint three parts of this cotton ball:
1: the top part where the sunlight hits the cotton ball. It’s the lightest part of the ball.
2: the middle part, the main body of the cotton ball. It will be a middle tone.
3: the bottom part of the ball, where it is the darkest.
If you paint a sunset, as I did in this painting of Fort Myers Pier in Florida, the sunlight will hit the middle or lower part of the clouds. So the lower parts of the clouds will appear light in color, and the upper parts will be darker in color. You can also add some thin lines of bright color around the lower edges to show where the sunlight hit the clouds.
Remember: you are painting big shapes and values. Don’t try to paint every little detail you see. Or it will take away the overall feeling or mood you are trying to express in your painting.
Happy painting!
To learn more about the background of this painting, go to https://yingmclane.com/our-hurricane-ian-story-part-one/
Here is another good article about painting clouds: https://drawpaintacademy.com/clouds/#light-and-color
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