How to Paint Mountains

Mountains have attracted painters of all ages to capture the beauty in the canvases. Even the youngest of the painters learn how to draw mountains while starting drawing. Sometimes, simply a mountain range can form a stunning picture. You can also paint the mountains as the background while drawing scenery.

Here are some tips on how to paint mountains

1. The first thing you have to decide while drawing a mountain range is whether you want it as a background or this is the only thing that you want to draw. It is crucial because you need to calculate the size of each part of your drawing accordingly. Then decide the position of the mountains on the canvas or paper. Sometimes, the novice artists start their drawing from the middle of the canvas which can destroy the position of other parts of the picture. The best position is towards right or left off the centre.
2. While drawing the mountains, first of all sketch out the outlines of the mountain on the paper or the canvas. The outline should be drawn with light pencil so that lines don’t appear in the final painting after the colors are applied. The outlines also give an idea of the picture after it is done. You can also use the outlines to select the proportion of different parts of the sketch. With the first part of your drawing you can draw different parts of the mountain.
3. Once the outline of the sketch is done, select the background of the mountains. Basically, the mountain range is drawn with a sunrise or sunset background. You can also paint sunny or cloudy day along with the mountain. Before painting the mountain, paint the background and make sure the background has dried before you apply color in the mountain. Selection of background allows you to select colors for the mountain.
4. Painting the mountains need some basic idea about the color. Hence, before using colors, imagine an actual range of mountains. The furthest of the mountain appear pale to our eyes. Similarly, our eyes can distinguish the distances of the objects in a painting from the depth of their colors. Use colors like light blue or gray to paint the farthest mountain. Start coloring the mountains from the farthest one and paint the nearer ones with darker colors. You can use different layers of colors to paint many mountains or create the illusion of several mountains in the backdrop of a picture.
5. The same rule applies while painting the details of the mountain. The mountains that are far away need not be painted with many details. The parts that you want to keep as closer objects should be painted with details. The mountains that you are painting nearer should be painted with darker colors with shades of the same color to give detail. You can also highlight some parts of the mountain
6. Drawing of other objects in the same picture keeping the mountain in the backdrop creates an idea about the size and distance of the mountains. As the object is placed closer to the eyes than the mountain, it should have more details and dark colors.
7. If you like, you can also use shadows of the mountain while painting the sunrise or sunset.

Watch a video instruction on how to paint mountains

See also

How to Paint Mountains

How to Paint Mountains

How to Draw a Lion

How to Paint Camouflage