Week 10 - Cloud study 2.0

[obtuse zealot]

Welcome to Study groups!!
weekly study challenge to practice art fundamentals

for anyone who wants to join - here's reference! ☁️
Try to observe simple shapes, proportions and focus on drawing the reference accurately

general rules: use any technique, any medium and don't trace or over paint the reference!

this week study ends : <t:1749934800:f>

I will be here to help so feel free to ping me anytime
Have fun!

Reference photo source : Pinterest

Turn on pings for studies here id:customize

we are keeping it simple this week ✨

here's quick tutorial

• don't over complicate the shape, work with big ones and add details after
• 4 shades are enough : 1 base color, 2 darkest shadow, 3 lighter shadow, 4 light
• I recommend working with whole shape and not in sections
• use smaller brushes only in stage 4 (details)
• I used my own colors but feel free to color pick

[quasi spire]

Aw what a cute lil cloud cant wait to draw (and overcomplicate) it

[river lynx]

WOA IT'S SO DETAILED

[rose quest]

traditional or digital

i love clouds

[warm sail]

ooo cloud

[obtuse zealot]

depends on u

[rose quest]

oh

okay

do u reccomend charcoal or graphite

i dont have much graphite pencils rn tho im on vacation

[obtuse zealot]

charcoal but be careful with too dark values

[rose quest]

mk

[indigo lark]

its cloud time

[lunar bluff]

fluffy cloud

[tepid patio]

clouds make good metals

[warm sail]

🤔 pretty messy attempt but i think its good for my first time participating in a study here hehe i tried keeping the colors vibrant and make the cloud fluffy but it could be more fluffy methinks

[south thunder]

How to overcomplicate a simple cloud speed run

Let's goooo

[ornate trout]

[warm sail]

ok im back a few hours later cause i forgot to post this... but i figured out how to make it fluffier hehe

airbrush is key

[gentle glade]

could anyone help me understand how to make my shading look less muddy? i think i messed up when picking colors for the darker part.

[pallid acorn]

Everyone here has nice summer clouds and then there is me : 🌧️

Lil too much dark i can tell😂

[deft gorge]

hello!! I'm new to the study group ;3 not that good tbh but oh well!

[rose quest]

It needs shape

Add contrast

[weak obsidian]

Hello folks! Was very proud of myself for not forgetting to do this every week and then I completely forgot, so I have returned! Definitely more rushed since I had to do this outside, but super fun!

[bright ridge]

That was a push for me to get back to drawing again after a break
Tbh I’m still struggling with edges of clouds. Any advice on that?

[cedar spire]

well i wanted to join and i tried... maybe it's fine i can't tell qwq I can' see that mine is a little longer than it should be but yk what.... whatever

nvm i decided that i do care b4 it sent so here's the altered version

[bleak pawn]

not quite what i hoped

but it took like 15 mins

[twilit gale]

Here is my attempt, probably went a bit too bright on the top

[burnt quarry]

My attempt 🙌

[half hawk]

Wow

[stray rain]

How'd you learn to shade like this
I can draw, but shading always holds my drawing back

[burnt quarry]

I learnt it on my own 😅
Personally I've broken down shading in 4 steps

1. Use a lighter shade pencil charcoal or anything you want to apply the base layer
2. Then just differentiate medium shade parts in your refrence and shade them a little darker on your base layer
3. Now it's time to shade shadow with darker shade

Main key things to finally render your sketch is is

1. Use blender or tissue paper too blend the layes at every step
2. Use eraser to adjust the highlighted parts
3. A minor very less outlining

I am not professional it's just my experience🙌✨

[frosty lodge]

I tried recreating the basic outline, or at least what i thought i saw of it, to get started
Feedback would be nice i guess

This cloud's a lot less intimidating than the one posted last week

[twilit gale]

Agreed

[shy maple]

couldnt quite grasp the shadows on this, was fun tho

[shy maple]

i loveeeeeeeeeee how distinctive ur shadow and form are

[oblique hatch]

It looks just like photo, wow

[oblique hatch]

I don't really like how it looks but here's my try

[nocturne crow]

This looks so weird
I cant get the shadows color right

[oblique hatch]

Maybe try color picking from the reference?

[nocturne crow]

I tried
It doesn't feel right

I will try doing it again tho

Later on

Cuz im still very sleepy

[oblique hatch]

I don't think you have to do everything again

[nocturne crow]

No i mean like
Improve it

[oblique hatch]

Just try adding the shadows later I think the overall shape of your cloud looks really good

[oblique hatch]

Ohhh okay sorry

[nocturne crow]

Np

[frosty lodge]

I tried shading it but i have ZERO confidence when it comes to that so some input would be appreciated
Also how can i make it more... puffy?
Is that the right word?

[rose quest]

Get the shape better

Shape is a lot more important

Because you made it blocky

[frosty lodge]

I mean... yeah i know my problem is with the shape, i just don't know how to change it to get the desired result
Saying "just make it better" really isn't helpful

[native hornet]

more rounds, but also add more like mini curves !! I hope this helps

I really need advice I just don’t get what’s making it look wanky

[native hornet]

UPDATE IT WAS THE BRUSH

[rose quest]

spend more time on it

a clouds shape isnt geometric

its very uneven

making it look fluffy

[rose quest]

and change the shape of the darker parts

the white fluffy parts should be over the darker parts not the other way around

[frosty lodge]

Idk what you mean saying some parts are over others

[rose quest]

see how it looks like the darker shading covers the white fluffy parts?

yeah u dont want that to happen

[rose quest]

might i add clouds dont have dark outlines

do the background for contrast

[bleak pawn]

I did a round 2 of this cloud because I wasn't really satisfied

[rain zenith]

am i too late?

[twilit gale]

What brush did you use to get that small cloud around so damn accurate???

Oh my

[frosty lodge]

I tried making some adjustments but i bet it'd still be considered pretty rough

[shy maple]

youre doing great!!

if u want, try drawing the outline lighter

it might help w the roughness

some ppl even do lineless for that soft cloud effect

(tho u gotta add shade to the background so the cloud n background dont collide)

tho it's fine w lines

since youre trying to understand the object so it helps

and if you wanna capture the shape better i suggest looking at both pictures side by side

if the cloud shape is too complicated i could simplify it 4 you

lmk

ay im no expert tho 🙏 just tryna help

[shy maple]

I use paint tool sai this is the brush settings :p

[rose quest]

Clouds don’t have outlines, shadows have no outlines either, blend a bit more and use a eraser to shape the shadows

[obtuse zealot]

deadline of this week's study extended to : <t:1750021200:f>

[oak mist]

1st attempt on the right, idk how do you make it look easy Koi

but at least this time it turned out much better than last weeks Cloud Study

[oak mist]

wow those leafs lol, i feel that they take as much attention as the cloud

[half hawk]

Wow

[sage geode]

colour balancing is a bit oof but mostly okay otherwise

[pallid acorn]

one late entry in digital