Week 14 - How to start with landscapes

[light marlin]

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

Please read the tips and instruction before u start with the study

WHEN POSTING INTO GALLERIES PLEASE ALWAYS ATTACH ORIGINAL REFERENCE WITH IT

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

this week study ends : <t:1752354000:f>

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

Reference photo source : Unsplash, Luck Stackpoole

Little bit of theory
there are some important terms we need to understand in landscapes

Horizon line : eye level, the point where sky meets the ground. also important for perspective.
for your own drawings it is good to start with indicating your horizon line first

Foreground : area we can see closest to us

Middle ground : area in the middle of the landscape, usually (not always) where we place the main subject - focal point

Background : area that is furthest from us

[light marlin]

Values

now we can differentiate values in each plane

In early sketching there is no need to worry about details, I used only 3 shades that define whole fg/mg/bg + sky

because of atmospheric perspective (objects are getting lighter in value the further they are from us) we will use darkest value for foreground and lightest values for background (and sky for this instance)

I am working with hard brush so my values won't blend together

if you want to practice value usage with your own concepts, check #1363460064815484938 message

[light marlin]

Adding details

After we have established our values, we can look for interesting details and value/color variation

now u can usee blending brush or textures, but don't overuse it

If you feel overwhelmed, u can add details by sections, choose only one are (fg/mg/bg) and work on that separately, then move to another

adding details to foreground :

adding details to middle ground :

don't over complicate it for yourself with the house, simplify it to few values only, we are adding details after that

[light marlin]

Rendering

after that u can add more and more details and u are basically done✨

[light marlin]

Answering question from week 13 :

Difficulty in drawing leafs as a bunch on bushes

I think the easiest way how to overcome this is with simplifying it to simple forms. In the reference pics there are detailed flowers in the foreground and they might look overwhelming, but we can look at them as bigger shape first and gradually add simple shapes, then look for simple shade in them and add details after
there's no need to paint each flower bcs once we draw the overall shape, we can add only few details to make it pretty recognizable

Answering question from week 13 :

Difficulty in better composition in personal work

Personally I got better in composition by doing studies of different references. It's easier to come up with interesting ones when you already drew it before from photos and expanding your visual library like this plays pretty important role. There are some overall tips for composition like golden ratio, rule of third, golden section or following letter curves. But that feeling that something 'looks right' composition wise will come with enough practice and challenging your own visual library and knowledge to try different topic, angles and forms for your drawings. To speed it up, use references and learn from them what works and what don't

[light marlin]

I hope everything is clear, feel free to ask additional questions about anything!

[night owl]

Halo, im kinda new to this study thingy. Can I just send my progress as I go for feedback?

[light marlin]

Hello, yes you can!

[night owl]

What is the brush used in the example? It looks so nice

I treid experimenting with kritas default ones but they all dont feel right

[light marlin]

I've used clip studio paint but you can try these, they feel quite similar to me!
for early stages use hard brush but for detailing feel free to choose something that blends nicely (I recommend using bigger brush size for smoother blending!)

[night owl]

Thanks

how is it looking so far

[light marlin]

looks great so far!!

[worldly marsh]

Uhh hi
Um what happens if I use only 2 brushes

[night owl]

wow it turned out much better than i expected

[night owl]

you should be fine

one for hard shapes and other for blending

[light marlin]

hii u will be fine, I've used 2 brushes as well!!

[light marlin]

woooow you did such a good job with it!! 💯

[night owl]

kinda rushed it cuz its 01:30, I might try from scratch tmrw

now bb its to late for me grah

[light marlin]

I would like to keep this post ref study related only, for posting different works please use #🎨・art-chat or #978708583090892830 instead!

[worldly marsh]

Wait how- oh.

-# am not used to doing full realizim[i cant spell] man

[worldly marsh]

Oop

[pale moon]

LOVE grayscale backgrounds, probs going to do this then color after

[tiny solar]

Gonna do this study yippee

[compact parrot]

Definitely the hardest part for me is from step 1 to step 2... after establishing the basic shapes and values in the illustration I never understood the proper way to add in the gradients or the larger details

So how does one go from step 1 to step 2 easily?

[tranquil owl]

You gotta realise which values pop off and which values stay darker. In that example of leaves you see the basic silhouette is dark so we use a dark color but as we go up the leaves like the top of leaves, they have some other values so first we recognise what value it takes after the dark silhouette color and we paint that. It's like working from dark to light color and adding in the basic shapes or blobs of colors you can see

Start off with blobs of values and later define details

[brazen chasm]

Yea, hello yor, i wanted to ask, what drawing app you guys use, cause i want to have it .... Thanks!

[dim pilot]

Hello!! I'm trying to make a landscape based on the reference, I don't think I started good, what should I do?

[light marlin]

hello, u can reffer to my tips above and use them for your landscape

[light marlin]

hii for now I use clip studio paint which is paid program, but I've used krita for many years too which is free option 💖

[light marlin]

helloo the easiest way would be keeping your fg/mg/bg on separate layers and work on them this way. for adding larger details it's helpfut to use bigger brush at first so u can't focus on small stuff and size the brush size down while u work on it more.
especially for this study I find it useful to have middle ground on separate layer than foreground bcs u can easily add gradient behind the foreground while keeping the flower shape sharp!

[brazen chasm]

Ok! Thanks!

[fossil wave]

What csp brushes do you use? I know it's not only the brush but your knowledge and abilities but rn I really want to blame brushes for my lack of skills

My brushes ain't listening to me like urs do

[light marlin]

hii for first stages I used regular hard brush with no blending and for detailing I used this one ( title : 魔王厚塗りブラシ ) + 1 of my own, I like this one bcs it let u adjust the hardness of your brush so you can use it for most of the rendering (I used it with max hardness for this but it's useful for other works)

[honest jacinth]

I'm going to try and join again, I only did week one....

Are you trying to copy the reference exactly? or can you mess around with it? for instance, making the house a slightly different shape, and ect.

[light marlin]

hello, I would keep it true to ref but for the house u can simplify it to a box since there are clear values for it in the ref!

[muted vessel]

honestly for 30 mins, i kinda rushed it but honestly it couldve been worse, maybe ill upload another one where i dont rush it

[fathom kestrel]

still a wip but I think it's turning out good lmme know what you guys think

[light marlin]

looks nice! I would add lighter values for the flowers!

[fathom kestrel]

ohhh right, thanks for letting me know 😄

[fathom kestrel]

very good practice thanks! @light marlin

[jagged ore]

Not a great start I fear

Maybe I'll try to fix or redoit later

[fathom kestrel]

oh damn you doing it with watercolors thas cool

[jagged ore]

Thanks! It's hard to get the different values right

[split umbra]

Do we have to use that reference picture or can we find our own?

[light marlin]

if u are starting with landscapes I would recommend starting with this ref so u can follow the tips I've included. If you are more experienced u can use your own but keep it as landscape:)

[uncut bone]

Oo I can do this one 😌😌

[stuck crag]

its so prettyyy i love it

[solar ravine]

thankss

[cold marsh]

i used one brush for extra practice

[stuck crag]

i gasped. so beautiful

[cold marsh]

thank you : )

[shut burrow]

Okay I’m here

Can we do mountains

[honest jacinth]

Is that the drawing? or the reference? lol all jokes aside, it looks wonderful! do you have any tips for someone like me who has yet to draw it?

[tiny solar]

How is it? Flowers are tripping me out

[cold marsh]

haha thank you : )
yor • koi covered the most important steps. i would just say remember to flip your canvas and reference often, and don't zoom in at all until you're onto the rendering stage (even then, you mightn’t need to). it helps you get the important overall shapes right, and not get carried away with detail : )

[tiny solar]

I can't grasp about the flowers shape

Idk it's the most easy part and I can't do it

[cold marsh]

you can try using a harder brush that doesn't blend, it'll keep things clearer. just focus on the black and white parts of it before putting any grey or blending in
i wouldn't say it's the easy part, you're doing very well : )

[tiny solar]

Okay thank you I will try

[shadow bane]

So do I just try my best to draw the reference?

[light marlin]

also check the tips in pinned massages

[shadow bane]

Ty

I’ll get to it rn boss man

Boss man is it okay to map out heights widths and other stuff like this?

Cause I feel like it might not be okay

But idk

Oh yeah Im supposed to tag boss man if I have a question

@light marlin

[light marlin]

hii personally I don't do that, I just go with laying down big shapes of foregroud/middle ground/background

[shadow bane]

But would it be okay? Cause I mean I usually do this

[light marlin]

sure, if it works for u go for it

[shadow bane]

Ty boss man bye boss man

[shadow helm]

Another gouache study done.
Was actually pretty fun doing it. If y'all got any advice for me I'd appreciate it

[novel jasper]

I’ve been rly busy with art fight recently so this is all I managed to do😅

[light marlin]

hii you did a great job, the only thing I can point out is maybe u could have used smaller brush to add more details into flowers (blades of grass and such) to make it more recognizable, but it's nice as it is as well