Techniques for painting clouds

Clouds are significant in many landscape paintings. Clouds are not pure white, they reflect the sky, so it is very important to pick colors that well blend it to make these clouds look realistic. The colors you choose are based on the scene

[perhaps weather] you are trying to paint. My suggestion is to use different tones of blue and white.If you want to paint darker clouds, use darker tones to add the rainy cloud affect. You could try experimenting by blending different tones together. If you

are painting non-rainy clouds, you should try highlighting the cloud by slightly painting sun rays around the clouds.

There are many different types of clouds, and for these many different types of clouds, there are many different ways on how to paint them. Various strokes and tones will help you paint the perfect cloud. It’s important to study the

characteristics of these clouds so you will end up with the right types of clouds on your painting. Each type of cloud requires different sizes of paintbrushes. Be sure to have small,medium, and large tipped brushes, they will be handy in the future.

[Types of clouds and how to paint them]

“Stratus” is the Latin word for layer or blanket. They form lower layers that can cover the entire sky bringing gloomy, gray weather. They may form near ground level. This is also commonly known as “fog”. Since they are grayish, slightly-

gloomy looking clouds, you should use darker tones of blue, along with a few lighter tones of blue and white. Use a wide brush to paint your cloud using horizontal but light strokes on your painting. It will be extremely helpful if you look at a real pictures

of stratus clouds first before you paint them (This applies for every other cloud).

Cumulonimbus clouds are commonly known as “storm clouds”. They belong to the “clouds with vertical growth” group, mainly because they can grow up to 10km high. They are associated with heavy rains, wind,lightning and tornadoes.

I suggest you experiment with darker tones of blue, white/gray to get that “dark effect”. These clouds tend to be quite dark since they are storm clouds. These clouds are puffy-looking clouds, and they look similar to cumulus clouds except they are

storm clouds. When painting these clouds, you should concentrate on shadows. Shadows help highlight the texture and shape of the cloud which is very important. Try using circular brush strokes to enhance the “puffiness” of the cumulonimbus clouds.

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