drawing Drawing Tutorial

How to Draw Clouds.

How to draw clouds.

Tutorial category: drawing
Tutorial type: Step-by-step
Submitted by: EyesLookingUp
Tools used: Photoshop Elements, Java

This tutorial is based on:
Clouds by EyesLookingUp

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Step 1

Welcome to this tutorial! I hope it helps.
The tools circled in red are the ones used in this tutorial.
Step 1 - start out with a blank canvas. (Never would have guessed, huh? :p )

Step 2

Using the Brush tool, with
Spacing - 6%
Scattering - 130% (approximately)
add in a blue background, using different shades of blue and some white.

Step 3

Add a new layer on top of the first, and, using the Brush tool, loosely block out where your clouds are going to go.
Put the layer at about 60-70% transparency.
Don't worry about being too precise!

Step 4

Add another layer on top. You should have 3 layers by now.
Still using the brush tool (smaller size), highlight the clouds around the edges.

Step 5

Switch to the Smudge tool and, still on the third layer, smudge the white outline IN towards the center of the cloud.
Sometimes all it takes is a tap, you don't have to move the white too much.

Step 6

Using the Brush tool again, on the 3rd layer, add some darker blues and greys to where the shadowed areas are.

Step 7

Smudge! Add color and white as necessary.

Step 8

On layer 2 (where you blocked out the clouds) add white to fill in the clouds where it's needed.
On layer 3, using the Pen tool, add highlights again.

Step 9

Smudge lightly. Tapping works better for me during this step.

Step 10

If you want to add wispy clouds, you should probably do it before the other clouds. But for this tutorial, we'll shake things up.
Hide layers 2 and 3, and add a layer on top of layer 1.
It'll look like this -
Layer 3 (hidden)
Layer 2 (hidden)
Layer 4 (wispy clouds)
Layer 1 (background)

Using the pen tool, add some lines.

Step 11

Smudge!

Step 12

And there you have it, clouds!
Have fun and try different colors, layers, and techniques. The sky's the limit! (har di har har) *cough*
I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading.