Drawing Landscapes

A few simple steps for drawing a landscape!

• Sketchbook paper
• HB pencil
• B pencil
• 2B pencil
• 4B pencil
• 6B pencil
• Eraser
• Blending stump

The horizon line art theory is a horizontal line that runs across the paper to control whether you want the viewers to feel like they're above, below, or eye level with the drawing and also establish where the sky meets the ground.

*For the first three steps, use the HB or B pencil

Now draw simple outlines of the main points in the drawing (the general shape of the mountains, clouds, trees, etc).

*Making sure that the proportions are correct is a very important thing to remember while completing this step.

Once you have fine-tuned the big shapes, draw in the other elements such as rocks, bushes, etc. Do not add detail and texture yet!

1. Begin shading all over the drawing. What makes landscapes realistic are the different tones, not the details. For shading, I use the 6B pencil for the darker tones and 2B pencil for lighter tones (while also changing the amount of pressure).

2. Taking into consideration where the sunlight is coming from, start highlighting using your eraser.

3. Work through the whole drawing using your blending stump and eraser to make sure the tonal shading is all correct and looks accurate/realistic.

Finally, add in all of the details of the individual elements (lines, leaves, textures, etc.), while switching between your light and dark pencils.

Remember:

• To draw the outline of the tree, move your pencil in any random fashion, approximately in the shape of the tree. This will make it look more natural.
• Use your blending stump to make the pencil lines disappear and use the eraser to recover whites so there is depth.

You're almost done, now go back and refine! For this step, I mostly use my 6B pencil to add a punch to the darker areas that I accidentally blended out too much. I also use my eraser to make the highlights stand out more after I have blended over them too much.