How to paint different type of skies with watercolors: step by step tutorial

Nohelia Vázquez

I paint a lot of landscapes, specially since I've started doing travel sketchbooks. A key part to all of them is the sky, and not redendering it well can ruin your entire composition. In this tutorial I explain the simplest way to paint qith watercolors four common sky types: clear, cloudy, stormy and sunset.

 

Siempre he pintado muchos paisajes, en especial desde empecé a pintar cuadernos de dibujo para documentar mis viajes. El cielo es fundamental en la mayoría de los paisajes, y no pintarlo bien puede arruinar tu dibujo desde la base. En este tutorial muestro como pintar cuatro tipos de cielos con acuarela paso a paso.

 

Full Tutorial on Youtube / Tutorial completo en Youtube

 

Pinturas / Paints

To get a similar result it is not necessary to use this exact list of supplies. I personally use paints of both student and professional grade, and of brands with different price points.

No es necesario usar las mismas pinturas para obtener un resultado familiar. Mi colección contiene pinturas de marcas de gran variedad de precios

 

Clear sky / Cielo despejado

clear sky watercolor

 

Winsor & Newton:

Payne’s gray (Gris de Payne)
Sap green (Verde vejiga)
Winsor Yellow (Amarillo winsor)

    van Gogh:

    Cerulean blue (Azul ceruleo)

     

    Cloudy sky / Cielo con nubes

     

    Winsor & Newton:

    Payne’s gray (Gris de Payne)
    Sap green (Verde vejiga)
    Winsor Yellow (Amarillo winsor)

      van Gogh:

      Cerulean blue (Azul ceruleo)

        Shinhan PWC:

        Naples yellow (Amarillo de Napoles)

          Daniel Smith:

          Permanent green (Verde permanente)

             

            Storm / Tormenta

             

            Winsor & Newton:

            Payne’s gray (Gris de Payne)
            Cobalt violet (Violeta de cobalto)
            Winsor Yellow (Amarillo winsor)
            Olive green (Verde oliva)

            Cobalt turquoise light (Turquesa de cobalto claro)

             

             

              Sunset / Puesta del Sol

               

              Winsor & Newton:

              Cobalt violet (Violeta de cobalto)
              Opera rose (Flor de rosa de opera)
              Payne’s gray (Gris de Payne)
              Cadmium orange (Naranja de cadmio ) (it has a warning label! do not spray or touch, cadmium is known to cause cancer by means of inhalation, W&N also offers a cadmium free orange)
              Winsor blue - green shade ( Azul de Winsor - matiz verde)

                van Gogh:

                Cerulean blue (Azul ceruleo)

                  Shinhan PWC:

                  Brilliant pink (Rosa brillante)
                  Shell pink (Rosa concha)

                     

                    Brushes / Pinceles

                     

                    Any flat brush that can absorbe a lot of water will work to add humidity to the pages, any round mop brush will work for the painting the skies, and for details a small round brush will do. My mop brush is not synthetic but I don’t see how I synthetic one cannot do the same job.

                     

                    Cualquier brocha plana sirve para mojar el papel, cualquier pincel de tipo mop redondo sirve para hacer todo el trabajo de los cielos. Mi pincel talla 0 para detalles es uno simple de arts and crafts sintético.

                    Back to blog

                    Leave a comment

                    Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.