Transcripts
1. Preview video: So let's talk about
this painting today. So we have this beautiful
billowing cloud. We have some whites
and there we have this bluish sky in
the background. And then we also have
some darker like purple and darker
blue tones in there.
2. Let's Get Set Up: Hello everyone and welcome
to my art tutorial video. I'm starting a canal ski, a artist who paints nature
and fantasy themes. And I have YouTube videos that
show my painting process. I also have Instagram
and Facebook that share pictures of paintings and different art fairs
that I attend. And then part of.
And then I also have a newsletter where I send out art updates and keep everybody in the loop
about everything. Um, and so this is
my next adventure, which is doing a in-depth
tutorial to help other artists out
there and also other hobbyist and anybody
who loves to paint. And maybe some people
just want to relax and have a good time do something entertaining or from a friend's. For whatever reason, I
am glad you're here. And going on this
painting journey with me. In today's video,
we are going to be painting these beautiful
billow clouds. And I will have the reference
photo all ready for you. It's from the Unsplash
website where photographers post
copyright-free images. So it's a place that
I love to go and get inspiration for
various forms of art. So let's talk about
this painting today. So we have this beautiful
billowing cloud. We have some whites in there. We have this bluish
sky in the background. And then we also have
some darker purple and darker blue tones in there. So those are the four paints
we're gonna be using today. And they are acrylic paints. And this current brand, I mean, it doesn't really
matter which brand of paint to use or anything
like maybe there those of you who already have
these pink colors at home or you wanted to do like the pink kit where
I send everything that's ready for you and then
you can use it there. But these ones I
got from Amazon, sometimes I'll get go into
Michaels and get some paints, their oral order online. Blick Art stores like
another good one. Right now I'm testing out the various brushes
to see what will give me that really fluffy look. So I have a filbert brush. Then I also have this
round pointed brush. And the also have a
size one filbert brush. And then the round
brush is a size ten. And so I end up using
just those two brushes, just the big round
one that size ten. And then the filbert
brush set size one. The filbert will give you
that very smoothing look. So it's good for
blending and making like clouds look so
airy and we really want to capture that here so that brush will really
help with that. And then the bigger
brush just to really get that a lot of paint on there. When you have a bigger
brushes, easier to get, a nice smooth strokes as well. So I have prepared
the pallet paper. So you'll have
your palette paper that you can put your
pain sun or you can use. I've also used paper plates
before and also like pallets. So it's whatever you want
to use to mix your paints. I really liked the pallet
paper because it's you just put the paint
right on there and then you just ball up the pallet paper and toss it when you're done. So really easy cleanup. So that's why I
like to go for it. Then I also taped down the edges to a back of an old
sketchbook I had. So it's just a little bit of a thicker cardboard
and you could put it, It's just to give it a nice smooth surface
while I'm painting. You could also use, well, yeah, you can put it
on the back of a plate. You could use a regular plate, tape it down to you could use.
3. Painting Blue Background Color: Domino a folder. You can put it
over a sketchbook, whatever you want to use. And so now I am mixing up
the white and that really, really nice, sky blue. And I'm trying to get like
a tone that's not like to, to bold, but I still want it to have a bit of a
light area effect. So you'll see as I
go around the paper, I'm not trying to fill
in every single area. It's okay to leave some open, to leave some a bit more
see-through to really give that the effect because that's how when I see like
clouds and I see sky, That's like the feeling I get, like it's just kind
of faded here, are there some parts are
more prominent than others. Some parts are lighter, some parts are see-through. And then the clouds
themselves are always moving. So you always see a bit of
the sky in the background are some parts will be a bit more solid or you'll have
stuff peeking through. So just letting that
effect happened on the canvas is what
I'm doing here. Then. Now since I have
this canvas with this thick border around it, I am painting it. That background sky
color. For here. You could do, I'd like to
do a background color. You could also do
like as you're, when you're finished
the painting. I know there's like
people who like to paint like a solid color, a border around it. So you could go
with a white border around at the end or
black border around them, the n or any other color. In some paintings, I will carry the
painting to the edges. So as, so first I'll put the background and then later
on in the painting, e.g. where you see the
clouds taking shape, I make carry the
clouds to the edges. I didn't do that in this
one just because it's a bit it's just a bit
more like time-consuming. And you don't really
need to do that, but it can be just as a little
tip that can be something like fun to incorporate if you want it to do that
this time around, that would be really cool. Or if you wanted to
keep that knowledge in there and use as a later
date, totally an option. So lots of options
for what we can do with are the edges
of our Canvas. If you have a canvas
panel that you're using, then you won't have that
like that thick border. So then you don't really
have to probably purposely like paint around the edges
codes will look fine too. You can also use
mixed media paper. You'd want that or like a
thick watercolor paper, something that can absorb
quite a bit of paint. You could use that to
with acrylics here. So after you've done
the background, you want to wait. I set my reminder for about
20 min to let the paint. It's not completely
completely dry, but it is probably
like 50 to 70% there. What it comes to dryness. So there's still a little
bit of wetness there. So a little bit of
blending can happen, which makes a really
beautiful effect, especially when it
comes to these clouds. I think blending is going to be the word of the day because that will really give that like dreamlike area,
cloud-like effect. So now we're gonna go
in with the white. And I like to use white to map out where
these clouds will be. But you can totally, at this point, you could
use like a pencil. You could do some
light tracings. And I'm starting on
because I'm right-handed. I'm starting on the left side because as I'm working
from left to right, that will make it so like
my wrists and fingers don't interfere with the
paint and smudge it. That's usually my intention. Sometimes I work from
right to left two, but usually I try start at the left-hand side
and going like a top to down direction. And like I was saying, with the tracing, you can
use do the sketching. You can use your pencil. You can sketch out where all these clouds
are going to be.
4. Adding Clouds in White/Sketch Time: Just like an outline of them. And then you can go in with the white to show you like, okay, here's where this cloud
is, this corner Cloud. Here's where this big
billowing cloud is, here's where those
little trails of clouds are and where the
group of them are. So that is what I'm doing
as I laid this white down. And I will now let you continue to work on
your own painting. And getting those cloud shapes
where you want them to be. Some maybe something that's
helpful that I keep in mind when I'm looking at where the placements
of them are. As I'm thinking about in
relation to how big the canvases like should this
cloud end and begin? Sort of like halfway
in the page. Is it like three quarters
to the end of the page? Like where does this cloud and where does this cloud stop? And that sort of helps me with the placement of where it is. So you'll see like that big one, the big cloud piece. It's like the second one. Let me see. We're looking at the top corner
and then there's that on the left there's a
corner Cloud and then to the right of it is
that bigger cloud. So when I was mapping out
where that Cloud is going, I was thinking, okay, it touches the top of the
page and then the left part of it trails down to the left. It goes in like a
south west direction, I guess, as it trails down
diagonally like that. And then but it just about touches the
border of the canvas. And then the right side of it, it reaches around it, at least maybe 60% goes to that. And what I mean by that is like, so like long wise. So this is an eight by ten
Canvas and the long side, like if it reaches
half-way lengthwise, did the page that'll
be around 5 ", that would be around 50%, 60% would just be a
couple more inches. Yeah, that's kinda
how I figure that. I kinda do it in percentage. I'm like does this could take up 50% of it lengthwise
is at 60 to 70, 90 are we almost there? It's just how I kinda think, kinda helps me think about it. And then at the bottom here, I am seeing that there is this
really nice purple color. And you could certainly make
it more of a gray color. There's definitely some gray
grayish tones in there. You could darken it up. You can make it look hazy, whatever it is that
you're feeling and you want to go for it. I say, hey, go for it. This is where I
really enjoy using. I would say I'm in more of a, I think with this one
like a pastel mood. And I really want it to be
like really fun and colorful. So I'm going in with these
a bit bright colors. But then I'm also using
some white and some water, just dilute it down. So it's not like too, too bold. Because I wanted to, I think the effect I was
trying to go through four here is like a dreamy vibe. So yeah, so here I
have the purples and I'm using some of that
purple mixed with white. And then I went in and touched the darker purple to it to
have those more darker shades. I'm noticing at the bottom of the page, It's going darker. And as it moves up to touch the bottom of those
clouds at the bottom, it's getting a bit
lighter in transition. So that's what I'm following. And then I'm also
adding some blue here to kinda like
where the clouds meet. Maybe there's that
indicates there's a bit more sky that
you can see through. Really like the how like the sun like effects
like as it's rising and falling and
throughout the day, like the different
colors you see peeking through the sky and the
clouds and everything. It's just, it's, it's
so beautiful and amazing and it comes in
all kinds of colors. So what I'm saying is, you don't have to like exactly look at the picture
and just do the colors there, or just do the scene there.
5. Painting The Top Clouds: You can have your scene, maybe how you would
like to see it, or in a way that looks
like appealing to you and kind of things. So yeah, that's the effect
I'm going through here. We're going to wait
another 20 min or so. And here's how I keep my paint's still wet
during this time. I use a spray bottle
with water and I'll just spritz each of the colors
just one or two times. And then I have this
little clear cup that I'll put over the top to just sort of keep it from drying
out too quickly. I also like to use those little
cups to put paint in and then use them when as needed, when I'm working on
larger pieces to keep it like white for days
or weeks or well, yeah, I'm wondering
how many weeks last, but, um, yeah, it
can be helpful. So now we're going
to go ahead and tackle that cloud that
is in the left corner. With this one, we can
see that it starts off in the top corner
with a very light color. And then it transitions
like on the left-hand side, it's a bit darker and on the right-hand side
It's a bit lighter. So I'm using the purple. I'm using the various tones to reflect that
part of the cloud. So I'm going in with
the darker purple, dabbing in a bit and then I'll add some white into sort
of like lighten it up. And then I'll also
use some water as well to further blend it out. So I'll let you continue on with your Cloud and just sort
of play around with making those lighter to
darker transitions. It will really make
your Cloud pop.
6. Painting Top Clouds Part 1: Hello everybody. Welcome back. I hope you've been having a
good time playing around with the different color
tones you can have in your clouds and with the
different transitions. And what I mean by that
is that like light ish, bluish color using the whites, making those light blues and purples and showing
it going from lighter to darker to really have that effect that we
see in the photo. Um, so for now, I'm going to the
really big cloud that's to the right
of that smaller one. And we can see here that
there is a lot of light at the tops of the
below weakness. And then those darker values like where I'm using the balloon is to show that there's
another cloud in there. So there's multiple forms in this one versus the last one. So really getting those darks and those lights right
next to each other. And having those differently
contrasting ness will give the viewer of the painting and you too like the sense that like there are multiple
formations and this Cloud. So as I'm going around
and thinking about that, like where are the light values, where the dark values, since we already had the white
as the base for the Cloud. Then I went in with
that darker blue to show where those
dark values are. And then I added some of
the purple a bit above it to give it that like
transition like the purple, so the blue and then I put
some way over top of that. And then I'm always
thinking about, okay, the dark part, the blues on the bottom. Then it goes up to the purple, then it goes up to that lighter purple and then the white. So whenever I'm laying
down colors and thinking about that transition, because that will really
make it look really cool. And so I just keep
working on it now. And I've switched to
the filbert brush. And I'm using these
swirly motions are almost like circles or like
half circles to give it that like smooth pillow a look that we're looking
for with clouds here. Feel free to play
around with that. Like make a bunch of those C's
are circles throughout it. Even like almost like curls like Azure going
through the cloud. It's okay for the
colors to mix together. That's a really good thing. It'll just make it look even more yellowy and
things like that. Then you can also play
around with dabbing some whites in there
to really make parts of the clouds stand out. You can do like a few
trails on the side. You can add more belongingness. And then as you're
using the brush, try to do this like
dabbing motion. I know that means something
else to kids now. And when I'm talking
about dabbing, I'm talking about putting
down the brush and lifting it up quickly
and then going down again and lifting
up quickie quickly. So instead of just
a smooth one stroke that goes across a
lot of the cloud, I'm lifting it over
and over again.
7. Painting Top Clouds Part 2: And putting it back down. And that will really give
it just like a very, I guess, just cloud
quality to it. Like it's a cloud, isn't it? We'll give it wisps. I think yeah, that would
be the term for it. So it'll give it that wispy look because clouds are so,
I mean, as we know, like they're always
moving and then they're not just like
one solid thing, like they're condensation there. Bits of air, there are bits of rain, there's moisture there. And they don't
always just there. They don't hold together and
form into one clump there. All these little things
that have been brought together by the wind
and everything. And so sometimes
they'll move together, sometimes they'll move apart. So to really create
that with spina, that I don't know
another word for it. But to give it that effect
like Definitely, Yeah, put the brush down, lift it back up over and
over and over again. To really get that effect. You could also, if you want it to make it look
really smooth, you could go in with
the one stroke as well. That is totally up to you for how I like to
make the clouds. It's with this, I will just call it the stabbing,
this dabbing motion. Then. So as I've laid down
the initial tones of it, where you see the purples and the lighter ones and the blues. Then I'm going in again
with those same colors. And I'm bringing out
more of the texture. I'm making it a bit bolder, really making those
darks a bit darker, making the lights a bit lighter. And then just playing
around with the form like as I'm adding
all these colors, like how do I like
them working together? And then I just keep
blending and working on that transition because it really makes it look so
cool in the long run. So I am going to let, allow you to work on
your clouds and, um, see what kinds of shapes you would like to make
and transitions where you'd like to add things or make things lighter
or brighter or darker. I will say for smooth things
out a bit around the edges, I like to use a bit of water to move those different parts of the paints, I guess together. And then I also
like to use white. And I'll just come in with the white and that will
just naturally like light in certain
areas and help them sort of blend into
each other better. So please continue
on your painting. Now I will check
on you in a bit.
8. Moving To The Bottom Clouds: Hey everyone, I'm back and well done on completing your
two clouds over here. I know it's a lot with clouds to really capture their
movement and their colors. And there's so much
going on to it. So I hope you're really proud of yourselves following along here. And I'm sure they look amazing. And yeah, let's continue. So now we're moving
over to the right side. And what I love
about the side as the whites that we did at
the top of these clouds. We can basically
leave those alone because in the pain in the
foot photograph as well, those parts are the lightest
parts with those whites, so we can really focus
on those darker tones. And I'm going in with a darker purple first and then
using the lighter purple. And then the parts where
there's the the sky part, I might go in with some of
that light blue and add a bit more to help with
the shape of my clouds. And then I also like to
go in with just a bit of that darker blue at
the very bottom. I always want the
bottom edges of the clouds to have
that darker color. So then I will go on to those using those purples again and those lighter tones as we edge out into the left
side of that cloud and it's running into the bigger
cloud we made before. So that's a really
interesting shape and way that clouds move. And now we're gonna move
on to this bottom section, which so in the top section
we've been working on these individual clouds at a time and focusing on those
in this bottom section, what it looks like
basically one huge cloud. It's just a big clump. But really there's just so many individual
clouds in there, but they've all like
grouped up together. And so we're going to use those darks and the
lighter tones to really separate like which cloud is where I'm going in with
this darker purple. And I can see that
at the bottom, there's kind of
like the straight, straight edge to it. So I want to kinda capture
that they're usually clouds. We don't usually think of
them in terms of being like straight or having very sharp
points we want them to be. They tend to look a bit more circular and things like that. But occasionally we will see clouds like that
to where it's just it's just kinda like across
the horizon will just see those with wispy clouds
just going right across. So at the bottom, it tends to be, you could divide up the
clouds by that shape, like just making lines
that could help you to see like where
each of these clouds, where's the bottom of them? And then once you have those
bottom lines that are dark, then you could work your
way up to the cloud shapes. So then working on, okay, my dark line is
gonna be that really dark purple or that
really dark blue. And then above that will be
that lighter shade of purple. And then later and
later and later. And then white as
we get up there. So that is what I'm
doing in this one. And you can see I'm
going in with that.
9. Painting Bottom Clouds Part 1: After I did that dark
purple, I decided, well, I want it to be a bit
darker on the bottom. So then I use that
blue. At this point. I'm just going back
and forth with like, okay, let me get some
purples in there. Let me get some blues. Maybe I want to add a little
bit of watery effect. Maybe I want to add a bit
of a white Her effect. And so you can see on my
purple side of the palette, there is a bunch of different
purple hues in there. On the right side is
that lightest side that I've incorporated
a lot of white in. Then as it moves
over to the left, it gets a bit darker. And then I can always dab that clump of dark purple if I want to get
that darker hue in there. So it's good to leave some room, give yourself some options
on your palette to pick which kind of tone you're
looking for at that time. And then, oh, and then I
added some of this dark. So usually we've talked about how we use that dark
color at the bottom. But for these clouds that
are near the bottom, you can see that
sometimes the front of them will have that
dark color too, and some clouds or even kind
of behind other clouds. So that dark blue
will really help to make those distinct and look like they're in the background. So we'll keep on adding our darker tones and
really get those in there. And I will let you continue to work on
your Cloud some more. And just keep in mind
those darker tones. And then we want to have that
lighter transition as we go up and really make sure that we're getting a bunch of
different cloud shapes in there. So it doesn't just look like IS like one cloud altogether. The effect we're
looking for is a bunch of clouds all grouped together. K See you in a bit.
10. Painting Bottom Clouds Part 2: Hey again everyone. For that big structure of
gloves with the bottom. Very well done. There are so many parts in that big ginormous
structure that it can be a bit hard to make
sure each part stands out. So well done for following
along with that. And feel free to reference the picture like as closely
as you'd like for this, I really like focusing on
where the dark areas are, the darkest ones, where
the lightest ones are. And then just sort of following my own idea of how
clouds usually look, which is There's the wider part and then it gets a
bit lighter and dark. And then it does that all over
again with another cloud. And so it's using
that throughout. And then at the bottom there, I went in with some
white to just bring a bit more highlight to that
bottom area and to help with that transition to that purple that we made
at the bottom. Then now. So right
now I would say, okay, the painting is done. Like we set out what we
wanted to accomplish. We wanted to paint some clouds. We did it. Pat ourselves
on the back. Good job. So now the final finishing
touches are, well, looking at the photo and then looking at the
picture of the clouds, where are some parts
that I really want to stand out a bit more
with that bigger cloud. I added a bit more
of that darker blue. And to really get the
sense that there's a really big piece of shadow
there and that bit of dark. And then I also like to go
in with the brighter colors. So now I just have some
white on my brush. And I'm just, I'm not I'm not sure if I'm looking too much at the
reference photo now. But I'm just adding
some white where I think it would look
just like really nice, like dabbing whites usually
like around the edges. I'm usually around the
bits where there's like that darker blue
color in those darker just to ease up the
contrast or well, it is adding contrast, but it's also adding a bit more of that like pillory texture, like doing those white dabs. And I mean, that's
like a color that we're so used to saying
with clouds, right? We see that color
white and this guy, we know those are the Cloud. So adding more of that, It's only going to help your painting and make
it even more cloud-like. And then I like to go in with just some water
and then just sort of blend out the whites
that I've added in there. Because sometimes they
can be just a bit.
11. Finishing Up: To start just on their own, but just lightened up
a bit and blend it out and then you get this really
like cloud-like texture. So I'm just going
in all throughout the painting and I'll
keep doing this, like adding some whites, adding some water,
blending things out a bit. Saying how it looks
with the sky. And if you feel like maybe
it's a bit too white, you could always add in some
more like purple or blue. If there's some parts
where you're like, Oh, I don't really
want the cloud there. I want to more sky. Then you can definitely go
in with that lighter blue. And that will give you that sky. You can bring the
sky to any part of the page that you
want. Certainly. How were just a few minutes
to the end of this tutorial? And I'm just wondering, how has this been for you. Feel free to message
me on any of my sites. Social media is phone
number, e-mails, you know, any kind of thing
and tell me how it went for you like word clouds, like a bit intimidating to you before this
and then like did you feel a bit more like confident in
yourself afterwards? Or were you doing this more for? Just because, wow, I
really love clouds. Let's take a go at painting
them and things like that. It's always so interesting
this here too, like where people are like, are you like a beginner
in your art journey? Are you just doing it for fun or have you been
doing it for years and you're trying to improve a certain technique or
something like that. Also, did you use these
colors like did you stick with the purples and
blues and stuff and whites? Did you feel like going
for, I don't know, red clouds or orange clouds or all the other types of colors that we can see
in the skies and yellows. And there's all sorts of amazing color combinations
we can have for clouds. Or it could just be
like a fantasy Cloud. You can make it green
is something we don't usually see that it makes
it really interesting. However, you made your clouds, I'm sure they look wonderful. And I hope you had such a great time and
making this painting. And thank you for once the following along
with this tutorial, although I definitely
encourage breaking away and giving it your own spin at
any points that you want. I like to be here as a guide and maybe get some tips
and insights and maybe what you can be looking
for to add billowing us or texture smoothness when
it comes to clouds. But other than that it's like, you know, have at it, make it your own. Certainly. So here we have it. We have our finished
cloud painting. Oh my goodness, that
looks so dreamy. Just want to stick
it up on the wall. Well, thank you so much for
following along with me. And I hope you take care and
you have a wonderful day.
Sredna Kunowski, Owner of the Sredna Art brand
