Painting Clouds

panda – Wed, 10/22/2008 - 23:46
Average: 4.5 (34 votes)

Painting puffy clouds is easy and fun, in addition to stress-relieving (:
This is relatively beginner friendly, since only a few tools are used. Lots of pictures and steps included!

STEP ONE.

Create an empty canvas. Lets fill it with a nice sky color, blue perhaps. Now you may follow the next step or, otherwise skip it and use a the gradient tool instead. I personally prefer the following step because then the sky looks more natural, but if you're feel lazy ... gradient tool is always an option.

STEP TWO.

Use the dodge tool (or pick your own colors) to vary the shades ...

Smudge ... (use a big sized brush for more efficiency!)

Hint: usually the sky is lighter near
the horizon...

STEP THREE.

Dodge tool again! Set to "dodge" and make a roughly cloud-shaped blob..

Smudge the edges to make it puffy (:

STEP FOUR.

Use the same dodge settings as before, make another blob on top (same layer) that is a little smaller than the previous blob ...

Smudge again! Try not to smudge the previous blob outline, so that there are different shades. It adds dimension/depth (:

STEP FIVE.

Now .. pick a smaller brush!
Using dodge tool on same settings, scribble little outlines on some parts of the cloud ... mostly the bottom and some sides. Don't over do this!

Now with a slightly larger brush, smudge .. again, not too much, because a healthy cloud has depth and puffiness (:

STEP SIX.

odge again ...

Smudge again ...

Hint: when smudging, it is VERY important to use a SMALL brush size and also not to smudge TOO much or else the cloud will become ONE BIG UNICOLOR BLOB! Noooo! D:

FINAL STEP.

Now repeat until your cloud is nice
and puffy ...

Your creation is complete!

I would add the file, but its just all on one layer... ;__;

Yep, that's about it! Enjoy your clouding experience :D

Visit me at http://antichange.deviantart.com

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  • 6341 reads
panda's picture

OOPS I forgot the preview

Submitted by panda on Wed, 10/22/2008 - 23:57

OOPS I forgot the preview image ... here it is:
I wasn't sure how to add it on though .. :/

Naki's picture

Thanks you very much!

Submitted by Naki on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 09:22
5

Thanks you very much!

Gimper's picture

Thanks for sharing your

Submitted by Gimper on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 11:32
4

Thanks for sharing your painting technique :)

ajit's picture

very neat style there panda

Submitted by ajit on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 13:04

very neat style there panda :)

Tsuhari's picture

wow, I never thought painting

Submitted by Tsuhari (not verified) on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 14:38
5

wow, I never thought painting could be that easy.... :) great tutorial! It helped me alot on digital painting... keep up the good work!

DragonionS's picture

Thanks! Thants amazing! :)

Submitted by DragonionS (not verified) on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 14:41
5

Thanks! Thants amazing! :)

starlight's picture

nice one!

Submitted by starlight (not verified) on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 16:23

nice one!

Visitor's picture

Very good tutorial! I'm

Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 20:08

Very good tutorial! I'm surprised it was that easy, even with just a mouse and no tablet! It's fun to make clouds based on space ships and such...

JulioNeto's picture

I have never tought it could

Submitted by JulioNeto (not verified) on Sat, 10/25/2008 - 14:13
5

I have never tought it could be so easy! =D
My first draw with GIMP :P

TKS!

schrottplatz's picture

really awesome tut!

Submitted by schrottplatz on Sat, 10/25/2008 - 21:16
5

really awesome tut!

Jason's picture

Great tutorial, I've added it

Submitted by Jason (not verified) on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 06:33
5

Great tutorial, I've added it to http://www.bestgimptutorials.com

El Llama's picture

great technique.. the dodging

Submitted by El Llama on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 00:52
5

great technique.. the dodging tool is sorta underused in my opinion :D

Alice's picture

Thank you very much!!! it's

Submitted by Alice (not verified) on Wed, 10/29/2008 - 20:28

Thank you very much!!! it's such a wonderful tutorial!

It's my first time painting with Gimp, so my cloud came out not so like a cloud lolz..

here is my result
http://preview.shareapic.net/preview4/012310802.jpg

panda's picture

I love it!! Good job, Alice

Submitted by panda on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 04:51

I love it!! Good job, Alice<3

panda's picture

Yes, I agree, Mister Llama.

Submitted by panda on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 04:52

Yes, I agree, Mister Llama. And it has so much to offer! I should make some more tutorials about it ... (:

panda's picture

Wow ... I was going to reply

Submitted by panda on Thu, 10/30/2008 - 04:44

Wow ... I was going to reply to everyone, but I'm just going to say thanks for all your comments and views! Yay! (: *Goes off to paint some more clouds*

anthony's picture

This is great i recently did

Submitted by anthony (not verified) on Sat, 11/01/2008 - 22:41

This is great i recently did an ad for a auto company and used clouds in the backround...thank you, check out our web design company if you can.

pienose's picture

I need to try more digital

Submitted by pienose (not verified) on Sun, 11/02/2008 - 19:31
4

I need to try more digital painting! But I have a bit of a problem with my tablet and gimp-
when I use the tablet, after that it will not let me use the mouse on any tools again :( not nice. But enough of me ranting...GREAT tut!

Barbiene's picture

Wow, this is a great tut!

Submitted by Barbiene on Tue, 11/11/2008 - 19:03

Wow, this is a great tut! (:

I'll try it later when I have the time. <3

Barbiene's picture

Sorry for double posting.

Submitted by Barbiene on Tue, 11/11/2008 - 19:26

Sorry for double posting. :]
I tried out the tut, just now, and the outcome was fantastic! Thank you, Panda. x3

Here's the image URL:
http://i33.tinypic.com/rw2kjc.png

panda's picture

That's lovely, barbiene! :D

Submitted by panda on Tue, 11/11/2008 - 23:22

That's lovely, barbiene! :D

Ashlee's picture

I loved it. Thanks!

Submitted by Ashlee (not verified) on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 22:26
5

I loved it. Thanks!

Insane's picture

Looks fun, gonna try.

Submitted by Insane on Sat, 11/15/2008 - 03:52
5

Looks fun, gonna try.

Visitor's picture

Thanks! I used your method

Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on Wed, 11/26/2008 - 15:37

Thanks! I used your method for puffy clouds, and than improvised a bit to make some wispy clouds and it works very well. I appreciate the time and effort you put into showing the rest of us what you know.

meridian57's picture

I've always wanted to paint,

Submitted by meridian57 on Sun, 12/07/2008 - 19:47
5

I've always wanted to paint, and never been able to. Thanks to your tutorial, and Gimp, this is the first time I've ever painted anything that looked decent. I'm inspired to learn more!

Thanks so much.

jr's picture

Sorry for the low rating,

Submitted by jr (not verified) on Sun, 12/14/2008 - 05:42
2

Sorry for the low rating, this project looks like fun.
Here is the problem: I am brand new to gimp. This is advertised as a beginner project.

The first instruction was: start with a new canvas. I did not even know how to do, but I finally
figured it out.

Then: fill it with blue. Simple, but I don't know how to do that.

At that point, I decided to write a review.

The takeaway is that although this seems like a lovely project, there is too much taken for granted It would not take that much clarify.

rainbow dash's picture

Mine is terrible.

Submitted by rainbow dash on Wed, 12/24/2008 - 18:03

Mine is terrible. ='(
http://imagehost2.com/?display&c=a0eac91a6e8c&i=Cloud.gif

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