Painting a Vivid Landscape in Acrylics: Part 1

Sep 10, 2023

Introduction

In this lesson we will be sketching in the main elements of the landscape with pencil before washing in some bold colours.

Reference image link (from Unsplash)

Materials

Canvas, Panel or paper for acrylic painting
Pencil
Eraser
Fixative
Range of brushes
Water
Acrylic paints:
White
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Cadmium Yellow
Cadmium Red
Burnt Umber

(Or similar equivalents)

Sketching in Pencil

Begin by using the pencil to very lightly sketch in the major forms of the landscape. This includes; the clouds, mountains, hills, trees, shrubs and the road in the foreground. Try to lay this line drawing in loosely and quickly, erasing and correcting as necessary until you are happy with the overall feel of the sketch.

Once this line drawing is complete you can lay in a few light passes of tone to distinguish more shadowy areas in the image.

Once these tonal passes are complete you need to fix the drawing with some fixative so that the pencil doesn’t blend with the acrylics layers.

Washing in Colour

Begin by washing in a gradation of colour according to the dominate hue in each section of the painting. So in this case I went for gold at the top for the cloud, transitioning into pink for the mountains and then blue and grey lower down the image (in the foreground). You can keep the layers quite transparent by using a lot of water to create very washy passes.

Once these gradients are established you can start to build more specific hue and tonal variations throughout the image. You can use the still visible pencil sketch to help you figure out what is a cloud, sky or mountain etc.

Keep adding these variations down the entire painting - ideally getting the darker notes establish for the trees and shrubs in shadow. The colours don’t need to be perfectly accurate - we’re just going for a bright and engaging image, so follow what feels best to you!

For more detailed guidance, you can watch these complete lessons on our YouTube!

Pencil Sketching

Washing in Colour

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