Learn How to Draw Mountains!

Would you like to learn how to draw mountains digitally? This lesson will guide you through an effective way to create mountain drawings by simplifying the rock formations available!

Specifically, we will look at specific patterns common in rock landscapes. In terms of tools, duplicate the patterns so you can save time!

In other words, paint a rock variation first on a layer, duplicate it on a new layer, rearrange it, manipulate it, merge it, and then repaint it to join all the textures together to create realistic mountain drawings!

Remember, it's best to paint light over a dark background color in 2d digital art. Knowing where light will hit can aid you past difficult composition problems!

When you are ready, let's get started on learning how to paint mountains!

1. Vertical rockscapes

For this part, we will learn how to draw mountains that are vertical in nature. For example, columns of rocks found in canyons or cliff faces that have been pushed up by the earth and eroded.

These rock variations serve well in giving an emphasis on large immense landscapes that humbles human presence!

First, let's try to constrain ourselves to a specific vertical shape. Then, fill it until you have a nice dark background color for you to paint light on. Start with large vertical dabs of a light colored paint. Remember, these represents how light will hit the object.

Then, start using a small pixel smudge tool (with 100% pressure) to 'pull' the lighted areas in a vertical manner. This should create a good section of the mountain range

From there, start duplicating and manipulate that small section! As you can see from the example, do you see any repeating patterns? Those patterns are from the same initial layer that was duplicated over and over again!

Of course, repaint it over it so it looks more natural and flows better!

2. Horizontal rockscapes

On the opposite end, we will learn how to draw mountains of the horizontal kind. To help illustrate the importance of light, we are going to focus painting light horizontally!

To save time, you can always compress the drawing and duplicate it over many instances to create a column of horizontal textures!

The process is still the same: begin using large dabs of a light paint that you will spread horizontally and then duplicate it! Always keep in mind where your light source is. Again, use a smaller brush for finer details.

Now, depending on your imagination, you can split up the horizontal rock into different columns on its own. Be as creative as you can!

Don't forget about your lesson on atmospheric perspective! Remember, the farther the object is, the less saturated the color is.

3. Paint rockscapes with cracks

The next lesson on learning how to draw mountains is to focus on the small cracks and crevasses of a crater! This type of rock is rather difficult because you will need to imagine where the focal point of the stress is.

The easiest type of stress would be to paint random cracks running down or across a solid object. However, for this example, we will paint stress on a circumference like a meteor impact. It is fairly difficult but it helps you with learning control.

First, start with a dark center where the meteor may be. Then, use a large brush and dab parts of light colored paint coming out of the center.

After that, define the outer circumference of your impact by painting it with a darker color. Make sure it follows a circular path.

Then, use a smaller brush and begin to define those cracks. Short bursts of small angular lines coming out of the dark center really helps. At the same time, angle it to give an illusion of depth so it resembles a crater.

And finally, add cracks following the outline of the dark center to give it a layered feel. Think of it as the impact creating rings of stress. The farther away from the center, the fewer the rings there are!

4. Paint rockscapes using angles

The last common variation in learning how to draw mountains are the angled strokes. It's primarily used for creating mountains or rocky areas that have been pushed up by Mother Earth!

The best way to do this is to paint a dark background that resembles a bunch of spikes coming out. Make sure the pattern is non-repetitive to give a sense of naturally occurring mountain ranges.

Once you have your background, begin to paint angled strokes where the light will potentially hit these areas. I suggest starting from the peak and then 'zigzagging' down the mountain range.

Like before, the different levels of pressure assigned to the tablet will create the various rock surfaces on your mountains.

Make sure to switch to darker colors to create additional shadows if necessary. Solid edge chalk brushes are the best for this type of painting. Again, duplicate and repaint so you can have a nice range of textures to work with!

In all these potential rock variations, we don't deal a lot with details. Rather, the details are created from manipulating the initial layer and the duplicating it over and over again!

Of course, any time during the drawing, you can always use additional tools like the dodge and burn tools to really bring out the colors!

I hope you enjoyed this lesson on how to draw mountains. Good luck and have fun learning!

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