Easy Watercolor Clouds: 2 Simple Ways to Paint Cumulus Clouds
Two simple ways to paint cumulus clouds in watercolor are blotting wet paint from the sky with a paper towel and painting around the cloud shapes. Both are easy starting points for adding more variation to a sky.
Why This Matters
There are many types of clouds, so it helps to start with one. Cumulus clouds are a good place to begin, and these two methods suit them.
Blotting lifts paint from the sky while it is still wet. How much paint comes off depends on the paper and the paints, but as long as the sky is still pretty wet, plenty can lift. Painting around the clouds leaves the white paper untouched, which is how you get super bright, brilliant white cumulus clouds.
Blotting can feel easier for a beginner, because the trust goes into the paper towel and not into your own brush strokes. Clouds take a lot of practice, since shadows and perspective add more to think about, but either method is a good starting point.
For brilliant white clouds, paint around them. If you are brand new to watercolor, start by blotting the wet sky with a clean, dry paper towel.
Try This
- Blot: while the sky paint is still wet, press a clean, dry paper towel onto it to lift paint in the shape of a cloud.
- Paint around: leave the cloud shapes unpainted as you paint the sky around them, so the white paper becomes the cloud.
- Try both on a small sky and see which feels more natural to you.
Want to Go Deeper?
Once you're comfortable with these two methods, perspective is the next thing to think about. You may find this related Quick Tip helpful. It looks at what to notice when you observe clouds in the sky, including how their size and thickness change with distance:
Watercolor Clouds: How Perspective Changes the Way You Paint Them
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