Author: calder

Skill builder — Atmospheric Perspective

John Brett, The British Channel Seen from the Dorsetshire Cliffs, 1871. Oil on canvas, 106 x 213 cm, Tate Gallery, London UK

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1818. Oil on canvas, 94.8 × 74.8 cm, Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany.

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa (Lisa Gherardini), c. 1503–06, perhaps continuing until c. 1517. Oil on poplar panel, 77 × 53 cm, Musée du Louvre

Liz Hill, graphite on paper, 2008

Shaun Tan, The Arrival: The market, pencil on paper, 2006

Shaun Tan, The Arrival: Cloud, pencil on paper, 2006

Shaun Tan, The Arrival: Harbour, pencil on paper, 2006

Skill builder — Atmospheric Perspective

Joaquim Alves Gaspar, Serra da Estrela, Portugal, photograph, March 2007

Joaquim Alves Gaspar, Serra da Estrela, Portugal, photograph, March 2007

Ansel Adams, View with rock formation in foreground, "Grand Canyon National Park," Arizona, photograph, 1942.

Bob Wick, Elkhorn Mountain Wilderness, photograph, January 21, 2014.

YuRi YuZi, There are Cumulonimbus Clouds below Zambales Mountains, photograph, 20 April 2017.

Kevin Udy, Sunny afternoon cumulus, photograph, 13. June 2015. From the Colorado Clouds Blog, https://coclouds.com

Skill builder — Atmospheric Perspective

There are some simple ways to create a sense of depth in a landscape using atmospheric perspective:
Your sky should be darker at the top of your page gradually fading to lighter at the horizon.
Your land or water should be darker at the bottom of the page gradually fading to lighter at the horizon.
Contrast and detail decrease with distance in a landscape.
The brightness of objects increases with distance.
With the reference photos provided create a landscape that uses atmospheric perspective to create a sense of depth.
Start by lightly drawing out the placement of landforms. Then shade a base layer gradient for your sky. Shade some base grays for your landscape. Once you have this base layer in place you can begin to add darkness and detail to your foreground objects and to draw out clouds shading in darks and erasing highlights.