How to draw
How to Draw a Mountain Landscape
- Challenge (level 5 of 5)
- 45 min
- 20 steps
- Ages 10–14 (a guide, not a rule)
Draw on paper: Paper, Pencil, Eraser. Optional: A ruler for the guide lines, Colored pencils: blues, greens, gray and brown.
Draw it on the screen
A landscape looks deep when it has three layers: a foreground, a middle ground and a background. You will draw from front to back, so each farther line simply stops where something nearer is in front. Then you shade: pale far away, darker up close. Press lightly at first; the guide lines get erased.
Rather color it? Print the mountain landscape coloring page.
Step by step
- New lines: purple, thick and glowing
- Lines you already drew: gray
- Guides: dashed blue, draw them lightly
- Erase: dotted pink with an eraser
Step 1 of 20
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Step 1 of 20 Split your paper into three bands with two light guide lines: the background at the top, the middle ground, and the foreground nearest to you. -
Step 2 of 20 Draw the nearest thing first. Make a tall, light guide triangle on the right for a big pine tree that reaches from near the top into the foreground. -
Step 3 of 20 Inside the triangle, draw the pine as five layers of branches. Each layer droops down to a point and is wider than the one above it. -
Step 4 of 20 Draw the trunk under the lowest branches, a little wider at the bottom. Then erase the guide triangle. -
Step 5 of 20 Draw two big rocks at the bottom left. Draw the front rock first, then the rock behind it, stopping where it meets the front rock. -
Step 6 of 20 Draw the far edge of the foreground: a gentle wavy line near the lower guide. Stop it at the rocks and the trunk, because they are in front. -
Step 7 of 20 Now the middle ground. Draw a hill on each side that slopes down toward the middle. Stop the lines at the foreground edge and at the tree. -
Step 8 of 20 Add small pine trees on the hills. They are much smaller than the big pine because they are farther away. Size shows distance. -
Step 9 of 20 Between the hills, draw the far shore of a lake: a nearly flat line just under the top guide. It disappears behind the hills and small pines. -
Step 10 of 20 Now the background. Draw four mountains of different heights in a row, stopping where they reach the hills, the lake or the tree. -
Step 11 of 20 Draw the tallest mountain behind them. Its sides stop where they meet the mountains in front. That is overlap: it pushes the tall peak back. -
Step 12 of 20 Far behind, draw a row of thin, light peaks. Stop wherever a nearer mountain is in front. Faraway things look pale and simple. -
Step 13 of 20 Erase the two band guide lines. -
Step 14 of 20 Draw a zigzag snow line across the top of each mountain. Taller mountains get bigger snow caps. -
Step 15 of 20 From each peak, draw a wobbly ridge line down the mountain. The ridge splits the side facing the light from the side in shadow. -
Step 16 of 20 Draw a small sun in the top left corner. The light comes from there, so every shadow in your picture will be on the right side of things. -
Step 17 of 20 Shade the right side of each ridge with light lines spaced far apart. Far mountains only get the lightest value: that is atmospheric perspective. -
Step 18 of 20 Shade the middle ground one step darker: closer lines on the shady slope of the left hill and the right half of each small pine. Add a few flat ripples on the lake. -
Step 19 of 20 Add strong details up close: a line where each rock turns away from the light, a few cracks, grass tufts and bark lines. -
Step 20 of 20 Make the foreground darkest. Cross-hatch the shady sides of the rocks and their shadows on the grass, then hatch the right half of the big pine and trunk.
You did it!
Your drawing does not have to look like this one. Every artist draws a little differently.
Tips for this drawing
Helpful hints
- Keep guide lines light so they erase cleanly. A ruler helps for the two band lines.
- When a line runs into something nearer, lift your pencil and start again on the other side if it shows again.
- Shade in the same direction across one area so the value looks even. Space the lines evenly.
- Squint at your drawing: the far mountains should look palest, the foreground darkest.
Common mistakes
- The far mountains are shaded as dark as the rocks, so the picture looks flat. Lighten them with your eraser. Far away means lighter lines and fewer details.
- The mountain lines run through the pine tree. Erase those parts. A line stops where something nearer covers it.
- The small pines are as big as the near pine, so the hills look tiny. Draw far trees much smaller. Size shows how far away something is.
Make it simpler
Draw just three layers: a jagged mountain line at the back, a wavy hill line in the middle and one big tree in front. Shade the mountains lightly and the tree darkly.
Foreground, middle ground, background
A deep picture has three layers. The foreground is nearest: big, dark and detailed. The middle ground is in between. The background is farthest: small, pale and simple.
Overlap
Near things hide parts of far things. Draw the nearest shapes first; then each farther line stops where it meets something in front, so you never draw through it.
Size and distance
The same kind of thing looks smaller when it is farther away. The small pines on the hills are real trees as big as the near pine, only far off.
Atmospheric perspective
Air between you and faraway things makes them look paler, bluer and less detailed. Draw far mountains with thinner, lighter lines and only light shading; save the boldest lines, darkest values and most detail for the foreground.
Value
Value means how light or dark a part is. Use three: light (lines far apart), middle (lines closer together) and dark (lines crossed both ways). Plain paper is the lightest value of all.
Light and shadow
With the sun on the left, the right side of each mountain, rock and tree turns away from the light, so it is the side you shade.
