How to paint clouds

Free reference pictures are available from: http://painting.about.com/od/artistreferencephotos/ig/Reference-Photos-Clouds/

The air around us contains water vapor. When air rises, this cools the water vapor, which then forms droplets or, at a high altitude, freezes into ice crystals. This is what we see as clouds. Slow-rising air creates sheets of cloud, while fast-rising air creates cotton-wool lumps of clouds.

Clouds are classified by how high up in the atmosphere they occur. The long, sheet- or ribbon-like clouds found in rows at low altitudes are stratus clouds. Rows of small, cotton-wool clouds found at similar altitudes are called stratus cumulus. Large, billowing, cotton-wool clouds are cumulus clouds. These can extend to great altitudes; when the top flattens out in an anvil shape it gets called a cumulonimbus cloud (nimbus is a term used to describe a dark, rain-bearing cloud). Cumulonimbus clouds are the ones that generate dramatic thunder storms and hail. The whispy clouds found at very high altitudes are cirrus clouds; these are made from ice crystals.

You want long, horizontal sweeps across your painting, so use a flat, wide brush. The lines of the cloud should almost be parallel

Suggested colors: A light and a dark blue, such as cerulean and ultramarine, for the sky; yellow ocher and Payne’s gray for the ‘dirty’, rain-loaded bits of the clouds.

Normally driven by strong winds. Clouds reflect colours and may include reds, mauves, yellows, grays. Concentrate on the shadows, which give the clouds shape.
Cumulus clouds are often precursors of other types of cloud, such as cumulonimbus, when influenced by weather factors such as instability, moisture, and temperature gradient.

Suggested colors: alizarin crimson for pink tints; yellow ochre and cadmium orange for golds; Payne’s gray or burnt sienna mixed with one of the blues used in the sky, for shadows.

These clouds are very high up in the atmosphere, swept along by winds and are broken up by the wind into wisps. The most common form of high-level clouds are thin and often wispy cirrus clouds. Typically found at heights greater than 20,000 feet (6,000 meters), cirrus clouds are composed of ice crystals that originate from the freezing of supercooled water droplets. Suggested colors: alizarin crimson for pink tints; yellow ocher and cadmium orange for golds.

Clouds have lighter and darker areas.
Start your darks, and slowly build the highlights on top.

You will need:
White + Cerulean Blue + French Ultramarine Blue (either a warm blue or a cool blue.) + Burnt Umber (you can also add Paynes Grey)

Skies aren’t simply blue. They’re build up of various tones of blue.
Experiment by adding colors such as Yellow Ocher and Crimson to your blues.
Start by laying the background sky down on the canvas, a lovely pale blue colour.
Paint a gradation if you like using the Cerulean at the bottom grading into the Ultramarine Blue
Work with a fairly wide brush.
Once I’ve started adding white paint, I use one edge of the brush for white and the other for blending into blue .
Paint wet-on-wet (blend or mix colors as you’re painting, directly on the canvas) It will help to create soft edges.
Once you’re comfortable with this painting technique, its time to start adding more color.

The shadows:
Payne’s grey for dark rain clouds, but experiment with adding a little dark red to the blue to create a purple-tinged shadow.
Mix a little bit of Burnt Umber + French Ultramarine Blue + White to create a grey (You can also use Paynes Grey + white + BU))
This grey will make the shadows on the underside of your cloud.
Clean most of the paint off your brush.
Apply the paint gently and loosely, wet in wet, and replicate the random shapes of a cloud.
Add some white to the grey (or the Paynes Grey)
Apply this colour above the shaded area, bringing it down into the darker grey.
These darkest areas will be the furthest away from the light source.

The Highlights
Mix a highlight with BU + White (experiment with your own mixes)
Paint this where the light will hit the cloud.
Add more colour to the darkest areas of the clouds, using your earth tones (PG / BU / BS / YO) or Dioxazine Purple, Yellow Ochre and a touch of French Ultramarine Blue, and White.
This highlight then becomes the dark area on the next set of clouds closest to the light source.
The closer to the light source, the lighter and warmer the highlights

As they recede towards the horizon, their colors become paler and their shapes less distinc

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Examples of cloud types

Examples of cloud types

Examples of cloud types

Start with a good referance

How are Clouds Formed?

Stratus Clouds

Cumulus Clouds

Cirrus Clouds

Examples of cloud types

Cumulus Clouds

Cirrus Clouds

You will need: White + Cerulean Blue + French Ultramarine Blue (either a warm blue or a cool blue.) + Burnt Umber (you can also add Paynes Grey)

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You will need:
White + Cerulean Blue + French Ultramarine Blue (either a warm blue or a cool blue.) + Burnt Umber (you can also add Paynes Grey)