Drawning

How to Draw Fantasy Art Landscapes

In fairy tales and fictitious fantasy movies, the one that gives color to the whole story is the setting. It is sometimes used as titles to give excitement to the viewers; “Alice in Wonderland” and “Jack and the Bean Stalk” are just few examples. For an artist, masterpieces are perfected by adding details on its setting or the background of the point of view. Today, you will learn how to draw fantasy landscapes with me.

Fantasy landscapes are wonderful places where fairy tales occur or it can be a very frightening and dangerous scene where beast and fictitious creatures rule. In drawing fantasy landscapes it is a requirement for an artist to have wide imagination. In addition, the characters that dwell on the portrayed site must also be considered.

To start with, think of an event or a story and just imagine how its setting will appear. In my case I prefer to draw a nesting place for dragons where islets float above the ground. In drawing this landscape we must first do the outlining. Draw inverted triangles with different sizes and distances from each other, but don’t draw too many of them: that will make your sketch too messy. Draw a trapezoid on the lower part of your paper bigger than the triangles. Add short lines below your triangles and lines connecting them.

When the outlines are already done we can now start drawing the actual appearance of our fantasy landscape. Transform the triangles into islets by giving them irregular shapes while redrawing their sides. The trapezoid is also an islet where the dragons have their slumber. The short lines are root of the ground and some extends to other floating islets. Erase the excess markings from the outline and make the whole picture clearer.

To add depth on your sketches try to draw them with different kinds of pencils. Objects that appear nearer to the viewer or outside the paper must be seen clearer than those at the rear view. Use thicker lines in drawing the islets and another pencil for the view found on its back. Draw water falls on a bigger islets and clouds above them. Use thin lines to draw a mountain as a background for the islets.

The other way to give depth and contrast on our drawings is by shading. Shading is a skill that is acquired through practice and experience. One can give the gap on every object they draw by the means of shading. A circle will look flat if drawn in a paper but by skillfully shading it, it will appear as if it is in a three dimensional plane. Experts also use this technique to give textures and shadows on irregular shaped objects. Instead of drawing lines, they would prefer to shade a part of their work.

Apply shading on your drawing. Give every floating land its appropriate texture depending on its size. The falls must be well emphasized as well as the clouds. You may also add mystical creatures on your drawing; dragons, birds with four wings and other fictitious creature or you may even draw a flying whale if you like. Just be sure every creature you draw is in line with your theme and doesn’t make the whole picture disorganized.

Our wide imagination is our door to an unknown world of fantasy away from reality; it is a gift that varies in every person. With this gift, it will give us the possibility of unveiling our hidden talents in drawing, so don’t be afraid of where your imaginations will take you.