Painting clouds is one of my favorite things to do, and I do it quite often. My favorite medium to use while painting clouds is oil paint because of how malleable it is when creating new layers and dimensions to the clouds. Check out my featured painting above on my etsy.
It is something that can be very expressive for artists. There is no wrong way to do it. When it comes to oil painting, there is a great step by step guide to achieving the look you want:
Step #1: Create your underpainting.
When painting clouds, you are going to want to start with a thin wash layer of underpainting. You can typically do this with mixing your paint with a thinner and spreading it evenly over the canvas.
The next level in the underpainting would be to then map out with shading where you are going to be placing your clouds. Since clouds have minimal colors, values are really going to be your main attraction.
Step #2: Start with your darkest colors.
When you begin painting a cloud, be very loose with your motions. You are going to want to take your darkest color and spread it where you would like the deepest points of the cloud to be. It is important to remember that you are darkening the outer sides from where you will highlight, and do not forget to darken the grooves between protruding parts of the cloud.
Step #3: Create midtones on the rest of the cloud.
After you have the darkest points on your cloud made, cover the rest of the surface area of the cloud with a good mid tone, or a few. This will make it easier for you to visualize where your highlights should go. You will notice at this point that your clouds are seeming to have more of a shape.
Step #4: Work your way up to highlights.
One thing to remember when it comes to oil painting is there is often no solid whites in a composition. Use the lightest color that will give you the desired look (depending on the color of your clouds, for a sunset this is when you would typically use orange or yellow). Each step, your strokes of the brush will get more detailed and take further shape.
Step #5: Blend the harsher lines.
With using oil paint, your paint should still be quite wet. Dry your brush and blend out some of the lines that are too harsh for your liking. This really helps to soften up the look of the cloud while still giving it structure.
Tada! You should have a nice looking cloud study.
