Pastel Landscape Mastery: The Sky
This course features:
3 Hours of Instruction
15 Videos
14 eBooks
30 Day Money Back Guarantee
Lesson Description
A look at creating a dramatic sky using contrasting colors and values. The importance of light and cloud structure is addressed.
Lesson Materials
Toned pastel paper, soft pastels, masking tape.
Lesson Resources
Download eBook
Reference Image
Download Video File
Course Curriculum
Lesson 1: Introduction and Materials (4:34)Lesson 2: Landscape Structure and Atmospheric Perspective (13:52)Lesson 3: The Sky (8:08)Lesson 4: Trees and Foliage (31:59)Lesson 5: Rocks in the Landscape (22:58)Lesson 6: Architectural Elements (18:57)Lesson 7: Water (20:23)Lesson 8: Silhouettes (16:06)Lesson 9: Technique - Dry Wash (9:33)Lesson 10: Technique - Wet Wash (10:04)Lesson 11: Technique - Scumbling (11:24)Lesson 12: Technique - Feathering (13:48)Lesson 13: Oil Pastels (26:23)Lesson 14: Matting and Framing (10:54)Lesson 15: Conclusion (2:21)
Once again I found your explanations of each step in the drawing to be clear and helpful. I hadn’t thought of clouds as being 3 dimensional objects before. But common sense tells me they are. The language the instructor uses makes all the difference to my understanding of the subject. Thank you.
I am very happy to have found this site it is wonderful! thank you
Matt, thank you this video was very informative and i thoughly enjoyed it.
thank you Matt, so looking forward to your tutorials, Geranium.
My English is not so good as yours of course. But (in Dutch) Erg duidelijk!!
I am so glad to have found this site!!! I think the lessons are at an appropriate level for me and I can’t wait to start putting them to use!
Many thanks!!! Betty Smith
Help! 🙂 So I just went through this lesson, and the result was atrocious. Clouds are kicking my butt. I am trying to follow along, pausing often, and referring to the photo reference. However, your clouds look like clouds. Mine are a mess. Any tips on cloud creation? I understand the 3-dimensional aspect and using several layers of colors to create shadows and highlights in the clouds, but the stroke itself is eluding me. They either look like scribbles if I don’t blend them, or smudges if I do…neither result resembles the fluffy texture you created.
Hi John,
Could you email me the result so I can give you some suggestions?
Thanks very much for your quick responce Matt. Unfortunately, I commited a cardinal sin…I tossed what I had. I don’t normally do so, but frustration got the better of me. I am taking a quick break from pastels and working on graphite (out of necessity, I am down to one sheet of pastel paper. I am deployed, it is hard to come by, but my wife has a package on the way with a new pad). My last sheet is gray toned, so tonight or tomorrow I am giving The Sky another shot. I will shoot the results your way. Thanks again!
HIS HEAD
SO GLORIOUS IT OUTSHINES THE SUN
How do you get rid of the little piles of chalk dust that aren’t smudged in with your finger? Will you smear the drawing if you brush it off; if you blow it away, it’ll be everywhere. The videos seem to just magically have it disappear.
Hi Judy,
I am gently blowing them away. No magic involved 🙂
again stunning. i really liked the way you made the clouds much darker and the oranges brighter almost redish; the photo was rather bland, you turned it into something i would be proud to hang in my home
I was gifted a box of oil pastels and a pad of paper along with this course from my Son for my birthday! I have never tried this medium. I have been doing alcohol ink art for about a year now. I going to watch all of the classes in this course before I attempt a “painting!” I love what I have seen so far… Your explanations are excellent and I love the magic of watching the painting develop.
My attempts are not turning out well. As one noted earlier, they are too smudged or look like childish scribbles. I cannot create the same “texture” as what you do. Will the paper color and quality also add to the great difference of results? I am more puzzled on how you create the textural illusion of clouds and how the highlights seem to really pop while mine just look flat and dull.
Hi Christina,
Yes, the paper makes a huge difference. What kind of paper are you working on?
I was also ready to give up on pastels, but was determined to continue the lessons. I paid much more attention to the details & also found it helpful to watch the entire video first to see where the painting was headed. Just adding that step helped tremendously. It takes much time & patience to continue to work an area. Your deliberateness is important; you are always going back & “seeing” with fresh eyes. I discovered that makeup sponges do a wonderful job of lifting the material in a particular troublesome area. Your lessons are invaluable & have added much pleasure to my art.Thank you!
I am a pastelist
There are many things that change the way your painting turns out.
The brand of pastels themselves can be a huge part of it.
Plus the kind of paper you use.
Get an artist grade pastel and use pastel papers. I highly recommend one with sand or a grit to it. I use Uart 400 grit.
Patients are the most important thing when using pastels.
It took me months to be able to create a dramatic sky!
So if you use a paper with grit and good quality pastels, you won’t need to worry so much about the dust. It will work its way into the paper.
Oh, and it is not chalk, there is no chalk in good pastels but clay is used as a binder with the pigment.
Never BLOW the dust as you will end up inhaling it and it is harmful to your health. For this reason, I wear a mask and gloves.
Hope this helped.
Loving the demos. Anxious to try the clouds!
Where is the photo reference
Hi Carolyn,
Photo references are provided whenever possible. While most lessons do include a reference, not all of them do.
hello , I would like to know can we use soft pastel on canvas ?? or if only on paper what kind of paper shall I use ?
Hi Sana,
You can use whatever surface that you prefer, however pastels may not cover easily on canvas. I would suggest a textured and toned paper.
Canvas is not used by many pastelists but if you gesso it, you will be able to cover the surface better.
Hi, Matt
Seems like I am always asking questions!
Do you work on an easel or on an angled or flat board? I appreciate it may be different when you are filming, but do you have a preference?
Barbara
Hi Matt I am also interested in the answer to the easel question, did I miss it?
Using an easel I find is better because any loose dust will fall into a small cardboard trough, as such that I have made. I collect my dust and make my own pastel with it!
The drawing at the end seemed darker in color. Was that caused by the finishing spray or lighting?
Also how do you choose the color of the paper for the projects?
Thank you!