How to Paint a Mountain

In this mountain painting tutorial, you will learn how to paint a mountain using a really simple five-step process. The tutorial provides clear guidelines, beginning with painting a basic sky background and then forming the mountain’s silhouette.

Subsequent steps demonstrate adding highlights for sunlight, defining shadows, and applying colors to achieve a realistic appearance. This lesson is suitable for artists, especially beginners interested in landscape painting, who wish to practice basic painting techniques.

The tutorial on how to paint a mountain can be followed using various mediums, including acrylic, oil, gouache, or digital painting tools. Practicing these foundational landscape-painting skills will help artists build confidence and improve their ability to portray realistic natural scenes.

Before you start this mountain painting tutorial, you can visit our mountain drawing tutorial to learn more about creating a basic structure of this object.

How to Paint a Mountain Step-by-Step

Step 1: Paint the Background Sky

Create a gentle sky that forms the background of your mountain painting. Use a large, soft brush and a pale blue shade to smoothly apply horizontal strokes across the canvas. Gradually lighten the blue tone as you move downward to simulate a natural gradient. The goal is to achieve an even sky that appears distant, calm, and tranquil. At this stage you can also start adding some clouds to the sky.

Step 2: Paint the Mountain Silhouette

Choose a slightly darker and muted shade of gray-blue to contrast against your background sky. Using controlled strokes, sketch the peak and slopes of your mountain, making the shapes irregular and natural-looking. Focus on varied, angular contours to mimic the rugged, rocky edges typical of mountain landscapes. Fill the outlined shape using soft, diagonal brushstrokes that follow the natural slope of the mountain.

Step 3: Add Sunlit Areas to the Mountain

In this step, you will create highlights to define the areas of the mountain touched by sunlight. Choose a pale, warm color such as a soft cream or ivory, which naturally contrasts against the cooler tones of your mountain silhouette. Using directional strokes that follow the mountain slopes, gently apply the lighter color onto the peaks and ridges where sunlight naturally falls.

Step 4: Detail the Shadows on the Painting

Now, add more realism by detailing shadows on your mountain. Using a slightly darker shade than your original mountain silhouette color, apply shadows opposite the highlighted areas you created in the previous step. Follow the mountain’s form with careful brush strokes, deepening shadows on slopes and valleys. Pay close attention to natural mountain contours, defining ridges and crevices with precision.

Step 5: Add Some Final Touches to the Mountain

Using a clean, soft brush, gently blend the boundary lines between highlights, mid-tones, and shadows to achieve a realistic look. Carefully soften edges to ensure the mountain appears integrated into the background sky, creating a convincing sense of atmosphere. This is also the ideal stage to introduce minor highlights or shadows to create particular features, such as small crevices or snow-covered ridges.

As I’ve said, this mountain painting tutorial helps build very important skills in drawing, coloring, shading, and creating realism in landscape painting. By following each step, you can develop a professional approach to painting natural scenes, making it easier to apply these techniques to other subjects.

If you found this mountain drawing tutorial helpful, consider visiting other painting tutorials, to learn how to paint a flower or other beautiful objects. Practicing various scenes will improve your ability to work with light, texture, and atmospheric perspective. Check out more painting and drawing tutorials to continue developing your art skills and boost your understanding of landscape composition.