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Introduction to Landscapes

with Philip Sue
4.9 (642)
Learn how to draw incredible backgrounds from scratch with Philip Sue. You’ll learn everything you need to get started and boost your environment design skills!
English, Spanish, 3 more French, Italian, German English, French, 8 more Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Japanese [Auto], B. Indonesia [Auto], Polish [Auto], Turkish [Auto]
2+
hours
9
lessons
Beginner
level
Philip Sue

Your Instructor

Philip is an illustrator and environment designer from New Zealand with a passion for science fiction and fantasy art. His specialty is painting environments digitally.

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2+
hours
9
lessons
Beginner
level
English, Spanish , 3 more
Languages
  • French
  • Italian
  • German
English, French , 8 more
Subtitles
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • German
  • Portuguese
  • Japanese [Auto]
  • B. Indonesia [Auto]
  • Polish [Auto]
  • Turkish [Auto]

What you’ll learn

  • Learn the process of designing awesome environments from a real pro!
  • Improve your composition and perspective skills
  • Create interesting lighting scenarios for your backgrounds
  • Use shapes and values to create beautiful designs
  • Understand “atmospheric perspective” and learn how to use it professionally!
  • Populate your scene with vital features, including grass, trees, rocks, etc.
  • Add advanced effects, like dust, to create movement and discover how and where to add details
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Description

Do you struggle drawing landscapes and backgrounds? Maybe you have a hard time getting started? Or you try to copy a scene by your favorite artist and the result just isn’t the same? It can be overwhelming at times… and frustrating!

It doesn’t have to be that way! We’ve designed this course specifically for people like you. In this course, you’ll learn from a professional environment designer, Philip Sue, as he shows you his process for creating breathtaking landscapes in an easy-to-follow, straightforward way.

In this beginner-friendly course, you’ll learn the basic concepts for mastering this craft. You’ll learn about atmospheric perspective, fore-, mid- and background planes, lighting scenarios, grayscale compositions, and loads more!

You’ll discover techniques to lead the viewer’s eye, add detail, build a sense of scale and depth and quickly change your color schemes. With each lesson’s assignment, you’ll be able to put into practice the knowledge you’ve acquired. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to create a beautiful environment of your own and have a great new skill set under your belt! Your audience will be wowed by your talent! Ready to jump in?

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Who is this course for

  • Anyone wanting to learn about drawing landscapes, beginner or advanced.
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This course includes

  • 2+ Hours of on-demand videos
  • Layered Photoshop files
  • 6 Assignments
  • 1 Cheat sheets/guides
  • Color Palettes Reference Sheet
  • Downloadable brushes
  • Certificate of Completion
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Used in course

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What you'll need

  • Digital drawing software such as Photoshop or similar (see examplesAffinity Photo, ArtRage, Artweaver, Astropad, Clip Studio Paint, Corel Painter, Krita, Inkscape, IbisPaint, GIMP, Rebelle 4, Photoshop, Paintstorm Studio, Procreate, MediBang Paint, SketchPad, SketchBook, TwistedBrush, Vectr...)
  • You'll learn more if you have a drawing tablet
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Lesson Plan

with Philip Sue
Expand all sections
00

Introduction

02:52

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Meet your course instructor, Philip!

In this video, you’ll get an overview of what’s in store in this fascinating course. Philip will also show you some of his gorgeous background illustrations. You won’t want to miss these!

01

Grayscale Composition Sketches

19:50

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To start off on the right foot, Philip will show you various basic grayscale composition sketches and explain why it’s important to get this right. You’ll also learn the importance of working with values and shapes.

You’ll see that following this step-by-step method will make designing landscapes seem like a breeze!


INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

   Resources and Tips PDF

02

Applying and Sketching in Colours Quickly

22:53

Brighten up your scene with color! Philip gives you a simple but well-rounded intro to colour, including the balance between warm/cool colors in lighting and shadows. You’ll also get handy tips to make your life easier when painting, such as clipping masks and pixel-locking layers.

You’ll learn how to easily and quickly colourise the grayscale compositions which you created in the previous lesson.


INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

   Color Palettes Reference Sheet

   Downloadable Brush Set

03

Lighting Scenarios

16:13

You’ll discover how to paint multiple lighting scenarios using the same simple palettes and cool tricks for creating illusions of shadows and lighting.

You follow along as Philip designs several different lighting scenarios, showing you his exact step-by-step process.You’ll be able to recreate these effects as you work through the assignment for this lesson.


INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

04

Atmosphere

09:03

Discover an essential element to create the illusion of depth: atmospheric perspective!

By employing this awesome concept, you’ll be able to push objects further back in the distance to another plane. Philip will show you how to do this using various tools and also how to work with detail to make some elements appear farther away or closer in the foreground.

INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

05

Populating

14:45

In this lesson, you’ll learn how and why to populate your scene with natural objects. Philip will discuss how populating your scene can push your narrative and also build a sense of scale and depth. He will also demonstrate simple ways to achieve this, using elements such as grass, bushes, trees, rocks, etc.


INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

06

Refining, Adding Details and Finalizing

37:44

In this final stage, you’ll follow the steps to refine your image to make it interesting and lively. Philip will explain how to clean up edges; add details and effects, like dust to create movement; employ cool effects using filters and adjustment layers and more!

At the end, you will have a beautiful, polished landscape painting that you can show off to your friends, family, and followers!


INCLUDED:

   1 Assignment

   3 layered illustrations (PSD)

6.1
Refining and Finalizing - Green landscape
13:44
6.2
Refining and Finalizing - Rocky landscape
14:23
6.3
Refining and Finalizing - Cold landscape
09:37

Student Feedback

642 customer reviews & ratings

4.9

Course rating

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5 star
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Best Suited for
Beginner
The level is determined by a majority opinion of students who have reviewed this class. The teacher's recommendation is shown until at least 5 student responses are collected.

(Based on 642 reviews)

Most Liked
Great step-by-step process 547
Clarity of Instruction 511
Helpful Examples 500
Showing 10 reviews of
642
reviews & ratings
NH
Nathan H.

2 years ago

Verified Purchase
Overall it was great getting to understand the basics and theory of landscape illustration and seeing it done in real time. I kind of wish it was slightly slower. For instance, I think when the oval brush was first introduced, I think it was mentioned that it was modified from a round brush. I thin
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k if we got a quick demonstration on how to make the oval brush or if the oval brush was included in the brush pack, that would've been nice. And also if the color values for the five greys were provided, like the color palette was, would've been helpful. I think some other helpful things would to be to show some diverse landscapes, it seems like all the example tutorial art favors rocks and rock formations, but what would a landscape with water or flat plains look like where rocks aren't the focal point? And how would the composition change with the scale of the standing person in the foreground in the grassy painting? And there was a passing comment on how you don't want tangential shapes, but we never got to see an example of what that means exactly. I guess what I'm trying to say is, because this is such a visual way of education, it'd be nice to see more visual explanations. That's not to take away from what I got from this course which is A LOT, just some things that stood out. The things that were clear and helpful were very much that, just other things that would've made it even more clear and helpful. Thanks!
I recommend it for Intermediate
42 people found this helpful
Samantha W.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
This course was super easy to follow and was fun! I especially like that he acknowledges that there are many different ways to get to the same result and doesn't insist that you MUST do it his way.
I recommend it for Beginner
10 people found this helpful
ST
Saira T.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
This is the kind of classes I wish Art school would teach you instead of Astronomy. It was broken down and simplified for those apprehensive of environment illustration and made extremely easy to follow. Kept in simple steps, it prevents you from glossing over watching the instructor make 'random ab
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stract shapes and strokes' until you blink and see they have already created a masterfully-rendered background and you don't even know where it came from. I cannot wait to try some of these out on my own and see what fun backgrounds I can create.
I recommend it for Beginner
7 people found this helpful
RS
Robamya S.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
This was my first course on 21Draw and if the others are as good, the value of my membership purchase will be absolutely stellar. While I rated it as beginner, I think other levels might find this course interesting as well. I appreciated that the instructor provided the same brushes that he used s
+ Show more
o we didn't have to guess. I was thrilled they worked on Procreate.
I recommend it for Beginner
4 people found this helpful
Brooks

2 years ago

Verified Purchase
So happy to be able to use a process to work on all the ideas I have, this method is so great for a beginner to use time better! I'd love to learn how to work like this for underwater and forrest scenes too!
I recommend it for All levels
4 people found this helpful
RD
Romain D.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
Introduction to landscapes is such a great and inspiring course! I was completely new to environments and Philip Sue's step-by-step approach and teaching made it tons easier for me to understand and above all pushed me to start creating my own landscapes. I used Procreate instead of Photoshop during
+ Show more
the course so I needed to adapt a bit (clipping masks and gradients). I can't wait to start creating more now! Thanks, Philip, for sharing your knowledge and expertise :). Thanks, 21 Draw crew, for making this course happen :).
I recommend it for All levels
3 people found this helpful
TT
Tee T.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
well structured, good notes. Different course to others available on 21 draw
I recommend it for All levels
2 people found this helpful
AS
Alan S.

3 years ago

Verified Purchase
$25 is a steal. Really awesome easy to follow lessons.
I recommend it for All levels
1 person found this helpful
EC
Ellen C.

2 years ago

Verified Purchase
Levelled up Bob Ross.
I recommend it for All levels
2 people found this helpful
ED
Erin D.

2 years ago

Verified Purchase
Exceptional piece of art education material! A perfect combination of step-by-step methods whilst also being mouldable across a variety of applications. Teaching applicable principles, Philip Sue delivered a very comprehensive course - love the inclusion of the assignment documents for easy referenc
+ Show more
e and understandable milestones, and SO THANKFUL he included the brush pack he used in this tutorial (should be required for every tutorial). A great reference for artists across all levels!
I recommend it for All levels
2 people found this helpful
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About the Instructor

Philip Sue
Illustrator and Environment Designer 1 course

Philip is an illustrator and environment designer from New Zealand with a passion for science fiction and fantasy art. His specialty is painting environments digitally.


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