How to Draw Clouds (Step by Step Pencil Tutorial)

Start with two overlapping triangles drawn very lightly. The triangles set the rough silhouette of your cloud, not its final outline. Vary the sizes so one is taller than the other, and let them overlap by a third or so.

Ryan adds a small third triangle in the middle to break up the symmetry. Don't press hard. These are throwaway lines that you'll erase as soon as the cloud has its softer shape. Pencil-on-paper triangles feel wrong for a fluffy cloud, but they give you a backbone to build on.

Now layer circles and ovals around the triangles to soften the outline. Vary every shape. A big oval on the left bulge, a small circle on the right, a square-ish bump where the cloud meets the sky. Inconsistency is what makes the shape read as a real cloud instead of a cartoon.

Let some bumps overlap. Let others stick out into the sky. The top right corner can taper into a thin wisp instead of a round bump. Ryan calls this the moment the cloud stops being a triangle and starts becoming weather.

Pick a side of the cloud where the wind is pushing. Ryan picks the top right. On that side, taper your outline so the bumps trail off into the paper instead of stopping in a hard edge. A few short broken strokes work better than one continuous line.

Now erase the inner pencil lines from the triangles. You only want the outer cloud shape and the wispy fade on the windward side. Use a tissue wrapped tightly around a pencil tip to lightly soften any line that still looks too sharp.

Decide where the light is coming from. Ryan picks the top left, which means the right side and the underside of the cloud are darker. Switch to a 6B pencil and lay down loose strokes on the shadow side. Don't try to be neat. You're going to blend it.

Push the darkest values into the spots where one bump overlaps another. Those crevices are where the cloud casts shadow on itself. Keep the top of the cloud lighter than the underside. A cloud bottom should be the darkest area on the whole drawing.

Pinch your kneaded eraser into a sharp point and start pulling pigment out of the cloud where the light hits hardest. Top of every bump on the light side. Round dabs work better than swipes - they read as actual highlights instead of streaks.

This is the move that turns a flat gray smudge into a three-dimensional cloud. You're carving brightness back in by subtraction. Reshape the eraser tip on a scrap of paper between lifts so it stays clean and sharp.

Grab your blending stump - or wrap a fresh piece of tissue around a pencil tip - and start working the mid-tones. Use light cross-hatching motions: a few diagonal strokes left, a few right, a few horizontal. This builds a smooth gradient instead of a flat smudge.

Keep blending until the dark side fades smoothly into the light side. There should be no hard edge where shadow stops and highlight starts. The gradient is what makes the cloud look soft. If you lose detail you wanted to keep, go back in with the kneaded eraser and lift it again.

Take a sharp 2B and tighten the outline where the cloud meets the sky on the light side. Deepen the very darkest spot on the underside - this should be the blackest point in the drawing. Then sketch one or two small clouds in the background. Lower contrast and less detail makes them recede.

Step back. If the eye doesn't travel around the cloud in a loop, add another bright lift or one more deep shadow until it does. A cloud that locks your eye in one spot looks dead.

That's the basic cumulus method. Save it - the same three-stage rhythm (block in, blend, erase back) is the foundation of every cloud type you'll ever draw.