Drawing ideas from clouds - A creative drawing exercise
Have you ever stopped for a moment to look at the clouds? Have you observed how the shapes are constantly changing? It is a fascinating spectacle how they sometimes appear as majestic mountains, sometimes as fearsome dragons or even as friendly faces in the sky.
As a draughtsman, I find clouds to be an endless source of inspiration. In this blog post, I would like to introduce you to some ways in which you can use simple clouds to unleash your creativity and get new drawing ideas.
Inspiration lurks in the clouds
Clouds can be far more than just short-lived celestial phenomena for your creativity. They invite you to look at the world with an open mind.
Each cloud tells its own story. And each of these stories is just waiting to be discovered and put down on paper.
Leonardo da Vinci, a master of the Renaissance, once said: “Sometimes I look into the clouds and discover mountains, rivers and all kinds of wonderful shapes. Then I take my pencils and record what I see.”
Video: Drawing ideas from clouds
To accompany the article, I have also created a video for you in which I explain all the ideas in detail. So take a look at the video and let it inspire you. You’ll see that the clouds are a real source of new ideas.
An exercise to unleash your creativity
Let’s free the creativity from the clouds with a simple, yet very effective drawing exercise. This exercise will stimulate your imagination and show you how to create stunning works of art from simple sky formations.
General procedure
In general, you can create your sketches in the following way:
1. look into the clouds and try to sketch the different shapes first.
2. if you have already recognized a formation in the clouds, then try to capture it directly.
3. now look at your sheet of paper and try to develop an idea from the different shapes.
4. sketch this idea only roughly at first or simply try out different sketches.
5 Once you have found an idea, create your detailed drawing.
Cloud observation
Find a place where you have a clear view of the sky. This could be your garden or a nearby park. But it can also simply be the window in your home. Take your time to observe the clouds and find a shape that captures your imagination.
Now simply draw this shape on a sheet of paper. At first, concentrate on capturing only the rough shape of the cloud.
Once you have captured the shape, you can now see what you can develop from this shape. Once you have recognized something, start drawing the sketch directly over the shape.
Photograph and take away
It will happen too often that you are simply out and about or don’t have a sketchbook with you. Then you might still have your smartphone in your pocket, which you can use to quickly take a photo of a beautiful cloud formation.
You can also simply take the clouds with you and work out your ideas later at your leisure. This way, you can take a closer look at the clouds later and develop ideas from them.
Digital drawing is a great way to develop ideas from cloud photos. You can simply open your photo in your drawing software and then sketch your ideas on a new layer.
Conclusion
Clouds are more than just collections of water droplets in the sky. Clouds can be a window to creativity and inspiration, if only you let them.
I hope this exercise motivates you to look at the sky with new eyes and recognize the “idea clouds” for what they really are: an invitation to creativity. Share your drawings and the stories you have discovered in the clouds with us. It’s exciting to see what fantastic creations are waiting to leap from the sky onto your paper. Happy drawing and creative discovery!
