A Beginner's Guide to Drawing and Painting Rocks

(Also available on Skillshare)

In this class you will learn how to start seeing the structure and forms within landscapes, specifically rocks. I explain how you can easily approach drawing and painting rocks with various mediums such as pencil, digital paint, watercolor and gouache. We will cover everything from pebbles and boulders to larger coastal rocks and mountains.

Rocks are the foundations of our landscapes, on which everything else is built and grows. They often appear in landscapes as “supporting elements” but they can also be the focus!

Class Structure

1. Start Small and Simple: Pebbles
   Showing you some quick easy ways to get those lovely little rock details in your landscapes
2. Find the underlying structure: Boulders
   How to find the underlying structure (or design your own) to simplify what you are seeing. This is a repeatable strategy that I use all the time!
3. Build up the complexity: Coastal
   How I break down complicated references, using a coastal cliff wall as an example
4. Go Big! Mountains
   An introduction to the basic forms of mountains. After this you can draw simplified mountains and begin practicing adding detail. A full mountain tutorial is forthcoming!
5. Adding Texture and Plants
   "Growies" as I call them are one of my favorite ways to make rocks more interesting!
6. Color - Digital, Watercolor and Gouache Demos
   1. Digital painting Demo
   2. Watercolor Demo
   3. Gouache Demo

My Teaching Style

I truly believe that everyone has the ability to express themselves, but sometimes we just need a little help.

My goal as a teacher is for students to take away a deeper understanding of the topic rather than just copying what they see. That way, students can go off on their own and find success within their own practice.