How To Draw Top Down Mountains

How to Draw Mountains - Peak Down Perspective

Ane of the most of import features on fantasy maps are the mountains. Not only are they prime real estate for dwarves and dragons, but they play an important function by impacting political borders, travel, and fifty-fifty weather patterns.

Simply, they tin be challenging to draw in a peak downwards perspective and even so get a good sense of scale and depth. While it is much easier to reach this in an Isometric Perspective, at that place are ways to actually make your mountains pop off the page. So permit'due south start mapping!

All the brushes used in this tutorial are available in The Cartographer's Liner Castor Field Kit for Procreate & Photoshop

ane: Sketch the Ridgeline

Begin with a couple of simple curving lines but to go an thought of where the main ridge will be. Yous can do this in pencil, or if you're working digitally like me then just keep this on its own layer.

Apply flowing lines with a "C" or "S" curve but don't exist agape to join them together.

ii: Describe the Main Ridgeline

Create a new layer and begin inking in the main ridgeline of the mountains. It'due south of import to note you are drawing a series of continued mountains which form a range, not individual peaks.

Make sure your line is rather jagged and you lot are varying the width of the line as you go.

I am using the Crude Tooth Brush to ink all the line work for the mountain in this tutorial. Information technology has a bit of grit to bring in a bit of rocky texture.

iii: Add the Secondary Ridges

Look for the points along the principal ridgeline and depict the secondary ridges that come up off. Go on using very jagged lines merely have them generally flowing away from the main ridge.

Use broken lines equally the ridge flattens out and joins the surrounding terrain. This volition help it taper into the landscape.

4: Add together a River

At this indicate yous can add together a river flowing betwixt the two main mountain ranges.

Make the river wider as it goes since it will be accumulating h2o from feeder streams on its journey to the coast.

5: Draw Boosted Streams

If you lot wait at a terrain or topographic map of our ain world, yous'll notice just how many small-scale streams there are in mountain ranges. Even if many of them are just seasonal.

Anywhere there is a low point where two ridges come together, there is potential for a stream. You exercise not need to testify every ane, just the largest or well-nigh important to your map or story.

6: Finish Detailing the Mountains

Go on adding petty details to the mountains and then they look nice and rocky. Attempt to imagine you're drawing lines that follow the way water would flow downward the sides of the mountains if you lot poured h2o over them.

But, don't bring the mountain ridges all the way downwards to the river. You'll meet why in the next pace!

vii: Detail the Surrounding Terrain

You may take noticed that information technology tin can be a fiddling challenging to tell the deviation between a line that'due south a stream and one that's just a detail on a mountain.

A way to overcome this is to help the river stand out more past drawing contour lines that follow the river as if it'southward cut through the mountains.

Yous can so add together thin, broken lines effectually the exterior of the mountain range to requite a sense of profile that indicates pes hills.

Now, information technology's time to start adding some shading!

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viii: Paint Basic Shadows

It's time to really showtime making these mountains popular with some bones shadows. Create a new layer beneath your line art and choice a colour slightly darker than your groundwork.

Apply a relatively soft brush and paint in some shadows on the side of the mountains facing abroad from the lite source. Be mindful of your low-cal direction but it doesn't take to be perfect since yous're adding surface texture.

I am using the Heavy Marker Brush to block in the shadows and and so switching to the smudge tool to blend the edges a lilliputian more.

9: Deepen the Shadows

Now you tin come back through with a petty flake darker shade of brownish and pigment in some deeper shadows to add more depth.

Generally, the darkest shadows should exist virtually the peaks along the ridgelines. These areas should stand out with the about amount of dissimilarity.

x: Paint in Highlights

Create a new layer and pick a color that is lighter than your background. I personally don't like using pure white merely take opted very a very lite and desaturated tan color.

Like the shadows, the strongest highlights will also exist about the peaks along the ridgeline. Y'all can also add a pop of highlights to the surrounding foothills to help them stand up out…simply go along it subtle!

11: Finishing Touches

You lot're almost done but at that place are a couple of piddling things you lot can do to actually pull everything together.

Create a new layer and fix the blend mode to "Saturation" and select the color black for your brush. With a soft brush that you can control the opacity with how difficult you press, lightly pigment over the highest mountains and blend information technology into the surrounding terrain.

If y'all need a little extra dissimilarity then create another new layer and set the blend mode to "Overlay". With the same brush equally the previous step you lot tin paint over the areas that would be the most in shadow only to add together a picayune more than pop of dissimilarity.

You're all done! If you lot found this tutorial helpful be sure tofollow MapEffects on Instagram and tag me with the map yous create following this tutorial and I may feature your work! Give thanks you, and I look forward to seeing you map your story!

Cartographer's Liner Brush Field Kit

$29 | For Procreate & Photoshop

Want the the brushes I am using for this tutorial? The Cartographer's Liner Brush Field Kit contains all the liner brushes you need to give an traditional quality to your digital piece of work!

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Source: https://mapeffects.co/tutorials/mountains-top-down

Posted by: brenneraltaid.blogspot.com

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