New Lesson 'Small Discoveries' Now Available
Learn how to paint this peaceful moment
Building confidence with every stage.
This lesson takes a slightly different approach. The figure presence introduces a strong sense of life and narrative, elevating the painting beyond a traditional landscape.
The surrounding environment, with its trees, rocks and flowing water, provides a rich and engaging setting. It also offers a great opportunity to build on core landscape skills, from structure and depth to texture and movement. The addition of figures, however, brings an extra layer of interest and challenge.
Because the children are positioned at a distance, we can achieve a convincing level of realism without becoming overwhelmed by fine detail. Rather than focusing on intricate features, the emphasis is placed on capturing the overall form, light and atmosphere so the figures sit naturally within the scene.
This creates a rewarding balance between landscape and figure painting, making it an ideal lesson for anyone looking to introduce more life and storytelling into their work.
The Block in stage focuses on establishing the main shapes and values. Placing the figures correctly and separating light from shadow, without worrying about detail. The goal is to build a solid foundation before refining.
In this 21 part tutorial we’ll gradually build up layers, depth and realism, working through the trees, rocks and water, and I’ll show you how to paint the figures more realistically so they sit naturally within the scene, without relying on lots of intricate detail.
Each stage is broken down into clear, manageable steps, allowing you to work at your own pace and build confidence as you go. By the end, you’ll have a finished painting and a much stronger understanding of how to approach subjects that combine landscape and figures.
I hope you enjoy painting this as much as I did.
Happy painting
