subject: How To Create Fine Art Landscapes With Distance [print this page] By using great colors and painting techniques fine art landscapes make the viewer experience each attribute of the painting with deep emotion. Creating distances in landscape paintings is truly an art. With practice and much experience you will be able to make a flat canvas appear 3-dimensional. By obeying the following steps your landscape will be given new life.
Will the type of medium I choose to use affect how distance is made in my landscape?
Whichever medium you are using the principles remain the same. The details become less apparent the further away you go from the foreground. When moving further away from objects in the landscape their colors and textures become less defined.
Overlapping elements:
To get the affect of your scene wandering off in the distance you must overlap your elements and pay attention while doing so. Perspective is when closer objects are made larger and more defined while further objects are less defined, smaller and overlapped by the larger ones making it seem they are more off into the distance.
Objects need less definition and need to be smaller the further they are from the foreground. To make it like you are viewing the tree in front of the other objects present you must layer or paint it over the water and grass lines and mountains which should be way back in the distance. You could use a smaller version of this tree in the background but it will have less features and texture and also diluted colors. If there were a line of trees and a larger single tree in front of them it would force the line of smaller trees back into the distance.
Color and contrast are the elements altered to get both perspective and distance in your work:
To create a great illusion of distance in a work of art the objects should be painted with less contrast and lighter colors so that they seem to be in the distance. Your choice of colors also make a difference. Using cooler colors to paint your distant objects will help them to work. Foreground objects need to be painted in warm colors.
Skylines are made by placing the color of the sky closest to the horizon line. When the sky moves further from the horizon the color gets darker. To achieve great water in the foreground you must make it lighter in color and display what is under the water as well. The reflection of the sun must be in the foreground for it to work, that is where it belongs. To make the water look real; as it moves further away make it darker and denser by intensifying the color and darkness. The effect is achieved because the warn foreground colors keep the soft dull colors in the background.
When it comes to creating distance and depth in a landscape piece of at you must alter the contrast, color values and details. As the colors need to seem closer they must be warmer to achieve it.
