Airbrushing Landscapes

Airbrushing Landscapes

Airbrushing Landscapes

By Daniel Piechnick

Not being much of an artist myself, I was surprised to realise how easy it is to make realistic miniature landscapes using the airbrush.

To start with, make a new layer, and use the selection tool to select a small circle, about 150 pixels in diameter. I've drawn the circle here, but you don't need to do that -- you just have to have to have a circular selection.

Now, select the airbrush, and set it to size 27 (or thereabouts).

Step 1. Roughly airbrush the lower part of the circle. Don't remove the light sections, as they add a bit of colour variation, and that accidental bump at the right can stay -- it could be useful as a hill.

Step 2. Get a light blue colour, and repeat the process to create the sky.

Step 3. Select the brightest yellow colour, then apply it to one spot for a few seconds to make a sun.

Step 4. To draw clouds, select the sky's colour (use the eyedropper, or Alt+Click). Then go to the colour picker and select a colour that's slightly lighter than the sky. Use this colour in a kind of circular scribble to create the cloud. To make the clouds more realistic, select another, similar colour, and colour over most of the clouds (if you take a closer look, you'll notice the right cloud contains two colours).

Step 5. To make a river, use a darker blue colour. Zoom in and use a smaller brush for the stream that tapers off to the horizon. As with the clouds, go over the river with a similar colour.

Step 6. Just for fun, I thought I might put in a pyramid to finish off. You'll need to zoom in and use a small brush to do this one. When you're finished, remember to use Stroke, to put a black outline around the circle.

That's it! I've used this technique to illustrate a couple of sites, and in the header for a couple of my sample sites. Happy airbrushing!

Daniel runs Pegasus Web Design Resources and works as a professional Web designer in South Australia.