Warning: finally cracked how to make clouds look soft without overdoing the blur tool

A client saw my new landscape piece and said the sky felt real, which is a huge step up from my old blocky mess.

3 comments

3 Comments

Hey, that's awesome! I never thought about working on the CLOUD EDGES instead of the whole shape. Try using a really soft brush at like 10% opacity to add wisps of lighter blue right where the sky meets the cloud. It makes that blend look organic without any blur tool mess.

sarahsullivan7d ago

My friend Alex spent a whole weekend trying to fix a harsh cloud line in Procreate. He kept using the smudge tool and it just looked smeared. I finally told him to pick a sky color and use a soft airbrush at 15% flow on a new layer. He painted tiny wisps outward from the cloud. The change was instant, like the cloud just breathed out into the sky. He texted me a picture of his screen with the word "magic" typed over it. What's the hardest type of cloud for you to paint?

quinn_nguyen18d ago

In Krita, I set my brush to 3% flow instead of opacity... it gives me more control over the wispy edges. I sample the sky blue right next to the cloud and lighten it just a bit. Layering those faint strokes builds up the blend without getting muddy. Really saves time compared to messing with blur filters.