A Free Landscape Drawing Lesson
Welcome to this free excerpt from Drawing for the Absolute Beginner by Mark and Mary Willenbrink. Featured is a step-by-step landscape drawing lesson on composition.
In the comments below, tell us: If you could travel anywhere in the world just for drawing landscapes, where you would love to go?
Landscape Drawing | A Step-by-Step Drawing Lesson for Beginners
By Mark and Mary Willenbrink
To a beginner, full compositions can seem overwhelming. Just remember, most elaborate drawings are just a grouping of smaller drawings. This particular drawing is made up of three main subjects: the building, the tree left of the building and the sheep. Approach it with the idea that each is a separate drawing that contributes to the whole. Take your time, be patient with yourself and enjoy the process.
Must-Have Drawing Materials
• 4H, HB, 4B graphite pencils
• 14″ × 11″ (36cm × 28cm) medium tooth drawing paper
• Drawing board
• Kneaded eraser
• Straightedge, triangle or angle ruler
• Value scale
Optional, But Not to Be Overlooked:
• Dividers, proportional dividers or sewing gauge
• Pencil sharpener
• White vinyl eraser
For Beginners: How to Draw a Landscape
Step 1: Draw the Basic Shapes
With a 4H pencil, lightly sketch a rectangle for the basic shape of the springhouse, then add a line for the roof’s edge and another line for the front corner of the house. This may be a good time to get out your straightedge to help you draw accurate lines. Sketch the grass line, tree trunk, leaf canopy and ovals for the sheeps’ bodies.
Step 2: Add the Window, Door and Roof Lines
Using the 4H pencil and your straightedge, add the window and door to the springhouse along with angles to the roof. You may want to use an angle ruler to check your angles.
Step 3: Add Details to the Building and Tree
With the 4H pencil, add more lines to define the springhouse, including additional overhang to the right side. Erase any unnecessary guidelines with a kneaded eraser. Sketch in more of the tree’s structure, tapering the smaller branches that grow away from the trunk.
Step 4: Add Definition to the Trees, Foliage and Sheep
With a 4H pencil, add more branches. Sketch the basic shapes of the tree’s foliage and the brushes and shrubs along the house. Sketch the heads and legs of the sheep.
Step 5: Refine the Sheep and Trees
Use the 4H pencil to refine the sheep by adding ears and filling out the basic shapes of their legs. Begin shading the leaves of the tree with a 4H pencil. Create texture by applying scribbles with short, broad strokes with the pencil tip flat against the paper, going back and forth. Use this same technique for the shrubbery. Check your values with the value scale and make adjustments as necessary.
Step 6: Add Shading and Grass
Add shading to the springhouse, sheep and foliage. Use the 4H pencil for the lighter shading and the HB pencil for the darker shading. Notice that the springhouse is darker on the left side because it is in shadow.
With 4H and HB pencils, add grass to the foreground and shade the sheep further. Make the body of the sheep on the far left dark and keep the grass around it light for contrast. The bodies of the other two sheep are light, so make the grass around them darker with an HB pencil. By doing this, you won’t have to rely on outlines to define the sheep; instead, they are defined by contrast. Check your work with the value scale.
Step 7: Add the Darkest Darks and Finishing Details
Make any adjustments to the shading and details with the 4H and HB pencils. Use the 4B pencil for the darkest darks, such as the window and door openings and shadow areas of the tree. Check the range of your lights and darks with your value scale and make any necessary changes. Sign and date your drawing.
Would love to learn to draw landscapes like Algonquin Park
hi that amazing is perry and nice
I would like to travel the world to draw all the historic places of the ancient world. But I would especially like to draw the sahara desert with its waves of sand and then go to egypt to draw the pyramids
I would love to go to the historical places in China . I have been reading many chinese manhwas for the last two years and i have been in love the historical genre. The drawings of the ancient buildings, landscapes, manors, and their costumes are amazing . Though i would go to other places but the first would always be the historical places.
I would draw Galveston island. The colorful Mardi Gras houses, the rocks and piers at the ocean, etc. The beautiful architecture! So many places to draw!
I would absolutely travel to be able to travel and draw landscapes across the world. Italy for sure , Tuscany, Cinque Terre Italy, Dolomites Italy. Im Italian, it’s my dream to visit. Also a few others id love to draw are El Chalten, Argentina, Wharariki Beach, New Zealand. That’s just to name a few. Would be amazing!!
Colorado because of the mountains there. That’s where I’d chose to go, but only if my parents, our dogs, and our horses could go too…
Appalachian foot hills and hollars
Learning to draw forest and Bridges, I am not sure if I am going to be able to master it yet
The Australian Bush in Spring!
That sounds amazing! I’d like to have brunch there too!
I would love to draw Landscapes in Tuscany
Pennsylvania is so beautiful with its myriad of mountains, lakes and waterfalls.
Mexico Playa del Carmen is a beautiful place.
I love the wildly beautiful coastlines of Cornwall and of the Western Isles of Scotland! Both offer rugged cliffs, intricate rock formations, enchanting secret coves, idyllic stretches of flat pristine beaches. Both full of amazing creative drawing opportunities.
I loved, loved, LOVED Ireland! Ancient castle ruins, thatch roof cottages, coastal wilderness, quaint little towns, winding roads, herds of sheep, rock walls, everything an artist could want down to the country folk in their authinic daily wear. I could sketch everyday for the rest of my life, and never run out of different scenery or subjects!
New Zealand has always been a favorite of mine, coastline, mountains, flatland, quaint towns and homes, goats! Beautiful
GREECE
For landscapes, I’m on my way to Netherlands!
Scotland and Ireland!
I’d like to bounce around to different places Pa for the Lancaster farmlands, Washington state for the beautiful mountain scapes, Utah for the painted mountains Italy Greece and Mexico for the ruins. I could go on forever.
I would live to visit Iceland. The dynamic geology there and the landscape it creates intrigues me.
The Andes would be a wonderful art pilgrimage
Difficult to choose. New Zealand is incredibly beautiful and has a wide range of landscapes with giant, prehistoric looking ferns, waterfalls, and there are the volcanic or thermal areas with beautiful rock and mineral formations. Finally there are the southern regions. Much of it seems untouched by humans. Tahiti, and Australia have beautiful landscapes. And Central Texas in the Spring is spectacular with the wildflower blooms!
New Zealand is incredibly beautiful and has a wide range of landscapes with giant, prehistoric looking ferns, waterfalls, and there are the volcanic or thermal areas with beautiful rock and mineral formations. Finally there are the southern regions. Much of it seems untouched by humans.
The vineyards of Italy.
Monet’s garden in Giverny, France would be my choice. It is said to be wild with color, birds, and flowers especially in Spring. I can imagine that Monet felt a touch of Paradise there and so filled his canvasses with inspirational skill.
I would love to be in England, perhaps Yorkshire.
I would draw Pacific Coast Highway along California’s coastline.
Not sure where I’d want to go. This world has so many beautiful places. Japan, Italy, the south of France and that’s just for starters…
My dream is to see the forests of Ireland. To be able to sketch the lush forests of Ireland is a dream worthy of my endevours.
Some of the parks in Nevada
I think I’d have to say the Hawaiian islands. By the way I have this book and it is a excellent book for a beginner like myself
I’d love to visit Guilin in southern China, armed with drawing pencils and Chinese brush paints!
I’d love to draw at Point Lobos on the Monterey Bay – the most beautiful spot in the world
To the Wyoming side of the Tetons or to the Canadian Rockies
Traveling through France by train, I wanted to get off every time the landscape changed and capture it, it was all so lovely
England! Castles, cottages, gorgeous valleys, breathtaking seascapes, old world farms and towns… just so many different things to put to paper.
The Bread Basket of America would be my number one choice for using as a reference for my landscape art. The Midwest offers beatiful, peaceful, and serene areas of farm land and prairie grass that are unbeatable!
I’d love to go to Arles in France and follow the footseps of Vincent
I was having a hard time with my drawing and felt I needed to get back to basics. This little landscape lesson helped me out of a slump. Thanks for sending it when you did. We are going on a Viking Cruise next month and the pencils would be a godsend for quick sketching in other countries.
The old farm houses & covered bridges of Western Pennsylvania….
I would love to go to SanDeago, Ca. a new draw the coast line around there, it is so beautiful.
I’d love to do more drawing in my home state of Florida – as well as Cuba, where I am planning to travel in a couple of months.
Out my back door where the desert comes alive. I live in a beautiful desert In southern Arizona just 20 miles from the boarder. I have all manner of birds and critters big and small creep in and out of my yard I love this place. It is a constant inspiration for me.
Maine seacoasts and Islands, shores, cliffs, docks, fishing villages, wildlife, lighthouses, and sunrises provide an infinite supply of shadows for “painting”
I would love to go to Australia! The landscape ther is just gorgeous.
And I LOVE Caran D’Ache pencils I use the Supracolor soft watercolor pencils and the Neo color 2!! Thanks
My Grandmother took my sisters and I on a RV road trip when I was about 6. We went from Sacramento, CA to Billings, MT. We traveled alongside the Donner Pass and Truckee River. My Grandma picked several spots to stop, like the Shoshone Falls in Idaho, Old Faithful at Yellowstone Park. I think I would like to try that again as an adult, and document the journey with sketches. All the rivers, and forests, and mountains, and wildlife… so beautiful.
I’d go to Provence. Buildings, landscape and people are so beautiful, one needs to draw them.
will be in Portugal for a trip so there’s bound to be some new-to-me landscape views!!
i also really love to draw people, so to travel to another land like India, China, or a Native American reservation, just to draw the people would be really neat!
The redwood forest would be fantastic!
I would love to go to Scotland and draw the old stone homes, barns, sheep, rolling hills etc.. These pencils would be awesome!!
My own back yard near, Moab, Utah, I like the diversity of the high desert, the tonal contrast of the rock formations, and the subtle colors of the sparse plants, along with the meandering Colorado, and Green rivers.
I would love to go to France.
Love the simple step by step instructions. Breaking it down to 3 areas of drawing helps.
I’d love to try these pencils.
I’d love to visit all the oceans of the world and sketch every single one and include things like sailboats, surfers and marine life.
Anywhere the light is glorious and the food is spectacular.
The Adirondacks in New York state would be my choice. The mountains, trees and lakes there would make great subjects for drawing.
I live in the cold desert and as far as I can see in any direction offers incredible inspiration!
Up past Grand Marais, MN. It is beautiful. I like how you take each element of a scene and make it manageable/doable. Thanks.
Italy, Venice, Rome, and Florence. Such a beautiful climate and concentration of art and architecture.
New York City Central Park
Italy/France the Tuscan and Umbria landscapes and the Provence and the lower Rhone river areas.
I would love to visit Italy
Well, at 70 I’m not sure Id be allowed, but I’d like to see the world from space…it would be lovely to sit on another place and see things not of our current understanding… 2nd choice the path of daVinci…
Montana, Idaho, Calgary, and anywhere around the “Great Divide” where mountains, streams, lakes and fields of flowers all get together to create the most breathtaking beauty and vistas right here in North America!
Iceland!
The North Shore of Lake Superior provides an endless visual feast, but any area seems to provide interesting landscapes for drawing if I am aware.
I would like to explore northern New Mexico to view and recreate its beautiful and vast natural landscape.
I’d love to draw the rolling hills in Ireland or sit atop a hillside in South America overlooking an ancient city.
I would like to be in the creek I spent so much time in as a child.
I would love to go back to China and sketch the Great Wall, Alas, I’ll have to make do with the photos I took on previous trips. Otherwise, anywhere and old barn might be.
If I could go one place anywhere to paint it would probably be Tuscany. I have heard so much about the light and it looks like a wonderful place
Love to be outside drawing Wisconsin landscape and any object sitting near me inside the house.
Tibet. The Himalayan Mountains, the monastaries, flags flapping in the wind… The monks, the people, and animals moving about the area getting on with living life. To be able to archive on paper, with pencil, the majesty and mysticism of such a place would be nirvana. What a blessing to experience.
I’d like to sketch Marin County, California…
Coastal areas, small towns, dairy cattle, wildlife, lighthouse, hiking trails and all sorts of enjoyable things.
Of course my “auld home town” Clifden Ireland is the place most teeming with landscapes asking to be drawn. The rocky hills, the wild Atlantic, the town itself and the horses, ah the horses! Going home for 3 weeks in September. Would love new drawers to capture my lovely views.
I will be traveling to the Canadian Rockies in December. It would be wonderful to draw those majestic landscapes.
I would love to sit in the grass in Ireland and draw the peace I imagine is there. Holland would be interesting too – because I don’t know what to expect!
Nice exercise.
I would like to sketch the rocky landscapes and buildings of Ireland and Scotland!
I would love to draw the landscape of Hawaii
For the dramatic nature
Or Spain for the calm and soothing drawings
A Sedona Arizona sunset
Germany or Italy would be my choice.
Top four places…. Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Britain. I’m gonna need LOTS of paper.
Paris, I just see myself in a small cafe sipping chocolate with my sketchpad and pencils in hand.
The Sonoran Desert would be my choice. I was born in Arizona and spent my early childhood there. The Sonoran is the only place in the world where the saguaro cactus grows wild. It dips into northwestern Mexico and is the hottest desert in Mexico. It is a hot and rugged place, full of surprising landscapes of vegetation, rock faces, mesas, escarpments, and an ever-changing sky. When storms roll across the desert, the looming clouds are a masterpiece of God’s artistry. After the storms pass, there are often masses of wildflowers that carpet the desert floor. It is truly amazing to see the stately saguaro standing among a sea of color. If you want to sample the beauty of the Sonoran, check out a copy of Arizona Highways magazine. The American southwest has more to offer than the uninitiated might suspect.
My place for sketching is urban settings…I particularly like small amazing towns with interesting architecture. Mount Dora, FL is a favorite spot.
I have always wanted to visit the South of France and spend my time drawing and painting. This would be the ultimate location to create and explore with all my artist materials!!
I am blessed with a large lot featuring numerous large and mature tress mixed with some young ones in the couple of more open spaces. I enjoy sitting right on my back deck and drawing what beauty is revealed to me at that time. Awesome prize. Thanks for the chance to win!
The Colorado Rocky mountains are close by and my favorite subject. When time permits, Yellowstone and the Canadian Rockies are great too.
Algonquin Park because it’s full of rocks, water, and trees – my favourite things to draw.
On the river – a favorite place to draw and paint.
Would love to go to the Grand Canyon and sketch – so different from the landscapes on the east coast, where I live.
Anywhere there are mountains or interesting rock formations. I love the beauty and majesty in God’s creation especially in mountains. I’ve been to the mountains several times, but I’ve never really sketched there. I saw that someone else said Monument Valley and I would love to go there and draw too.
I would like to go home to Norway, where I haven’t been for 15 years. There is so much wonderful nature to draw and paint there – and all the rock and year-round snow on the mountain tops would be perfect for monochrome drawings.
I have always wanted to see/draw Iceland, but I am happy just to walk out my back door and find inspiration from the ancient Appalachian mountains.
I would spend my time in the 1000 Islands on the water drawing the islands and their surroundings,
I’d love to sketch landscapes in Spain or Italy.
I’d love to go to Ireland. Also Canadian Rockies.
France. I would love to draw in France where most of the famous artists lived during the French Impressionist style.
Door County Wisconsin. Water, rocky shores, orchards, quaint towns.
I would love to take my Caran D’ache pencils (and pastels) to France and Italy. Have never been to either place.
I would like to draw in Greece!
Italy France and Germany are all good., they all have beautiful landscapes as well as street scenes, each have varying characteristics and interesting textures. as well, South America, India (Asia in general) have varied and interesting landscapes, temples and peoples to draw. i think i could definitely fill a travel sketch book with all of those subjects! Simply Greatness.
Machu Picchu is high on my bucket list.
I’d love to go to Utah and draw in Arches National Park! So many curves, lines and textures in those landscapes!!
Italy please!
If you could travel anywhere in the world just for drawing landscapes, I’d love to go first to Tuscany.
I hope you win
My moms childhood home, Mittenwald Germany. Mountains, beautiful rivers and dark forests.
Aix en Provence would be my dream. Seeing the light that many amazing impressionists saw, smelling the lavender and just simply living the history of my favourite artists.
Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and of course the cathedrals of England
Very simple and wonderful
Hard to pick one place, but one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen is Lucerne, Switzerland, with Mount Pilatus, magnificent!
I would love to draw the landscapes of Italy and Hawaii.
Hi, would love to draw the land scape !! But closer to my heart are the many animals that live in those landscapes ! :).
Monument Valley on the Navajo reservation
I would love to go and sketch the landscapes of beautiful Hawaii
I would love to bring my new techniques, from lessons acquired from the Artists Network, and new Caran D’Ache art pencils to Lake Powell, Arizona. I’ve often envisioned attempting to draw the majestic landscape at the base of the Grand Canyon. I’ve completed several drawing lessons at https://www.artistsnetwork.com and I feel prepared to tackle this dream! Hunter Ripa
Iceland would be a wonderful place to go to and draw.It has so many awesome and beautiful landscapes to explore and record.
Arcadia National Park in Maine.
Ireland
So many beautiful places in the world but I love New Zealand. Around every turn there is more beauty than the turn before.
I’d love to visit rural England in the spring or early summer to sketch. Specifically, I’d like to capture some of the sights surrounding Avebury and Glastonbury. That area of the U.K. not only contains great natural beauty, but many examples of Neolithic and medieval ruins that beg to be drawn. I’m also a fan of ancient legends and folklore, and Wiltshire is perfect for that too.
I live on a sailboat, and my dream is to head off with my pencils and paints and document my travels. First stop, Sea of Cortez and Pacific Mexico and from there, who knows!
I would return home to New Zealand to draw the beautiful landscapes there.
Ireland’s castles and landscapes!
I would like to paint Maine
I would love to go draw in Hawaii. I love the lush greenery and the hills as well as the huts and buildings, oceans and beaches It’s a little bit of everything all in one place.
I have been to Tuscany and I would love to be able to go there and be able to spend time drawing and painting plein air. Such lovely scenes to delve into!
Cliffs of Moher in Ireland
I’d love to interpret the Alps and the sidewalk cafes in Venice.
Portugal; I would like to paint its city streets and small towns.
Portugal. I would like paint the city streets and the countryside.
Italy!
Ireland’s landscapes
Utah.
Texas Hill Country to appreciate how the landscape shaped the people who settled here.
I would love the sketch the landscapes of Wisconsin
My own backyard here in rural Alabama
I want to go to London England!
The tulips and windmills in holland or the lavender fields in (southern?) France
Finland has got a nice landscape!
Cambodia, for it’s mixture of beautiful nature and unusual architecture!
I would love to go to the southwestern United States and capture nature in all it’s glory. I’ve always wanted to try and sketch the ancient dwellings and petroglyphs. And the colors are so vibrant… yes definitely the southwest.
Japan….would be nice to see and draw
I would travel to Rocky Mountain National Park
I would like to draw the landscapes of Goa , India. The culture , people, the heritage, the sea , the costal rain forest , it is a picturesque place to be in yourself and indulge into an expressive medium like sketching.
Alabama…lots of pretty places to draw
I would love to draw the villages of the mountains of Gokayama in Japan. It looks beautiful there.
Thank you artist network for the lesson!!
If I could travel anywhere in the world just to draw landscapes, I would love to go to Machu Picchu! Love the place for its Breathtaking views!!
Greece! I love the buildings on the hillsides and the beautiful blue water.
New Zealand
Ireland! I’ve never been there, but it seems to run the run the gamut: modern, traditional, pastoral, wild. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of rural Ireland that didn’t take my breath away, and if I got tired of wind-swept vistas, plenty of inspiring town and city scenes to fallback on.
Italy
Thailand , the people the mountains, cities all interest me
I dream of seeing the hills of Tuscany!
I would go to Northern New Mexico. I love the light and the architecture, as well as the landscape.
I’m always looking for drawing lessons. Thanks for this one.
Becky Cook
Arizona. Sedona to be exact. Love the landscape and the history…both make for beautiful art.
Iceland.
I would head off to Ireland and Scottland in a heartbeat.
I would go to the South of Argentina during the summer. Great landscapes with Mountains , contrats and shapes. Lakes and rivers. Glaciars.
For landscapes I would have to choose Ireland!
I would love to travel to China!
Hawaii….paradise
Hi, if I had the chance or could afford it, I’d have to say the islands of Hawaii. Just seeing the spectacular landscapes and vistas really moves me. Thxs Sean
I would love to go to Paris and sketch at Giverny!
I would go to Bergen Norway for its fjords and old town Bergen.
Italy and its gorgeous countryside.
I would go to southern Arizona to capture all of its variety.
I would love to go paint Halong Bay in Vietnam = magical
Florida or Hawaii. Love the beach!
I would love to go back to Cannes, France and draw the Alps and the Riviera. I also would love to draw landscapes in Tuscany.
Marianne
Greece would be one of the places, I would choose.
On the African savanna
On the African savanna. The trees are beautiful, huts, animals, and mountains make it so interesting!
I’d love to draw the redwoods in CA. There are several state parks in my area that offer lovely scenery as well.
Santa Fe, New Mexico. I would love to see the area that Georgia O’Keefe painted.
I’d love to go to Savana, Georgia. Something makes me feel the place would be awesome to draw/paint. To dream about.
On safari someplace
Eiffel Tower
Thanks 4 lesson
Thanks for the landscape lesson. I’d like to draw the Italian countryside or the mountains and animals of Montana.
I would love to visit Kashmir!
It’s heaven on earth! It’s is the land of beauty!
Unfortunately, it isn’t portrayed well in the media because of political problems!
But I would love to draw it, paint it, and taken photographs of it nevertheless I don’t think that would be enough to take a copy of its beauty with me!
The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland are amazing! There are also inspiring old ruins and ancient castles there too.
I would LOVE to visit Oahu, Hawaii to draw it’s magnificent mountains and valleys. I have only seen photos of such beauty of a far off tropical land offering so much flora in those mountains and valleys to choose from. The (drawing) experience would be incredible!
The west coast of Nicaragua, wild and natural beauty. A little inland, dense, rich jungle-like forests before climbing the volcanoes.
Ireland to be sure!
I would be torn between drawing wildlife or a landscape…something with a barn. Thank you for the chance to win!
Italy-No other comment needed 🙂
Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef – located approximately in the middle of the Pacific ocean.
I would like to go up to the Yorkshire dales and draw those beautiful stone walls and crofts, the shading made with the pencils would be ideal. Thanks for the video, very helpgful
MALTA! – THE PARADISE! ( without the Azure Window 🙁 ) – -but it is the pearl in The Mediterranean Sea!
I would love to go to New Zealand to sketch and plein air paint. It has some of the most amazing landscapes.
I would love to paint plein air in Iceland. Someday I will visit there and capture the beautiful landscape and amazing colors of the fjords and Northern lights.
I would love to travel to Iceland to see the northern lights! That would be amazing.
I would love to go and sketch the French Alps.
Glacier National Park in Montana has the most beautiful mountains and lakes in the northwest US….my dream location.
Colorado, I never been, only seen photos, but looks like it has everything a landscape artist would love.
I’ve never been to The Florida Keys. It’ll take me just a minute to pack. Don’t leave without me.
Germany.. i imagine the sight lines are amazing
Paris, so beautiful
I would love to go back to the Highlands of Scotland and draw the wild countryside with the crofts and sheep.
Sequoia National Park in California. I volunteer there every summer and it is so beautiful!
I would travel to Phoenix. I never tire being able to see so far! Love the different formations and landscapes!
Copenhagen, Denmark, where my ancestors are from. ❤
Austrian alps
The upper Big Horn Basin on a warm September afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity.
Ireland. I’d love to see my ancestral country!
New Zealand. Most beautiful place on earth!!
I would love draw the landscapes of Australia
I’ve dreamed of sketching Sweden where my family came from.
Slovenia.
Tuscany! I’ve never been, but it’s my dream to sketch there!✏️
Oregon coast
Norway! Due to the wonderful light there. There is no other place on the planet with such fantastic light and nature combination.
The landscapes are oh so dreamy. Like a fairytale.
I’d love to draw the Irish or Scottish landscape, especially at the coast.
Sedona, Arizona, the beauty of the red rocks, the water, Indian lore, the mystical vortices, the glowing sunsets, put to paper would be my dream.
I would love to draw the trees and birds in my backyard or Latta Plantation because it will mix my passion of art and history as well as architecture.
I would draw the nature reserve next to my local beach.
I would love to draw the Italian countryside.
Tom
There are reservoirs, streams and forests around Redding, CT that I’m dying to paint, fortunately I live here!