Plein Air Painting: Outdoor Techniques for Landscapes and Nature Scenes

Painting, Environment

Plein Air Painting: Techniques for Outdoor Landscapes

Environment painting isn’t just about drawing buildings, trees, or landscapes - it’s about guiding the viewer’s eye. Strong environments feel immersive because they have clear flow, believable space, and thoughtful use of light and color. In this exercise, you’ll combine observation, composition, and rendering to create an environment painting that feels alive.

Whether you’re interested in concept art, illustration, or just want to improve your painting skills, this process will help you better understand how real places translate into compelling artwork.

Step 1: Study an environment painting

Start by picking an environment painting you really like. Don’t copy it - analyze it. Look closely at the flow of the composition. Where does your eye travel first? How does the artist use lines, shapes, and contrast to guide attention through the image? This step trains your visual intuition before you even start drawing.

Step 1: Plein Air Painting: Techniques for Outdoor Landscapes

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Step 2: Sketch a real environment

Next, choose a real place to work from. You can take a photo yourself (highly recommended, because you need some fresh air) or select one online. Begin your sketch using simple lines only, starting with the horizon line and basic perspective guidelines. Don’t think about details yet.

Step 2: Plein Air Painting: Techniques for Outdoor Landscapes

Step 3: Add contour lines

Once your main shapes are in place, add contour lines to them. These lines describe the volume and orientation of forms in space and will make rendering much easier later. Think of this as preparing a solid 3D foundation for your painting.

Step 3: Plein Air Painting: Techniques for Outdoor Landscapes

Step 4: Create a quick value study

Analyze your reference by making a fast value study. Squint your eyes and simplify what you see into light, mid, and dark shapes. This step helps you understand lighting, mood, and focal points before committing to color.

Try limiting your values to a maximum of 4. Like this you will avoid confusing yourself.

Step 4: Plein Air Painting: Techniques for Outdoor Landscapes

This workout is a MUST if you want to improve composition

Step 5: Refine with color and light

Now refine your sketch from step 3 by adding color and light. Stick to the value structure you established and slowly build up the rendering. Focus on atmosphere, depth, and clarity rather than over-detailing everything equally. Render until the image feels cohesive and intentional.

Step 5: Plein Air Painting: Techniques for Outdoor Landscapes

Bonus Step: Style exploration

For an extra challenge, create another plein air painting, but this time imitate the style of an artist you admire. Pay attention to their brushwork, color choices, and level of detail. Style studies are a powerful way to expand your visual vocabulary.

If you practice this regularly, you’ll develop a stronger sense of space and flow in your environment paintings. Repeating this process often will sharpen your eye and make your environments feel more immersive and confident. Remember: great environment art isn’t about copying reality - it’s about interpreting it with intention.

If you try this exercise, share your results with the Artwod community - we’d love to see your plein airs!

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Author: Artwod team

Published: Feb 19, 2026