Caroline
There are many incredible sights to behold in the natural world, and some of the most beautiful of all these sights happen every day if you know where to look.
One of the most incredible sights that you can enjoy every day is the magnificent sight of a sunset.
There’s a special magic in the air around sunset, and because of the beautiful colors and atmosphere of this time of day, sunsets have been captured in many artworks throughout the years.
If you would like to capture this beautiful sight in a drawing yourself, then read on!
This step-by-step guide on how to draw a sunset will have you recreating this natural beauty easily.
How to Draw A Sunset – Let’s get Started!
Step 1
For this first step in our guide on how to draw a sunset, we shall be doing some planning drawings.
For this step, it would be highly recommended to use a pencil that you can go over with a pen later on. To begin, simply draw in a large rectangle.
Then, a little more than halfway down the rectangle, use a ruler to draw a straight horizontal line across as you can see in the reference image.
Finally, draw in a circle that has a small portion at the bottom of it under the horizontal line. To draw the circle, a drawing compass can be very helpful to draw a perfect circle so if you have one then it would be recommended for this part!
Step 2 – Erase some of your planning drawings
In this second step of your sunset drawing, you will see why we suggested that you draw in pencil for the previous step.
In this step, we will be erasing the part of the circle that is below the line that you drew. You can also erase a small section of the circle above the line that we will be drawing mountains into later.
Try not to leave too much of a space, and the reference picture will show you more or less what you should aim for.
At this stage, you could also use a pen to go over the horizontal line and then erase any leftover pencil.
Step 3 – Next, draw in some mountains for the background
We’ll be using the spaces that you left between the circle and the horizontal line in this step of our guide on how to draw a sunset.
Carefully draw in some mountain shapes starting a little higher up on the sides of the rectangle and getting a bit lower.
They should connect to the horizontal line of the sea and fill in the gap between the circle and horizontal line as you can see in the reference picture
Step 4 – Add in a pretty palm tree
Your sunset drawing is starting to look really good! But to make this picture even more atmospheric, we shall add a palm tree on one of the mountains in the background.
As you can see in the reference picture, it’s not a super detailed tree and will appear as more of a silhouette shape than anything.
You can draw it in with the simple lines you see in our example. Such a simple addition makes a big difference in adding to the atmosphere of this drawing.
Step 5 – Next, let’s add some final details
Small details can make more of a difference than you might think, so in this part of our guide on how to draw a sunset, we shall be adding some in to give your picture some more flair!
To start with, use some very small, curved lines to add some flying birds to the sky.
Then, add some thin lines underneath the sun in such a way that they form a very rough triangular arrangement as you can see in the reference image.
At this stage, if you haven’t gone over your pencil with a pen yet, you can start to do so now!
Before you decide to use a pen, though, remember that you could fill the shapes with color in the next step and then erase the pencils if you prefer an image without black outlines in it. It will look great either way, so it’s entirely up to you!
Step 6 – Finish off your drawing with some color
You already have a wonderful sunset drawing in front of you, but now you can make it even better with some beautiful colors!
Sunsets are famous for their beauty, and that beauty comes from the amazing colors on display at this time of day.
In our reference image, you can see a wide palette of colors, from yellows and oranges to brown and even a bit of blue for the ocean.
These colors are our suggestion, but you should use any colors that you love for this image!
This would also be a stunning image to experiment on with some amazing art mediums and tools! I especially think that watercolor paints would look amazing on this drawing!
These paints can give a beautiful softer look to an image, but they are also just one of many incredible options at your disposal.
Which favorite art mediums will you use to finish off your sunset drawing?
3 More tips to make your sunset drawing easy!
Rise to the challenge before you set down your art tools as we give you 3 helpful tips!
This guide you have just completed showed you how you can make it an easy to draw sunset image, but now we will show you a few ways to make it easier still.
One recommendation we always like to make for pictures is to use reference material. The steps in this guide can help a lot, but using photos and paintings as references can help you work on the sky, sun, cloud and any other details.
Luckily, reference images are freely available online. Don’t forget to add some of your own creative touches!
Using reference images can also help you with the colors and smaller details that you may want to use.
In the guide, we spoke of a few different tools you can use to make your drawing much easier. We would like to emphasize here just how useful it can be and that there is no shame in getting a helping hand.
Whether you use a drawing compass for the sun or a ruler for the ocean, there’s no need to make things harder for yourself by trying to do it freehand.
You can also use household objects you may have if you don’t have traditional drawing tools at hand. What are some objects and tools you could use to make this drawing even easier?
Drawing alone can be a fun activity, but it can also be lots of fun to share the activity with someone else! This can also help you to overcome any tough spots.
You could even take it in turns to take on different steps of the guide. Or you could each have a copy of the guide at hand and then each create your own sunset drawing.
This doesn’t have to be a competition, and you can help each other through any tough parts.
Then, when you have each finished your picture, you can compare how amazing each drawing of a sunset looks!
Your Sunset Drawing is Complete
You have reached the end of this guide on how to draw a sunset, and you have done a fantastic job at this tricky drawing subject!
Looking at the picture before you started drawing it, you might have thought that drawing such a pretty sunset would be too hard, but hopefully with the help of this guide you found it to be easier than expected!
We created this guide to be fun and easy for you to use, and we hope you had an incredible time working on it! Now that you’ve finished your drawing, you have some great options to personalize it.
Whether you try out different variations of drawings with and without outlines or try out some beautiful colors and art mediums, we can’t wait to see what you come up with!
We will be bringing out lots of fun drawing guides like this one constantly, so please be sure to check our site frequently to never miss out on our fun drawing guides!
We would be thrilled to see your finished sunset drawing, so we’d love it if you would share it on our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to admire!
Here Is An Easy Sunset Drawing To Inspire You!
There are few things more relaxing than sitting down to watch the sunset. This easy sunset drawing for kids allows you to recreate this feeling no matter the time of day.
This picture was drawn by our artist Amanda to make things a bit easier for you. She used a lot of details on the water and the landscape, but it’s also simpler than it looks if you look closely.
Each detail is made up of simple lines, but the way they come together makes them look complex. When you make your own version, you can make them even simpler if you want.
You could also add some details and ideas to make this your very own ideal sunset getaway. What are some details you could add to make this more distinct to resemble a place that you love?
