How to Draw A Cartoon Valley filled with great effects

Drawing a colorful cartoon valley made from bright colors can be a simple task ... especially if you use this fun drawing lesson. Indeed, I will show you a few basic tips to create a fun illustration in just minutes. A typical valley is usually made of mountains and a small path (or a depression). If you wish, you can include a small river in the middle.

This is exactly the type of valley we will try to create in this drawing lesson. If you can have access to a vector application, then you will also have the opportunity to work with gradients. Don't worry. These basic effects can also be done using other drawing tools.

drawing a few basic shapes to form the skeleton of this illustration

First, we need to sketch a few basic shapes to create a template that will be used to draw the valley. It's a good opportunity to try new things and figure out the landscape of your image. You can also polish the proportions and size of all elements included in this drawing. In this step, let's sketch two irregular shapes to form both sides of the valley. The middle part is empty and will include the river later in this tutorial.

adding two large mountains in the background

Nice! Now that we have a few shapes to work with, let's build our illustration around these. Near the top of the image, you can add two large mountains using more irregular shapes. The mountain on the left is wider and slightly higher than the one located on the right. Both mountains are more visible on the right. On the left of the picture, the mountains are partially hidden by the original shapes.

sketching basic shapes to form the clouds and the sun

On top of the mountains, it's time to work on elements located inside the sky. First, sketch a tiny circle between both mountains (shown in green below). This small circular shapes represent the sun. Next, draw three long oval shapes to form the clouds. The one on the left is partially hidden since it's spreading beyond the border of the image.

polishing the drawing using perfect curved lines

Excellent! Now that we have some basic shapes to work with, it's time to draw the silhouette of all elements. You can use a mix of long and small curved lines to do so. Straight lines are pretty rare in nature, so try to avoid those as much as possible.

As you can see below, the mountains, the river and both sides of the valley are now visually more accurate. Notice how all lines used to create the river and the cartoon valley are joined together near the top of the image. Now that we are done drawing these elements, you can erase all basic shapes created in the previous steps.

drawing the sun and the clouds

The circle used to represent the sun can be kept. You don't need to draw a new shape for this part of the picture. However, the silhouette of the clouds must be polished. Once again, these are organic elements so don't hesitate to use irregular lines as shown in the illustration below.

adding bright colors to our cartoon valley

Yes, we are already done sketching and drawing this beautiful valley. It's now time to add bright colors to the image as shown below. The sky and the river are colored in blue. However, the sky must be brighter than the river. The clouds are white and the sun is yellow. The rest of the drawing can be green. Of course, elements on the background can be darker to give more depth to the image.

using gradients to create more depth

Like I said earlier, if you have access to a vector application, then you can easily add gradients to create more depth and volume inside the image. A simple halo was also added around the sun. As you can see below, the river is now darker near the top and brighter on the bottom. The same technique was used on most elements from the drawing.

I hope you had fun learning to draw this simple cartoon valley. Below, you can see all steps needed to create this image grouped into a single file. Feel free to get creative and draw your own background. You can add more details like simple trees, rocks or anything else you can think of.

If you want to learn to draw more fun images filled with natural landscapes, then you can try more fun lessons from this site below. Some of these images are simple while others are loaded with complex details, textures and patterns. Have fun drawing and remember to practice on a daily basis. It's the key to success! :)