Grab a pencil. Seriously, just any pencil will do for now. Most people think they can’t draw landscapes because their brain defaults to those sharp, jagged triangles we all scribbled in elementary school. You know the ones. They look like teeth. But learning how to draw simple mountains is actually less about being a "natural artist" and way more about understanding how light hits a rock. It’s about being messy. Nature isn't symmetrical, so your drawing shouldn't be either.
If you’re staring at a blank page feeling intimidated, stop. Mountains are just big piles of dirt and stone. They have character. They have scars. Once you realize that a "mistake" in your line usually just looks like a cool cliffside, the whole process becomes a lot more fun.
The Triangle Trap and How to Escape It
Look at a photo of the Swiss Alps or the Tetons. What do you see? It's definitely not a perfect isosceles triangle. Real peaks are craggy. They have "shoulders." They lean.
The biggest mistake beginners make when learning how to draw simple mountains is drawing a straight line from the peak to the ground. Don't do that. Instead, try a "jittery" line. Let your hand shake a little bit. If the line is perfectly smooth, it looks like plastic. If it’s jagged and uneven, it looks like granite.
Think about the silhouette first. Start with a faint, horizontal line for your horizon. Then, instead of one big mountain in the middle, try drawing a range. Vary the heights. Make one peak tall and sharp, and make the one next to it shorter and more rounded. This creates depth immediately. It feels real. You’ve probably noticed that in professional concept art for games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the mountains aren't just shapes; they’re silhouettes that tell a story about the terrain.
Lighting is the Secret Sauce
You can draw the best mountain shape in the world, but if you don't have shadows, it’s just a flat outline. Lighting is everything. Basically, you have to decide where the sun is.
Let's say the sun is on the top right of your paper. That means the right side of every peak is going to be bright, and the left side is going to be in shadow. This is where the "ridge line" comes in. Draw a wiggly line starting from the very tip of your peak and bring it down toward the base, but don't go straight down. Snake it back and forth. This represents the spine of the mountain.
Now, shade everything on the left side of that spine. Use the side of your pencil lead. Don't worry about being perfect. The contrast between the bright white paper and the dark graphite creates the illusion of a massive, three-dimensional object. Artists like Bob Ross made a career out of this "one side dark, one side light" philosophy. He used a palette knife, but your pencil does the same thing. Just keep the light source consistent. If you start putting shadows on both sides, the viewer’s brain gets confused, and the mountain goes back to looking flat.
Texture and the "Z" Motion
Rocks aren't smooth. Even from miles away, you can see the texture of the terrain. To get this right, use a "Z" motion with your pencil when you're shading. Tiny, sharp zig-zags can mimic the look of rock faces or landslides.
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- Keep your strokes directional.
- Follow the slope of the mountain.
- Leave some white spots—these look like snow caps or sun-drenched ledges.
- Darken the areas right under the ridge line for extra "pop."
If you’re working digitally, like in Procreate or Photoshop, use a textured brush. A simple round brush is your enemy here. You want something with "grit." Even a charcoal or chalk brush works wonders. Honestly, it's kinda crazy how much a little texture changes the vibe of the whole piece.
Perspective and the Rule of Three
When you're figuring out how to draw simple mountains, you have to think about atmospheric perspective. This is a fancy way of saying "stuff that is far away looks lighter and blurrier."
Imagine three rows of mountains. The ones closest to you—the foreground—should be the darkest and have the most detail. You might see individual rocks or even some pine trees. The middle row should be a medium grey. The furthest row, way back on the horizon, should be very light. Sometimes, they're barely even there, just a faint ghost of a shape.
This trick exploits how our eyes actually work. Dust and moisture in the air scatter light, making distant objects lose contrast. If you draw all your mountains with the same level of darkness, the drawing will feel claustrophobic. It lacks "air." By fading the background, you give your landscape a sense of scale that makes the mountains feel truly massive.
Common Hang-ups and How to Fix Them
A lot of people get frustrated because their mountains look like "molehills." Usually, this is because the base is too narrow. Mountains are wide. They have huge footprints. If your peak is two inches tall, your base should probably be four or five inches wide. Give it room to breathe.
Another issue is the "M" shape. Avoid drawing two peaks of the exact same height right next to each other. It looks unnatural. Nature loves odd numbers and asymmetry. Try overlapping your mountains. Draw one, then draw another one slightly behind it, peeking out from the side. This creates a "layering" effect that is essential for a professional look.
Don't be afraid of the eraser. Sometimes, the best way to "draw" a snow-filled crevice is to shade a large area and then "cut" into it with the corner of a pink eraser or a kneaded eraser. This creates sharp, clean highlights that look like sunlight hitting a glacier.
Practical Steps to Master the Peak
Ready to actually do this? Don't just read. Draw.
- The Foundation: Lightly sketch three overlapping triangles of different heights and widths. Keep the lines shaky, not straight.
- The Spine: From each peak, draw a jagged "ridge line" that travels down toward the bottom of the mountain, curving slightly to give it form.
- The Shadow: Choose a side (left or right) and fill it in with a medium-dark shade. Use cross-hatching or side-shading to give it texture.
- The Crags: Add some smaller, darker "V" shapes within the shadowed area to represent deeper canyons or rocky outcrops.
- The Atmosphere: Lightly draw a very faint mountain range behind your main peaks. Don't add any detail to these; keep them simple and ghostly.
- The Environment: Add a few tiny "V" shapes at the base to represent distant trees. This gives the mountain scale—suddenly, that pile of lines looks five thousand feet tall.
Practice this five times. The first one will probably look a bit wonky. The fifth one will look like something you'd see in a sketchbook. The more you do it, the more your hand learns the "language" of rock and shadow. Focus on the contrast. The harder you push down on your pencil in the shadow areas, the more the light areas will seem to glow. It’s all an optical illusion, but it’s a satisfying one to master.
Next time you're outside or looking at a landscape photo, pay attention to where the shadows fall on the slopes. You'll start seeing those "ridge lines" everywhere. Once you see them in real life, drawing them becomes second nature.