How To Paint Skies

Summary by Krater

This video explains the color science behind painting a realistic sky, detailing how hue and saturation shift with altitude and how Rayleigh scattering affects colors at the horizon.

From the video

Answers: How do you paint a realistic sky and clouds using color theory?

• Sky color theory
• Rayleigh scattering
• Color picker value and saturation
• Painting clouds in perspective
• Atmospheric perspective

What it concludes

• Painting a realistic sky involves shifting hue toward the ultramarine end while increasing saturation as you go higher up.
• The darkest blue occurs in the ultramarine hues, which can be avoided by not progressing too far up the spectrum.
• Warmer colors and greener hues dominate the horizon due to atmospheric scattering of longer wavelengths.