bought at gumroad.

com mitchleeuwe

How
How to
to draw
draw
environments YOU'LL LEARN:
how to use composition,
by
by mitch
mitch leeuwe
leeuwe perspective, effects
and other skills to
create environments
bought at [Link]/mitchleeuwe

Copyright © 2021 by Mitch Leeuwe

how to draw
environments
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reselled, reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of
the publisherexcept for the use of brief quotations in a
book review. For personal use only

[Link]
by mitch leeuwe

Printed in the Netherlands

First Printing, 2021

Graphic design: Harmke Leeuwe

[Link]

2 3

Hi there!
Let me introduce myself. I’m Mitch Leeuwe and am an illustrator from the Netherlands. I always drew a lot as a kid. I
even had the childhood dream to become an animator at Disney. During my teenage years, I lost that dream. Luckily, I
slowly started drawing more and more. When I was 19, I began to do some freelance work as a graphic designer, which
made me consider picking up drawing again. I attended several drawing programs at schools but I learned most from
online resources. Now, I’m a freelance artist working on visual development. This means I design characters, props
and backgrounds for games, animation and toys. However, you probably know me f rom my Instagram where I release
tutorials and more. My goal is to create a place where people can learn the things I wanted to learn when I started out.
 4 5

For the production of things li ke movies, cartoons, this ebook and focus on understanding why I dr aw it
commercials or games, backgrounds need to be made. that way. Also, compare your version with my original
Most of the time that is done by an environment artist. drawing to see what you did well and what could use
some extra attention. When you see something that
It seems that nowadays, being a character artist is is off, try to gure out what you can improve and give
quite popular. With that in mind, it could be a smart it another go. Learning to draw takes a lot of time, so
move to try to get into the industry as an environment don’t let that discourage you, simply take your time.

Introduction artist. Naturally, it is important that you choose to do

something you like, but what I’m trying to say here is When something is too difcult, take a step back and
that by learning how to become an environment artist break it down in simpler steps. The upside about any
In this book I’ll explain several aspects of how to draw Perspective drawing is also a convenient skill for drawing (there is a large demand for good ones), it could give frustration is that it simply points you to something you
backgrounds, such as composition, using reference, backgrounds, and I’ll explain some of t he basics in this you many extra opportunities. can work on. When you see it this way, it’s actually
telling a story, adding details and way more. I’ll also show book. If you’d like to know more about drawing with something that can help you grow as an artist. So, don’t
you how to create backgrounds for different subjects and perspective, I have created a special ebook for this I would recommend studying the drawings covered give up and don’t be too hard for yourself, we all started
environments, for example cities, forests, all kinds of subject in particular. In the ebook, among other specics, I here by grabbing your pencil or pen and draw the somewhere!
different nature and interiors. go in depth on how to draw perspective for environments. drawings from this book. Follow the steps I take in

6 7

the basics of
drawing environments
 8 9

drawing perspective
When you’d like to learn how to draw backgrounds, I see how I use these lines to draw the big shapes (like
would recommend learning about drawing in perspective. boxes) on top of them. I start by drawing boxes because
Even when you don’t want to invest too much time they are easier to draw i n perspective. When I’m happy
in it, start with some basics, like one- and two-point with the overall design and big shapes, I start adding
perspective. Already with understanding one- and smaller shapes and after that I add the details.
two-point perspective you are able draw many things.
Perspective can be very technical, but when I’m drawing, I Starting with big shapes allows you t hen to focus on the
don’t use the complex perspective techniques all the t ime. overall shape and the proportions of the design. Details
are important, but they are the icing on the cake. If you
In this drawing of a house, you can see how I draw have a weak design (the big shapes/overall design), you
freehand perspective. On image 1 you can see t he green won’t be able to save it by adding details.
and purple lines. If you make these lines longer, you’ll
notice they disappear in one point (the vanishing point on
the horizon). Sometimes I just roughly sketch these lines
as a guide for my drawing. On the second image you can

10 11

Here I’ve drawn some variations. The main differences between these houses are in the big shapes. As mentioned
before, focus rst on those big shapes, then add smaller shapes, and details after that.

exercise
Try to make a couple
design process of your own variations,
you can use some of
these elements for your
You don’t always have to start in perspective design. But try to make
though. Especially when you’re focusing on an alternative using
the design of an object, it can be useful to rst different big shapes, as

draw it from a front view. That way you can I did here.
pay all your attention to t he design and save
the perspective for later. Oftentimes, I scribble
a bunch of these front views rst before I start
drawing the nal design in perspective. With this
approach you have your own reference when
making the nal drawing.
 12 13

In this image I want to show you step by step how

I approach drawing such as this. My sketches
usually do look rougher than this, but I wanted to
demonstrate clearly how I make these steps.

I start with the big shapes, add smaller shapes and

details step by step. When I have nished the nal
line art, I add colors and save the shading for the
last step. With colors it’s important not to choose too
many of them, but rather think about a color scheme
you’d like to use. For the shading, choose a light
source (like a lamp, the sun, the moon, etc.) and its
position. Keep it simple.

14 15

Here you see some drawings of houses

I did before I created the nal drawing
at the bottom. I would recommend you
to do the same. First draw a couple
use reference of thumbnail sketches and pick the
design you like the most. Use that one
in your nal drawing. It’s good to try out
For this building I used reference different designs and not settle for the
of buildings from the city center of rst thing you can come up with.
Amsterdam. I would recommend to
always look up reference if you can.
When you use reference, you can
apply elements of different buildings
and combine them together to create

your own design.

Sometimes I use 3D to design my
buildings, as I have done here to
create this one. I’ll talk more about
using 3D later.
 16 17

props
To be precise, this boat isn’t a background or
environment, it’s actually called a prop. Think
of a prop as an object, like boat, plane or
car. But it can also be something smaller, l ike
table, chair, television, and so forth.

Before I began the nal drawing for this boat, I

drew some quick thumbnails. When doing this
I focus on the big shapes of the design. When
I have something I like, I tweak it (maybe
taking some parts of different interesting
thumbnails) and apply that to t he nal design.

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In the rst image you can see the doodles I made before of my doodles and let them choose their favorite. I never
I started with the nal design. You can actually nd me send all though, as that could end up being too much to
doing this almost every time, personally I think it’s good to pick from. It does however show your condence as an
never be satised just with your rst drawing/design. When artist if you select approximately four of the strongest
I’m working for a client, sometimes I send over a couple designs and present that to the client.
 20 21

Here you can see how I start doodling (1 to 4). I prefer to start with a cube, because that is a shape that is easy to draw
in perspective and you can build on top of that to create something more complex.

Once the doodle feels right, I start drawing it from scratch with better perspective and take more time for it to make it as
nice as possible. As I have explained earlier, I rst want to get the big shapes right and then I’ll add all the details. I use
the doodle as reference for my nal design.

22 23

When I draw a background, I Consider the style you’re drawing in.

sometimes draw some of the Most of the time I’m drawing in this
props on a separate page for cartoon style where everything is a
extra information about these bit wonky. To achieve this, I make up
objects. This comes in handy if some rules to follow, like making all
a 3D artist needs to model the the shapes a little bit playful and not
environment. Having drawings of too straight.
these props separately from the
environment makes it easier to When you practice how to draw props
model these props in 3D. specically, it also gets easier for you

to draw a full environment lled with

So besides learning how to draw props. It becomes less overwhelming
environments, it’s also useful and gives you more condence when
to learn how to draw props for drawing the background.
production.
 24 25

composition

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the rule of thirds

Knowing the principles of composition is very important for drawing backgrounds. With composition you can guide the
viewers’ eyes to what’s important in the scene.
create depth
One common rule is to use the rule In this image I want to show you
of thirds. What it means is that you tips on how you can add some extra
put objects on 1/3 or 2/3, and you depth in your drawings. Think about
avoid the middle or the sides. It’s using the foreground, midground and
not mandatory to do this, there are background. You can try to create
movies where the middle is used some rough sketches like this to get
to create the visual style. But if you to some interesting compositions by
are just starting with composition, using these guides. Keep the drawings

I would recommend learning the very basic and see how far you can
rules rst and break them only once come with just a simple rough drawing.
you truly understand them.

Here are some examples of how I use the rule of thirds in my drawings. An exercise you can do is t o study some movies
and try to see if you can nd these compositions in the shots. Of ten times you can clearly recognize these basic r ules.
 28 29

What I want to point out here is for you to

avoid drawing from the front view or side view
as much as possible and try to go for depth
and use that Z axis instead.

When I’m drawing environments, my aim is to create as much depth as I can. This makes the environment livelier
and more interesting to look at.

A great way of creating depth in your drawings is by using the Z axis (see the example image). The X stands for the
width, the Y for the height and the Z for the depth. If you are drawing objects like a fence, road or branch, you can
create the illusion of depth by drawing them on the Z axis.

30 31

setting up a composition
When I start sketching, it almost looks like a modern art painting (image 1). I do have an idea in my mind, and I try to
nd owing shapes that go well with it. This is something that is difcult to explain and teach, but you can learn it by
doing it for yourself. Try to follow the steps I’m showing here. First think about the energy and from step 3, you can start
to add construction. Here it’s transforming into a real world but try to keep the energy from the owing lines you started
the drawing with.

Pick a background you like and try to catch the ow of that drawing in a few simple lines,
exercise like image 1 of t he example. You are basically reversing the process I described above. By
doing so you can learn how to set up something such as this for your own environment.
32 33

Here I start with the simple idea of a house on a hill. I added the tree in the foreground for depth and to achieve an
interesting balance with the house and the tree. I always try t o have these contrasts in my drawings and want to avoid
symmetry as much as possible.

34 35

When I draw landscapes, I This is another example in

like to start by drawing the which I started by drawing
horizon line. It’s an easy the horizon line and then
rst step to put something added the mountains.
on the canvas. Once you When I draw buildings, I
have drawn this line, you like to set it up with basic
can add mountains on top shapes. Cubes, cylinders
of it. After that I start adding and spheres. The trees are

smaller shapes like three’s more organic, but you can

and other fauna. still recognize those same
basic shapes. Once you
have drawn these shapes
you can add more details
on top of it.
 36 37

In background drawing, focus

is an important element. Using
shapes that point or ow towards
the direction you want to draw
the viewers’ attention to, is one
way of guiding that focus.
Here I started dividing the frame
Before you make a background, into nine parts with the rule of thirds.
decide where the focus point Once I have done that, I picked one
should be. The focus point can of the 4 interactions and used that to
be something like a character, put a point of interest on, which would
building or another point of be the bear in this case. Trees, rivers
interest. In this example I have and other organic shapes are also
used the arrows to determine good for guiding the eye to the point
the focus points. In the nal of interest. You can rst draw these
drawing you can see that the arrows and next, build shapes on top
other elements ow or point of that, those follow the direction and
towards it. ow of that arrow.

38 39

aerial perspective
When you look far in the distance,
Before you begin with your nal you will see the effect of atmospheric
drawing, it’s good to draw a perspective, also called aerial
thumbnail rst. Keep it very rough perspective. Objects that are in the
and just use it to put your idea on distance have less contrast and
paper. will also appear more blueish. With
greater distance, there will be more
Once you have that, you can air particles between you and the
decide what kind of perspective object you’re observing. If you’re
would t and keep working on it. sketching, one way to use this is
The nice thing about making a by drawing thinner lines. Or when

thumbnail or rough sketch is that you’re drawing in values, you could

you don’t have to worry too much use lighter colors. In this example
about all the drawing rules and the objects in the foreground are
can focus on getting your idea the darkest and the objects in t he
right. distance are lighter.
40 41

exercise
Have a go and see if you can break
down these drawings like I did with
the previous backgrounds. Start
with the biggest shapes and save
the details for last. By analyzing
someone’s work in these steps, you
develop skills to learn how to draw
backgrounds such as this yourself.

Maybe you can draw your own

version of a beach with palm trees
using the elements I’m showing
here. Play around and place
everything little bit differently,
and/or draw it slightly different in
general. The combinations of these
elements become endless when
you change them.

42 43

prop design
 44 45

Construction If you look closely at these trees,

you might be able to break them
back down in simple shapes, as a
reversed training of the explanation
on the previous page. Once you’ve
done that and you are condent
about it, you can experiment with
making your own trees following the
steps I’m showing in this book.

Tip: Use the internet or go outside

for real life reference. Try to see
if you can nd those big shapes
in real life trees and draw them in
your sketchbook. Sometimes I rst
Every complex drawing can be broken down to basic shapes. By focusing on those basic shapes, you can concentrate draw a realistic version of the tree
on a good construction for the object you’re drawing. Once you get these shapes right, you can begin to add smaller I see, trying to stay as close to the
shapes and eventually all the details. It’s important that you maintain the big shapes and the ow when you are drawing reference as possible. Once I have
the details on top of it. that, I draw a new version of that
tree, but I go more cartoony with it.

46 47

flow
The simplest way of drawing a tree is by
There is endless variety of trees, so starting with a trunk and adding a big shape for
it makes sense that there are also the leaves. Once you establish the big shape,
multiple ways to draw them. And you can ll it with branches, rst bigger ones,
that is what I will show you next. and smaller ones next.

I like to start with the ow and the

overall shape. Once I’ve made the
big shape and the energy, I add the
construction on top of that and save
the details for last. The ow and
construction are two different things, One way to make the branch more interesting is to add
but they do need to be in balance. A a twist in it. Try to think of a towel, or better yet, take a

drawing without ow would feel stiff towel as a reference. Hold it straight and then twist it.
and a drawing without construction You can apply wrinkles to the design of your tree. This
would look sloppy and weak. To get will make it more dynamic and interesting to look at.
a good result, make sure that once
you’ve added the construction, there
is still ow in your drawing and it
doesn’t look stiff.
 48 49

exercise
Try this for yourself! Study some trees or come up with your own designs by applying this
rule of contrast in the designs. See how many you can come up wit h!

contrast
When I’m designing something, I tr y to divide the shapes in different sizes and have contrast between them, in
order to create an interesting balance and make it look organic. Getting inspiration from nature, you will notice that
no shapes are the same, and they have different proportions, you rarely see something identical or perfect. I also
try to apply this in my designs.

50 51

What I like about drawing rocks is

that they can be both organic and
a bit geometric shaped at the same
time. The variations are endless!

Start with drawing big shapes rst.

A lot of times I’m working with three
shapes. Earlier I mentioned the
power of three, and here also I often

play around with a big, medium and

a small shape.

Applying different scales or proportions is another point to you can use small, medium and big. Uneven numbers
pay attention to when drawing environments. This r ock is like 3,5,7 etcetera works best, because you’ll get more
an example of how I vary different sizes for the individual asymmetrical designs.
pieces. I prefer to work with the number three, because
 52 53

organic shapes
When drawing something organic, Once you have drawn those random
like a rock, it can help you to draw shapes you can ll them with details.
some random shapes rst. Why? Even with drawing the details I try to
What ends up happening is when play around with the different sizes
we try to draw something organic, in it. If you analyze these drawings,
we tend to make it too symmetrical, you will gure out how I arranged the
and use too much parallel lines. I shapes and details. (Spoiler alert:
try to avoid that by drawing random often in groups of three and avoiding
shapes. You can also look up some parallel lines as much as I can)
pictures of rocks and use that as a
reference.

Try to draw as many different rocks on one page as you can. Always push yourself to go f or
exercise the biggest diversity. Think in big shapes rst and later divide them in three smaller shapes.

54 55

flowers
When I’m looking at an environment,
for me it is pleasant when there are
owing lines in the image. Flowers
are great to create this. Have a go
and copy this drawing. Once you did
that, try drawing these owers again
but change the owing lines I drew in
step 1. After this you can experiment
with drawing your own owers by

using the same steps.

toadstools
Drawing toadstools is fun! It’s also a good way to practice variety in shapes and sizes. I would encourage you to take
these designs and maybe copy them rst. Focus on understanding how I build them. Once you’ve done that, t ake that
as a base and draw them slightly different. Change the angles, shapes and so on.
 56 57

Here I’m having fun with drawing planets! I would recommend you make your own planet as
planets well. Maybe you want to draw a planet full of volcano’s, or one lled with toxic swamps, or
maybe full of high-tech cities.

alien plants
You can let your imagination go with
drawing weird alien plants. This
one is quite complex, but great for
practicing construction and to see
if you understand how to draw 3D
shapes. Try to create depth in the
props/fauna you draw so it doesn’t
look at.

58 59

create
natural elements
 60 61

static vs dynamic
You can interpret this imagine as
showing ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, but
don’t take it literally, there is no right
or wrong. It simply indicates my
preference for dynamic designs in
my drawings instead of static.

Some productions use the static

version deliberately though. Shows
like Family Guy are using a lot of
parallels and straight lines, but they
do that for a purpose. It’s therefore
wise to decide what your goal is. I
myself want to make lively, dynamic,
cartoony worlds, that’s why I prefer to Here I wanted to show how you can improve some details by applying small and simple changes. Try things like
try to add contrast. variation in sizes, play around with the spacing between or overlap the details and elements. Contrast and diversity are
important for creating an interesting drawing.

62 63

clouds
Drawing clouds can be harder than it
looks. Because they look so simple, it’s
even more important to get the principles
right. In the example here I’m showing
that I start with a small shape, a medium
and a large one. I do that to keep the
overall shape interesting and appealing.
For that reason, I also apply straight vs.
curved lines at the top and at bottom of

the cloud. It’s all about contrast.

When drawing an environment with clouds, it can be good to use those clouds to get a sense of direction. Use it to
guide the viewer’s eye towards your focal point. In this drawing I demonstrate how you can use curves to create an
environment that feels big and peaceful
 64 65

It’s much easier to draw a box in

any perspective than any other
shape, especially complex organic
shapes like clouds. Setting up
your drawing by using cubes rst
exercise
Fill a page with completely different
clouds and go crazy with all t he
can really help when drawing shapes and proportions. See how
clouds that feel like they have a far you can push it.
volume. Experiment with drawing
some cubes and use the boxes
as guidelines by drawing the uffy
clouds inside in them.

66 67

water
In the example you can see a
splash of water that is hitting an
object. Just like an explosion, the
splashing water is driven by a force
from the center. I indicated this force
with the arrows in the left drawing.
When I determined where the water
is pushed towards by the force, I

added the secondary shapes and

lightning the details (right image) to create the
water splash.

When you are drawing lightning it's important to make it with different lightning strikes, t hen choose the ones that
irregular. Try to make it as random as possible and use are the most natural looking. Lightning is chaos and every
short, mid-sized and long lines. Give it a go and ll a page strike is completely different.
 68 69

When you are drawing an explosion,

it is tempting to make it look
symmetrical. For some reason,
people like symmetry, but symmetry
is not something to be found in
nature that often. Pay attention to

explosion this when drawing an explosion and

try to avoid an articial shape.

An explosion is caused by released energy/force from the center. This energy

energy pushes outwards, like you can see at
image 1. When I draw an explosion I always start with the overall big shape of the explosion and add the arrows to
indicate how the energy is pushed outwards and hence creating this shape. At image 2 you can see how I divided this
big shape into smaller ones that follow the same ow of energy. After this I added some more details and colors to it.

70 71

smoke
Smoke has a source from where it is
emitted. From this point, the air moves
around and causes a smoke trail.
Because this is an organic process,
also here I recommend avoiding
symmetry. You can do this by playing
around with shapes and sizes of the
elements, even a simple swinging trail
of smoke can be asymmetrical. Try
to push both ends to have as much

contrast as possible, at the same time

it depends on the style you want to
achieve in terms of how far you should
push that.
 72 73

Here you can see smoke rising up. Notice that the smoke rotates when it moves upwards.
air flow That is because of the phenomenon of hot air pushing cold air downwards. This rotating
movement also makes it look dynamic.
Smoke and re are moving on
air. Think about in what way they
move. Hot air goes up and pushes
cold air downwards, this way wind
is created and this is visible in the
rotating ow of smoke and re.

74 75

draw an environment