{"title":"How to Paint Fog and Mist in Acrylics With Dry Brushing","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/painting/how-to-paint-fog-and-mist","category":{"slug":"painting","name":"Painting"},"creator":{"name":"Joseph Koensgen","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPvlp0njSQEOAXOsC2Kt4sg","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ9gP8WuOMM"},"tldr":"How to paint fog and mist in acrylics with soft greys, value bands and dry brushing. Get smooth gradients, light wisps and depth.","quickAnswer":"How to paint fog and mist in acrylics with soft greys, value bands and dry brushing. A medium project. You need 7 things, including acrylic paints, gessoed panel or smooth canvas and worn round brushes. The 9 steps start with mix a Purple Tinted Grey for the Acrylic Mist, block In the Base Color of the Fog, add Darker Grey Bands Above the Mist, load a Nearly Dry Brush for Dry Brushing Mist and dry Brush a Smooth Gradient Into the Fog.","totalDurationSeconds":581,"videoDurationSeconds":581,"difficulty":"medium","project":{"difficulty":"medium","projectMinutes":null,"waitMinutes":null,"totalMinutes":null,"estimatedCost":null,"yield":null},"tools":["worn round brushes","flat brushes","soft round or fan brush","palette","paper towels"],"materials":["acrylic paints (titanium white, black, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson)","gessoed panel or smooth canvas"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Mix a Purple Tinted Grey for the Acrylic Mist","text":"Start with a pile of mid grey on your palette. Joseph pulls in a little ultramarine blue and a touch of alizarin crimson to tint it slightly purple. That cool violet grey looks like air instead of concrete. Mix more than you think you need. Every lighter and darker value you make later comes from this base, which keeps the whole mist in harmony."},{"number":2,"title":"Block In the Base Color of the Fog","text":"With a flat brush, paint the grey into the area where the mist will sit. Joseph left a space between the dark background and the water for it, with the white swan shapes already blocked in. Do not worry about softness yet. You only want the general shape and placement of the mist. It will take a couple of layers to cover well."},{"number":3,"title":"Add Darker Grey Bands Above the Mist","text":"Mix a slightly darker grey and paint a band above the first one, working toward the dark background. Then a darker one still. You are building steps from light to dark. At this point the painting looks blocky, with hard lines between each band. That is normal. These bands are a map of values you will blend together next."},{"number":4,"title":"Load a Nearly Dry Brush for Dry Brushing Mist","text":"Mix a value halfway between two neighbouring bands. Test it between them on the canvas to check it sits in the middle. Then take a worn round brush, dab the very tip into the paint and dab most of it off again. Joseph keeps the brush almost completely dry. That tiny amount of paint is what makes the gradient smooth."},{"number":5,"title":"Dry Brush a Smooth Gradient Into the Fog","text":"Scrub the nearly dry brush firmly over the line between two bands. This is called scumbling. The paint grabs the surface in a soft haze and knocks back the hard edge. Work back and forth, then reload with a whisper of paint and go again. Add tiny amounts of white or black to the mix as you move up and down the gradient."},{"number":6,"title":"Pull Out Light Wisps of Mist With a Small Brush","text":"Once the gradient is smooth, mix a slightly lighter grey. Draw out little structures in the mist, like curls and drifts rising off the lake. Keep them loose and random, in different sizes and directions. Joseph warns against repeating the same shape. A pattern in the mist gives the trick away fast. Keep these marks light and thin."},{"number":7,"title":"Build Lighter Mist Where the Light Falls","text":"Decide where the light comes from in your scene. Joseph's swans are lit strongly from one side, so he adds lighter and lighter mist in the foreground and on the water near them. Use a soft round brush and build it slowly. These brighter patches add depth, so the mist is not one flat sheet of grey behind the subject."},{"number":8,"title":"Strengthen the Light Beam in the Mist Beside the Swans","text":"With your subject painted, check the mist again. Joseph felt the light near the swans was too weak, so he dry brushed in more light grey, like a beam breaking through trees on the shoreline. Because dry brushing builds so gently, you can keep adding until it feels right and the softness stays."},{"number":9,"title":"Dry Brush Mist Over the Reflections to Finish","text":"Lightly dry brush a little mist over the swan reflections and the water. This pushes them back and gives the whole scene a light, airy feel, as if the fog sits between you and the water. Add a few final wisps where the eye wants them and stop. Joseph says the patience pays off when it all comes together."}],"commonProblems":[],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-10-24T13:59:33.113Z","published":"2026-10-24T13:59:32.847Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit Show Me Step by Step with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure. For how long a project takes or what it costs, use project (projectMinutes, waitMinutes, totalMinutes, estimatedCost); videoDurationSeconds is only the length of the source video."}