By Show Me Step by StepPublished
Based on a video by Stay Creative Painting with Ryan O'Rourke.
A glowing full moon over a starry sky is one of the most satisfying acrylic paintings a beginner can try. There is no drawing to get right. Everything is built from soft gradients, a few dabs of white and some spattered stars. Ryan O'Rourke of Stay Creative Painting walks through it in under ten minutes, from a plain black canvas to a bright moon wrapped in moonlit clouds.
You only need four colours: black, a mid blue, white and a little grey or extra black for shading clouds. Student acrylics are fine. Use a big round stippling brush for the sky, a small round or detail brush for the moon, and a small flat brush for the clouds. A canvas already primed black saves a coat of paint and a long wait.
Ryan keeps his sky brush fairly dry. A wet brush dabbed onto acrylic that is starting to dry will lift the layer underneath and leave patches. With a drier brush, you can dab and blend over and over to get a smooth fade from bright blue in the middle to near black at the edges. If a layer feels sticky, stop and let it dry fully before you go back in.
Thin white paint with plenty of water, load a long brush, and pull back the bristles with your finger so they spring forward. Hold the brush well away from the canvas, or you get a line of stars instead of a scatter. More water means bigger stars. Test on paper first, and cover anything you want to keep clean with scrap paper.
The glow comes from values, not from a special paint. The sky must be lightest right around the moon and darkest at the corners. The moon itself is a crisp white shape, and its outline is softened with a watery blue so it melts into the sky. Ryan even blends that edge with a fingertip. Craters are only suggested with rough dabs, since you would not see detail from this distance.
Once the basic sky works, change one thing at a time. Swap the blue for a deep purple or teal. Paint a crescent instead of a full moon. Add a black silhouette of pine trees or a hill along the bottom edge, which takes five minutes and makes the moon look even brighter. A small canvas makes a quick gift or a card.
Ready for more night skies? Try painting a galaxy or the northern lights. For fuller clouds, see how to paint clouds, and brush up on blending acrylic paint for smoother gradients.
10 steps · about 10 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Start with a canvas painted black, or one that comes primed black. Load a large round brush with blue and dab it into the middle of the canvas. Keep the brush fairly dry. Too much water and the dabbing will pull paint off the layer underneath. The middle is where the moon will sit, so this is where the colour needs to be strongest.
Tip
Square or portrait canvases both work. Pick one and centre the glow on it.
Work the blue outward in a circular dabbing motion so it fades into the black. You are making a gradient: dense blue in the centre, almost black at the edges. The middle does not have to be solid. A little see-through is fine. What matters is that the brightest area is in the centre, because the moon will be giving off all that light.
Tip
Step back from the easel now and then. Gradients are easier to judge from a distance.
Mix some white into your blue and repeat the process on a smaller scale. Dab the lighter mix into the very middle and blend it outward. This time the fade goes from a whitish blue to the blue you painted before. It sets up a light source, so the moon will look like it is glowing rather than stuck on top of the sky.
Tip
Let the first blue layer dry before this one so the dabbing does not lift it.
For stars, thin white paint with plenty of water on a long brush. Pull the bristles back with your finger and let them go, so the paint flicks onto the canvas as tiny dots. Keep the brush well back from the surface. Too close and you get a line of stars, which Ryan did by mistake near the bottom. More water gives bigger stars.
Tip
An old toothbrush works for this too and gives a finer spray.
Now the moon. With a smaller brush, paint a very watered-down white circle in the centre of the glow. It will look see-through and a bit blue, and that is fine. This first layer is only there to set the size and position of the moon. You will build it up in several layers, so take your time getting the circle round.
Tip
Trace around a jar lid lightly with chalk if you want a perfect circle.
Pick up more white and choose the area of the moon you want to be brightest. Dab the paint on there, and drag it now and then to blend small patches together. Most of this painting is done with a dabbing motion, but here you mix in some dragging strokes as well. Keep building until the moon reads as a solid bright shape.
Tip
Brightest on one side gives the moon a hint of roundness.
Add a few blue and darker dabs inside the moon for depth, then go back in with white. You only want to suggest craters, not paint each one. From this distance you would not see them clearly, so a rough, broken texture does the job. Ryan covers up a couple of attempts he does not like. That is fine; paint over and try again.
Tip
A slightly worn brush gives a better rough texture than a new one.
Outline the moon with a very watery blue and blend it outward so the edge softens into the sky. Ryan uses his fingertip for part of this, and it works well. The goal is a sharp, bright moon that fades from white into blue and then into the dark sky. That gentle halo is what makes it look like it is shining.
Tip
Wipe your finger often so you do not drag dark paint back into the moon.
Mix blue, white and a little black into a soft grey-blue. With a flat brush, paint simple, flat cloud shapes across and below the moon. They will look a bit cartoonish at this stage, and that is a good place to start. Keep the bottoms of the clouds fairly flat and the tops bumpy. Build a couple of layers so they are not see-through.
Tip
Let a cloud cross part of the moon. It makes the scene feel deeper.
Light comes from the moon, so the tops of the clouds should be bright and the bottoms dark. Add black along the bottoms and blend it up. Add white along the tops in short strokes and blend it down. Dab in lots of small bumps for detail, then soften some areas. Finish with a few tiny clouds for depth.
Tip
The more small bumps and dabs you add, the more real the clouds look.
Keep going
How to Paint Shadows and Highlights in Acrylics With Color Theory
How to Paint a Full Moon Night Sky - Easy Acrylic Painting
Liquitex
Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Set (24 tubes)
Artist-grade pigment at student pricing, buttery enough to blend and thick enough to hold a stroke. The set most acrylic painters start on.
Benicci
Benicci 16-Piece Artist Brush Set
Every shape you actually reach for (round, flat, filbert, liner, fan) in nylon that keeps its point and does not shed. Comes with a palette knife and case.
FIXSMITH
FIXSMITH 8" x 10" Stretched Canvas (12-pack)
Pre-primed cotton canvases in a bulk pack so you can just start painting. The low-stakes surface for practicing before the big piece.
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