How Do You Draw A Volcano

How to Draw a Volcano

Volcanoes are one of the more dramatic features of a landscape; not only for their destructive power but also their unique beauty. They play an important role in shaping the surrounding landscape and demand the attention of the viewer; making them an amazing storytelling opportunity when you include them on one of your maps.

All of the brushes I will be using for this tutorial are available in Map Maker Essential Brushes pack for Procreate & Photoshop.

1: Beginning with the Shape

The first thing you will want to do is determine the size of the volcano. Since this is in an isometric perspective, use a rough oval shape for the top of the volcano rather than a circle. Then draw a couple of lines that slope down toward the ground.

2: Giving the Volcano Shape

You can now begin sketching in some more details to determine the overall shape of the volcano. Keep using sloping lines so that the base is wider than the top.

Keep things pretty loose during the sketching phase so you don't get bogged down in details. At this point you are primarily determining the overall size.

3: Refining the Line Art

Now that you have a rough idea for the shape of the volcano, you can create a new layer and begin drawing in some of the final line art. While you still want to have that overall sloping shape to the volcano, you also want your lines to appear a little jagged and rocky. Try to vary the pressure on the brush a bit, and allow a little bit of shakiness to come into the stroke.

For this volcano I have decided to make it an island, rather than it being part of a mountain range or standing alone in the landscape. You can see that I have rounded off the base of the volcano where I imagine it would be emerging out of the water.

Lastly I have sketch in a rough shape to define the shape of the smoke coming out of the mountain. At this point try to just use a naturally flowing shape that gradually gets wider at the top to give a billowing effect.

4: Adding the Details

Once you are happy with the overall look of the volcano, you can begin adding some more details. Use a lighter stroke and continue to add some jagged lines that follow the contours of the mountain. Look at your original line work and find natural corners and draw your detail lines out of those.

You can now also begin drawing the final line art for the smoke coming out of the volcano. Follow the shape you sketched in during the previous step, and use rounded shapes to gradually build up the smoke. It is really similar to drawing a cloud, and the key is to vary the size of those half-moon lines to gradually build the overall shape.

Don't Get Too Attached
You may have noticed that I have actually removed one of the slopes near the upper left of the volcano. The reason I did this was because I felt the volcano was starting to look too uniform. Try to not get too attached to any piece of your illustration, because sometimes the best thing you can do is simplify and remove something.

5: Blocking in Your Colors

The next step is to begin blocking in your main colors. In this case I have painted a desaturated teal color over my paper background, and set the blending mode to "Multiply" so that the paper texture still shows through. I have also used a desaturated brown for the volcano itself, and a lighter beige for the smoke.

Digital Tip
I highly recommend painting the water, volcano, and the smoke on separate layers if you are able. It will really allow you the flexibility later on and is one of the biggest advantages to working digitally. In the next step you will see one of the reasons why.

6: Painting Some Simple Shadows

Using a large brush, begin painting in some really general shadows with a darker brown on the volcano to start defining the form. Imagine the direction the light is coming from and begin blocking in some general shadows. Don't get too detailed at this point as you are primarily looking at the overall form of the volcano.

"Alpha Lock" is Amazing
If you are working digitally the easiest way to do this is to isolate the color layer for the volcano itself and select "Alpha Lock". Essentially this prevents you from coloring outside the lines as you can only add color to the pixels on the layer that already have color on them. This is a feature I literally use every single day as it dramatically speeds up my workflow.

7: Deepening the Shadows

Now that you have a broad idea of where your main shadows will be, you can begin adding some more details. I am using a smaller textured brush and gradually deepening the shadows along the detail lines I added earlier. If you look at photographs of volcanoes you will notice that many of them have ridges that go down the sides, which is the look I am trying to achieve. Just take your time and build the shadows up gradually to get a lot of depth.

At this point you can also add some shading to the ocean itself. The easiest way to think about this is that as you get closer to shore, the water color will generally be lighter. With a darker tone go around the island and use more horizontal strokes to keep things in perspective.

Shading the Smoke
You can also begin add some shadows to the smoke as well. Start by looking at the overall shape of the smoke and add some broad shadows the same way you did in the previous step for the volcano. Shade the smoke first as a whole object before adding details to particular areas of the cloud.

As the light is coming from the left, you want the shadows on the lower side of the cloud to be darker than the ones directly in the light. It's kind of like painting a bunch of spheres that have all been smashes together to form a shape.

8: Coloring and Shading

The volcano is really starting to come together, but likely looks a little flat. Adding some highlights will go a long way to giving your drawing dimension. Remember that our light source is coming from the upper left in this case, so paint your highlights where the light is hitting most directly. Then you can also add some subtle pops of brightness to the far side of the volcano where reflected light from the sky would still be lighting the top of the slopes. You can do the same for the smoke by adding the strongest highlights on the circles closest to the left.

As an aside, I was feeling that even with the highlights that it was looking a little flat. So I did add a curves adjustment later and made the class S curve to boost the highlights and bring down the shadows. This also brought in a little more saturation to the whole volcano.

9: Painting Highlights on the Ocean

With the volcano done, lets add some highlights to the ocean itself. When it comes to shading oceans, the easiest way to think about it is that shallow areas will appear lighter and where the water gets deeper the tone will be darker. With that in mind, begin adding some lighter tones around the shoreline and blend them into the rest of the ocean. Again, you will want to try to use more horizontal brush strokes to help keep things in the right perspective.

Volcanoes are a lot of fun to add to a map because they really can shape the story that you are telling. In the real world people have a tendency to live near dormant and sometimes active volcanoes because of the natural resources they offer. Living here in Oregon there are several dormant volcanoes, and you can see at least one of them from most of the major cities in the state. They really do dominate the landscape and demand your attention, which is why people will travel from all over the world just to see them.

If you found this helpful I would appreciate it if you pinned this to save for later and to share with your friends. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you map your story!