The Illustrator’s Guide to transforming your artwork with striking Skies
🌤️ By learning how to make skies the most memorable feature in your artwork, you give yourself a huge advantage as an artist.
✅ This skill has helped me get work in the industry and build a visual style. It's an asset to anyone who wants to make artwork that people remember and commission more of.
✍️ This course is for illustrators and artists who paint digitally
Get the course and learn the magic today 🌤️
Why skies change your work
Most people neglect their skies and don't think about utlizing the sky as a way of telling the story. But the most impactful aspects of an artwork, the light, the colour, the mood, and the atmosphere, all come from the sky and the choices you make there. The sky can enhance and fill your image with magic and drama if you know. This course teaches you those lessons and gives you the resources you need to do this.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
⛅️ Paint skies that show a mastery of mood, light, and magic
⛅️ Make faster, more confident decisions while illustrating skies.
⛅️ Avoid common pitfalls like ending up with flat skies or overworked clouds
⛅️ Build a repeatable system to approach any sky — day, night, storm, or sunrise
Who is this for?
🌤️ Illustrators & concept artists
🌤️ Book cover artists & picture book illustrators
🌤️ Those who want to paint faster and with confidence
Hi 👋 I'm Tom Cole
Hi, I'm Tom (Clo-ho-sy (an Irish family name I inherited)) Cole, an Illustrator and Artist living and working in Brighton. I have worked across many forms of Illustration and in Animation production over the last 15 years. I work in Photoshop and Procreate mostly. I love painting skies and the natural world—it’s my biggest source of inspiration. I teach drawing in a practical, supportive way — focused on the process of learning, rather than the final result.
15+ years of professional illustration industry experience.
Specialising in Photoshop and Procreate.
A love for composition and light.
My Approach
In this course I show you MY METHOD for painting a sunset. It's not a generic sky painting course, it's my personal approach developed over many years of illustrating, and this course walks you through step by step. I’ve spent over a decade painting skies for book covers, picture books, and narrative illustration. In this course, I share the approach I actually use in professional projects:
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Watch a sneak peek of the course
The course includes worksheets, resources, brushes. Everything you need to progress.
Get EVERYTHING you need to paint skies here!
The tutorials. The files. The Brushes. The Textures. My Reference folder too!
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The course comes with a workbook, to make following along with the tutorials a breeze
Illustrating Skies.
Learn the Secrets to painting Striking Skies
- For Digital Artists Using Photoshop
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Questions you may have before signing up
Here are some answers for common questions. Anything need clarifying, reach out to me at [email protected]
The lessons in this class are demonstrated in Adobe Photoshop, and it is primarily is suited to follow along in Photoshop for an intermediate user. I don't cover the basics of using Photoshop so i'd advise doing this course once you have a basic understanding of the program
You can follow along in Procreate on an iPad if you know the program well and are ok with interpreting what I'm doing in Photoshop to do similar in Procreate. I have supplied Procreate resources, brushes and working files, so you have everything you need.
Lots of the lessons here are about the theory and fundamentals and I think that stuff is relevant whichever program you use, but the demonstrations later in the course are in Photoshop.
This course is ALSO available on SKILLSHARE - If you'd prefer to get it there, but getting it on gumroad you get access to all the extra resources I include with it, so I'd recommend getting it on my gumroad.
I use a Wacom Cintiq to draw into the computer. I recommend either having a Wacom, an iPad with Procreate, or another drawing tablet.
Yes! I believe that learning how to make this sky helps to unlock all types of skies and with resources provided you'll have the brushes, references, textures, and knowledge to take these skills into the next artwork you do, and onwards.
I’ll be providing a bunch of resources for this class.
2+ Hours of Footage, with lessons, follow along videos and footage of my process explained
A template to draw your Final Artwork into. (Photoshop and Procreate Compatible)
A template for drawing values and for sketching out cloud shapes and perspective
A breakdown of different skies and what they say in your illustrations.
Layered PSD file of my Final Artwork for this Class
Access to me for my feedback on your results!
I'm happy to troubleshoot any problems you are having and would love to see your images. You can email me your questions and results or share them with me on instagram.
@tomclohosycole
Yes of course. I have a 14 day money back guarantee on the course so
Learning to draw from scratch or working on improving your drawing is a hugely rewarding experience and a highly valuable skill. I strongly feel that drawing is a deeply personal and human act that comes through YOU and your personality. Learning how to express your creativity is a great joy. I also believe artwork made by humans will continue to be valued and highly sought after as we move into this new chapter. People will always want to look at and surround themselves with, work that comes from humans. It holds a story of the person who made it.
Also, drawing for me has been a wonderful way to spend my time. Slowing down, observing the world and translating it onto canvass/paper/screen is a truly mindful and joyful act. I will continue to do it irrespective of if I am paid to do it, purely for the enjoyment of it. But I am sure it will continue to meet both needs and can do for you too.
Peace of mind....
If you aren't happy I have a 14 day money back guarantee on Gumroad.
So if you dont find the course of value, then you are welcome to get you money back.
Illustrating Skies.
Learn the Secrets to painting Striking Skies
- For Digital Artists Using Photoshop