Learn how to paint the Northern Lights with your Arty Crafty Kids this Winter! The lights are best observed between the months of December to April – making this easy Northern Lights art idea the perfect winter art project for kids of all ages.
In our Northern Lights painting tutorial, we’ll guide your Arty Crafty Kids in creating a stunning scene featuring an easy-to-draw mountain landscape that’s painted in cool, wintry hues.
The hand-drawn lines and patterns will add depth and character to the landscape, setting the stage for an atmospheric Northern Lights display.
The Northern Lights themselves are presented as waves of colorful lights dancing across the sky, which are super fun and easy for children to paint.
The abstract vibe of the art lesson encourages young artists to play with their creativity by experimenting with colors and patterns to create unique and wonderful interpretations of the Northern Lights.
What are the Northern Lights?
The Northern Lights are a natural light display in the Earth’s sky caused by charged particles from the Sun colliding with gases in our atmosphere. This creates stunning, colorful patterns in the night sky.
The Northern Lights are best known for their vibrant and surreal colors, including shades of green, pink, and purple.
Materials you will need:
- White Card Stock or Mixed Media Paper
- Brushes: Have a variety of brushes, including flat and round ones, to create different textures and effects.
- Acrylic Paint: Including black, white and a mix of blue, green, pink and purple colors.
- Acrylic Marker Pens: White and Silver.
- Fine Tipped Black Marker Pen
- Pencil
- Artist Tape
- Printable Step-by-Step ‘How to Paint the Northern Lights’ tutorial and Optional Pre-Drawn Mountain Landscape Templates – to help get younger Arty Crafty Kids Started!
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Watch the Step-by-Step How to Paint the Northern Lights Tutorial
How to Draw the Mountain Landscape – A Step-by-Step
To begin, prepare the canvas by applying artists tape to all four edges of the card stock or mixed-media paper.
This will not only protect the table but also create a lovely border to the finished to Northern Lights painting.
Step 1: Draw a long line and the first mountains.
Approximately 1cm from the bottom of the canvas, draw a long line from one side of the page to the other. This this will serve as part of the tree line silhouette.
Next, from the line, draw two (or more) large humps – these will become mountains.
Step 2: Draw ‘mountains’ in-between the first row.
These mountain outlines can be higher or lower than the first row; adding a sense of perspective to the drawing.
Step 3: Divide the inner mountain space.
Sketch snow-capped peaks and diagonal lines within each mountain, altering their direction and size to create depth and intrigue.
Step 4: Draw a pair of wide wavy lines across the night-sky area.
Reserve a space for the Northern Lights by sketching a set of wavy lines within the future starry and atmospheric sky.
Step 5: Paint the mountain segments.
Paint the individual segments of the mountains in an array of cool colors (green, purple, pink, light and dark blue).
Keep the mountaintops and certain sections of the slopes in their natural white color.
How to Paint the Northern Lights – A Step-by-Step
Step 6: Paint the tree line and upper sky area black.
Paint up to the mountain line and down to the pencil-drawn wavy line.
Step 7: Paint a blackish-blue shade to the remaining sky area.
Apply dark blue around the mountain sky-line and blend with black paint up to the wavy line.
With the sky painted, load a flat brush with white paint and splatter it across the night-sky to create the impression of stars.
Step 8: Paint a pair of white waves along the pencil drawn edges.
Step 9: Paint the Northern lights.
Follow the contours of the wavy space and add layers of purple, pink, green, and white until it’s completely filled.
Step 10: Draw a line of trees.
Use simple lines to draw trees of different sizes to complete the tree-line.
The How to Draw the Northern Lights tutorial is complete!
I hope your Arty Crafty Kids have a fabulous time creating their very own light show, while learning all about the wonders of the Northern Lights phenomenon.
More Winter Painting and Art Ideas for Kids
From painting snowy wintry trees to learning how to draw a snowman, the Arty Crafty Kids members area has a plethora of fun and easy Winter themed painting and art ideas for kids.
