Inspiring examples of digital painting techniques for beginners

Let’s start with real, concrete things you can paint tonight. These are the best examples of digital painting techniques for beginners because they’re small, focused, and forgiving.

1. Soft sky gradients with one brush

A very beginner‑friendly example of digital painting technique is painting a sky using only a soft round brush and the gradient tool.

Try this:

• Pick a wide canvas, something like 2000×1200 pixels.
• Set your background to a medium blue.
• With a soft round brush at low opacity (around 20–30%), lightly paint warmer colors near the horizon: pale yellow, peach, or pink.
• Gently blend where the colors meet by brushing back and forth with a large, soft brush.

This gives you your first real example of digital blending and color transitions. You’ll see how opacity, flow, and brush size affect softness. Many artists still start environments this way in 2024, even when they move on to complex landscapes.

2. Shiny apple: learning light and shadow

Another classic example of digital painting techniques for beginners is a simple apple on a table. It’s basic, but it teaches you almost everything about form.

Try this setup:

• New layer: sketch a circle with a little dip at the top.
• Under the sketch, add a flat red base color.
• On a new layer set to Multiply, paint shadows on one side.
• On another new layer set to Overlay or Soft Light, add highlights on the opposite side.

You’ve just used layers and blending modes to create volume. That’s not just a beginner trick—professional illustrators rely on Multiply and Overlay every day. This is one of the best examples of how digital tools make traditional concepts (light, shadow, form) easier to control and adjust.

3. Tiny character bust: line art to color

For character lovers, a small portrait is a fun example of digital painting technique that combines drawing and painting.

Workflow to try:

• Create clean line art on its own layer (head and shoulders only).
• Put a layer under the line art and fill in flat colors: skin, hair, shirt.
• Add a shading layer above the flats set to Multiply; use a soft brush to add shadows under the chin, under the hair, and along the nose.
• Last, add a highlight layer on top for the tip of the nose, lower lip, and hair shine.

This mirrors the workflow used in many webcomics and character concept sheets you see circulating on ArtStation and social platforms in 2024–2025.

4. Mini environment: three‑value landscape

A landscape doesn’t have to be detailed. A simple three‑value study is another clear example of digital painting techniques for beginners.

Try this:

• Pick three values: light, mid, dark.
• Block in the sky with the lightest value.
• Use the mid value for distant hills.
• Use the darkest value for trees or cliffs in the foreground.

No details, just shapes. This gives you a real example of using value grouping to create depth. Once you’re comfortable, add color on a new layer set to Color or Overlay.

Brushwork and texture: more examples of digital painting techniques for beginners

Now that you’ve seen a few simple paintings, let’s talk about brushes and texture in a way that’s actually practical.

Soft vs hard brushes: when to use each

One of the best examples of a beginner mistake is using only one brush for everything. Instead, think in two modes:

• Soft brushes for skies, skin gradients, fog, and subtle shadows.
• Hard brushes for edges of objects, eyelashes, rocks, and crisp highlights.

A great exercise is to repaint that shiny apple twice:

• First pass: mostly soft brush, very smooth.
• Second pass: mostly hard brush, with sharp edges between light and shadow.

Compare them. You’ll see how softness suggests smooth surfaces (like skin or glass), while harder edges feel more graphic or stylized. This is an everyday example of how brush choice affects style.

Texture brushes: from flat to interesting

In 2024–2025, many popular digital paintings have a “traditional” feel—like gouache, oil, or watercolor—even though they’re fully digital. That look often comes from texture brushes.

Try this practical example of digital painting technique:

• Paint a simple rock or cliff shape in flat gray.
• Switch to a textured brush (chalk, charcoal, or “grunge”).
• Lightly tap or stroke along the surface with slightly lighter and darker grays.

Suddenly the rock looks like it has cracks and roughness. You didn’t draw every detail; you let the brush texture do some of the work. This is one of the best examples of digital tools saving time while still looking painterly.

If you want to understand how traditional texture works in real media, you can browse educational resources from art departments at universities, such as the open materials from the MIT OpenCourseWare Visual Arts section, and then translate those ideas into your digital brushes.

Color, light, and mood: examples include warm vs cool lighting

Color theory can feel abstract, so let’s keep it grounded with real examples you can test in your next painting.

Warm light, cool shadows (and the reverse)

Set up a simple sphere or your apple again and try two versions:

• Version A: Warm light, cool shadows. Use a warm yellow‑orange for the light side and a cooler, slightly bluish red for the shadow.
• Version B: Cool light, warm shadows. Use a cool bluish light and warmer, reddish or orange shadows.

You’ve just created two different moods with the same object. These examples of digital painting techniques for beginners show how subtle hue shifts make paintings feel more alive.

Limited palettes: painting with three colors

Another practical example of digital painting technique is a limited palette portrait:

• Pick one skin tone, one shadow color (slightly cooler), and one highlight color (slightly warmer or more saturated).
• Paint an entire head using only those three colors, just varying opacity and mixing.

This keeps you from getting lost in a giant color wheel and teaches you how value and temperature matter more than picking “the perfect color” from a huge library.

For more background on how humans perceive color and light, resources from universities like Harvard’s Digital Color course materials and other .edu programs can offer deeper reading you can later apply to your painting practice.

Layer strategies: real examples from simple projects

Layers are where digital painting starts feeling powerful instead of intimidating. Let’s walk through some examples of digital painting techniques for beginners that rely on smart layering.

Cartoon portrait: flat color workflow

Use this workflow for a clean, graphic style that’s popular on social media:

• Top layer: line art.
• Under it: one layer for skin, one for hair, one for clothes, one for background.
• Above each color layer: a clipping mask for shadows and a clipping mask for highlights.

This way you never “color outside the lines.” If you want to change the shirt color, you just adjust that one layer. This is a simple but powerful example of why digital layering is so friendly for beginners.

Painterly workflow: merging as you go

If you want a more traditional, painterly feel, try this approach:

• Start with sketch, value, and color layers.
• Once the main colors and values look right, merge some layers and paint directly.
• Use a single main brush to sculpt edges, blend, and add details.

This gives you the freedom and “risk” of traditional painting, but you still have an earlier layered file saved if you need to revert. Many concept artists work this way: structured at the start, loose and painterly at the end.

Examples of digital painting techniques for beginners by subject

Let’s group some of these ideas by subject, so you can pick what fits your interests.

Portrait examples: skin, hair, and eyes

For portraits, good starter examples include:

• Soft skin blending: Use low‑opacity soft brushes for cheeks and forehead, but keep harder edges around the nose, lips, and jaw.
• Hair strands: Block in big shapes of hair first, then add a few defined strands and highlights. Avoid drawing every strand; let brush texture imply volume.
• Eyes with depth: Paint the eyeball as a sphere, not a sticker. Add a shadow from the upper eyelid and a highlight that matches your light source.

These examples of digital painting techniques for beginners teach you to think of the face as 3D forms instead of symbols.

Environment examples: skies, trees, and water

For environments, try these:

• Cloud studies: Start with big, soft shapes. Add sharper, smaller shapes on the sunlit side. Use a soft brush to blend the bottom edges into the sky.
• Tree silhouettes: Paint trees as big, simple shapes first (no tiny leaves). Then tap in clusters of foliage with a textured brush for a more natural feel.
• Water reflections: Mirror the colors of objects above the water, then slightly blur or distort them with horizontal strokes.

Each of these is a straightforward example of digital painting technique that you can finish in under an hour.

2024–2025 trends you can practice as a beginner

Digital painting trends move fast, but beginners can absolutely tap into what’s popular right now.

Painterly, “brushy” looks

Many artists in 2024–2025 are leaning into visible brushstrokes instead of super‑smooth rendering. To try this trend:

• Use a textured, square, or “oil” brush at medium opacity.
• Avoid over‑blending. Let some strokes stay visible.
• Paint edges with confident, single strokes rather than lots of tiny scribbles.

A small still life—like a mug, a book, and a plant—is a perfect example of digital painting technique that fits this style.

Stylized portraits for social media

Short, repeatable portrait studies are everywhere right now. You can join in by:

• Limiting yourself to 30–45 minutes per portrait.
• Using bold color accents (bright blue shadows, neon rim light, etc.).
• Sharpening only key details like the eyes and lips, and leaving everything else more abstract.

These are very accessible examples of digital painting techniques for beginners because they’re small, low‑pressure, and easy to share.

If you’re curious about healthy ways to structure screen time and breaks while you practice, organizations like the National Institutes of Health and Mayo Clinic offer guidance on eye strain, posture, and general wellness that’s useful for anyone spending long sessions at a tablet or computer.

Practice plan: how to use these examples without burning out

You don’t need to master everything at once. Here’s a simple way to organize these examples of digital painting techniques for beginners into a weekly routine:

• Day 1: Sky gradients and cloud studies.
• Day 2: Apple or sphere with strong light and shadow.
• Day 3: Tiny portrait bust with line art and flats.
• Day 4: Three‑value landscape study.
• Day 5: Texture experiments on rocks, trees, or fabric.
• Day 6: One 45‑minute stylized portrait.
• Day 7: Review your work, pick one piece to refine for another 30 minutes.

Repeat this cycle for a few weeks. You’ll see visible progress because each day focuses on a clear, small example of digital painting technique instead of vague “practice more” advice.

FAQ: examples of digital painting techniques for beginners

Q: What are some easy examples of digital painting techniques for beginners I can try in under an hour?
A: Great quick studies include a simple sky gradient with clouds, a basic apple or sphere with one light source, a tiny character bust from line art to color, a three‑value landscape, and a single rock or tree painted with textured brushes. Each one teaches a specific skill—blending, lighting, values, or texture—without taking all night.

Q: Can I learn from one example of a digital painting and just copy it?
A: Yes, as long as you treat it as a study, not as your own original work. Copying a single painting you admire—focusing on how they handle light, edges, and color—is a powerful learning tool. Just don’t present it as your own design. Use it to understand techniques, then apply those ideas to your own subjects.

Q: Do I need a drawing tablet to practice these examples of digital painting techniques for beginners?
A: A tablet helps a lot, especially for pressure sensitivity, but you can start with a mouse or trackpad in free software like Krita or web‑based apps. Focus on values, color, and layer workflows first. When you’re sure you enjoy digital painting, a basic pen tablet or an entry‑level iPad with a stylus is a good next step.

Q: How often should I repeat the same example of digital painting technique?
A: More often than you think. Painting the same apple, sky, or portrait three or four times—changing only one variable (brush, color palette, or lighting)—teaches you faster than constantly jumping to new subjects. Repetition lets you see what’s actually improving.

Q: Where can I learn more about art fundamentals to support my digital painting?
A: Look for foundational drawing and design resources from universities and art schools. For example, visual arts and design courses from institutions like MIT OpenCourseWare or general education sites from major universities can help you understand perspective, composition, and color theory, which all transfer directly into digital painting.

If you work through even a handful of these examples of digital painting techniques for beginners, you’ll stop feeling like you’re “just messing around with brushes” and start feeling like you’re actually painting—with intention, style, and growing confidence.