How to Draw Mountains: Easy 10-Step Landscape Guide

Bring the great outdoors to your sketchbook with this beginner-friendly mountain landscape tutorial. Designed for artists ages 5 and up, this activity uses basic shapes to build a complex scene, helping children develop spatial awareness and fine motor control. All you need is a pencil, an eraser, and a piece of paper to get started.

10 Steps

🎯 Final Result

Colorful illustration of a mountain range reflecting in a lake, perfect for kids' art projects.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Sketching the Foreground Trees

Pencil sketch of two triangular evergreen trees on a flat horizon line.

Start by drawing evergreen trees in the foreground using connected, jagged curved lines to form a triangle. Teacher's Tip: Keep the trees slightly different heights to make your forest look natural and organic.

Step 2: Defining the Shoreline

Drawing a horizontal wavy line connecting the base of the trees to create a shoreline.

Draw a long, gentle wavy line between your trees to represent the edge of a lake. Tip: Use a light touch; water lines should look smooth, not sharp.

Step 3: Adding Water Texture

Adding short, horizontal wavy lines within the lake area to show water texture.

Add small, rhythmic wavy lines across the lake area to simulate ripples. Tip: Vary the length of your waves to make the water look like it's gently moving.

Step 4: Creating the Opposite Bank

Drawing a cluster of smaller pine trees on the far side of the lake.

Sketch more pine trees on the far side of the lake using the same triangle method, adding small rectangles at the base for trunks. Tip: Make these trees slightly smaller to create the illusion of distance.

Step 5: Filling the Forest

Adding dense forest details using zigzag lines and inverted V shapes.

Use zigzag lines to create dense clumps of trees on both sides of your paper. Add a few inverted 'V' shapes for texture. Tip: Don't worry about making every tree perfect; forests are naturally messy!

Step 6: The First Mountain Peak

Sketching the outline of a large, central mountain peak.

Draw a large, curved peak in the center of the background. Add a curved line down the side to show the mountain's slope. Tip: Think of this as a giant, lopsided triangle.

Step 7: Adding Height

Adding a second, taller mountain peak behind the first one.

Draw a taller, blunted 'V' shape next to your first mountain. Contour the sides with long, sweeping lines. Tip: Overlapping your mountains creates a sense of depth.

Step 8: Completing the Range

Adding two additional mountain peaks to complete the range.

Sketch two more mountains to fill out your range, using curved lines for the slopes. Tip: Vary the angles of your peaks so they don't look like identical copies.

Step 9: Adding Snowcaps

Drawing irregular U-shaped lines on mountain peaks to indicate snowcaps.

Draw 'U' shaped lines across the tops of your mountains to represent snowy icecaps. Tip: Keep these lines irregular to make the snow look like it's melting down the slopes.

Step 10: Final Coloring

A fully colored mountain landscape with trees, a lake, and snow-capped peaks.

Bring your drawing to life with color! Use deep greens for the forest, browns for the rocky slopes, and cool blues or whites for the snow. Tip: Press harder with your pencil at the base of the mountains to add a shadow effect.