Elegant comparisons makes adding a sense of time to your skyscapes a snap.

Japan isn’t the only country with four separate seasons, but few other nations quite match the extremes shifts in weather that occur quarterly here. As the dry cold of winter cycles to the humid heat of summer and back again, Japan not only feels entirely different, but it looks different as well, and these visual changes regularly show up in anime, manga, and other illustrations.

Some of the visual cues are easy to spot and emulate, such as sakura cherry blossoms in the spring or red maple leaves in the fall. But it’s not just the flora that looks different from season to season, but the skies as well, and to help reflect that in your art Japanese Twitter user @go_fathom has four simple pointers.

https://twitter.com/go_fathom/status/895302787877044224

@go_fathom tweeted illustrations of four types of clouds, one picture each for spring (top left), summer (top right), fall (bottom left), and winter (bottom right). Not only that, he gave a description of what each should resemble, tweeting:

“My friend who’s a weather forecaster told me how to draw clouds for each season. ‘Spring clouds are cotton. Summer clouds are rocks. Autumn clouds are sand. Winter clouds are mud.’”

The advice was incredibly effective, as each drawing carries with it a completely different feeling evocative of that time of year. Other Twitter users were quick to voice their appreciation for the tips.

“Clouds are tough to draw, so this is really useful!”

“What a poetic way of describing the four seasons.”

“I was trying to explain the difference in clouds between the seasons to my kids, but I couldn’t find the
words. Thanks for giving me an easy way to help them understand.”

“I feel like I just got a little smarter.”

And best of all, @go_fathom is one that will serve you well all year long.

Soure: Togech, Twitter/@go_fathom