Hello! Today, we will talk with you about how to draw an animated cartoon sky in the clouds.
We will animate this picture.
First, create a new document:
Then, in this document, add a new layer and fill it with white (or double-click on the Background (Backgraund).
Go to the Layers menu – Layer Style – Gradient (Layer–LayerStyle–GradientOverlay), perform the following settings:
We got the sky.
If you like, experiment with colors and type of gradient – can you imagine the sky in a different form))))
Next, draw the sun.
Choose the Ellipse tool 
(ElipseTool) and draw an even circle of yellow (# fce203) colors in the center.
This layer is called The sun 1.
Add layer styles – Layer-Styles Layer-Gradient and Outer Glow (Layer–LayerStyle–GradientOverlayOuterGlow):
Here’s what we got:
Copy the layer The sun 1 twice (it turns out only 3 layers). For convenience, we merge the layers into a group and number them: Sun 1, Sun 2, Sun 3 .
In the 2nd and 3rd layers, we change the following values in the style External glow (OuterGlow) (in order to adjust the style values, you need to click twice on the Style icon on each layer):
Create a new layer and draw a ray.
Do it as you like: or with the Pen tool. 
(PenTool), or you can choose a ready shape among the Forms (CustomShapeTool).
I went the second way, chose the right arrow.
Using Edit – Transformations (Edit–Transform) give the ray the desired shape.
Copy and distribute the rays around the sun.
Merge layers with rays into one (Ctrl+E).
The resulting layer is moved to the group under the layers with The sun and call Rays 1.
In my opinion, grouping simplifies the search for layers, with a large number of them.
And again the Layer-Styles of the Layer-Gradient and the Outer Glow (Layer–LayerStyle–GradientOverlayOuterGlow):
You can apply layer styles at your discretion: add something, remove something … The main thing is to create! )))
Copy the layer with the rays 2 times and number the new layers: Rays 2, Rays 3.
We turn each of the new layers so that the rays fill the entire space around the sun.
Now we are going to create clouds.
Create a new layer group called Background 1.
Select Ellipse Tool Again (ElipseTool) and draw white circles where you want to place the clouds. Layers are in the group Background 1.
Create another group – Foreground 1. And fill in circles.
In the screenshot, for clarity, I painted the foreground in black (see 1 in the screenshot).
Copy these groups 2 times, number the new ones and get:
Foreground 1
Background 1
Foreground 2
Background 2
Foreground 3
Background 3
We are trying to make a beautiful animated cartoon …)))))
Now hide the visibility of the 1st and 3rd groups.
We go in turn on Front and Background 2 and with Edit-Transformation (Edit–Transforma) change the size of the circles in these groups.
Then, the same must be done on Front and Backgrounds 3.
That is, we create the dynamics of the movement of clouds.
Which algorithm you choose for cloud dynamics is up to you.
I resized the circles first in the background and then in the front (see 2.3 in the screenshot).
Phew, painstaking work … …
Now merge the groups into separate layers (select the group and click Ctrl+E) and we have 6 layers. You can leave copies of the groups, just in case – suddenly the movement of the clouds does not like it, and draw again so many circles … … …
Then choose a soft brush of light blue color (you can # 9be7fe) and draw (size approximately 65-100 pix, Opacity – 50%) cloud shadows.
It was more convenient for me to draw the shadows on separate layers, so that later they could change their transparency and adjust.
That’s what happens.
Tired of heaps of layers ???? This is what we fix now: merge layers – Foreground and Background1, then Front and Back 2, and Front and Back 3.
If your shadows were drawn on separate layers, make sure that the merge is correct.
Now we have THREE layers: let’s call them Clouds 1, Clouds 2, Clouds 3. You can combine them into a group.
The layer panel should look like this:
Everything is ready for animation!
We turn to the most interesting!
Open the window animation window-animation (Window–Animation) or program ImageReady.
I will explain my idea before starting work – I want the sun and clouds to move at different speeds. Rays will run faster than clouds.
For first frame animations make visible the following layers:
Sky, Rays 1, Sun 1, Clouds 1.
We set the following settings (Number of repetitions – Continuously, Time – 0.1 seconds) – see point 1 in the screenshot.
Make a copy of the frame (Duplicatesselectedframes) – see point 2 in the screenshot.
Layers for of the second frames: Sky, Rays 2, Sun 2, Clouds 1.
Make a copy of the frame. Layers for the third: Sky, Rays 3, Sun 3, Clouds 1.
That is, within the same movement of the clouds, the entire cycle of rotation of the sun is performed.
Further along the same lines:
4 frame:Sky, Rays 1, Sun 1. Clouds 2.
5 frame:Sky, Rays 2, Sun 2, Clouds 2.
6 frame:Sky, Rays 3. Sun 3, Clouds 2.
7 frame:Sky, Rays 1, Sun1, Clouds 3.
8 frame:Sky, Rays 2, Sun 2, Clouds 3.
9 frame:Sky, Rays 3, Sun 3, Clouds 3.
That’s all! You can watch the animation and if you need to fix something …
Well, and then save in …Gif (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S – Save for WebDevices).
The board: in the settings it is better to choose (Specify the dither algorithm) Definition of smoothing algorithm – (Pattern) Pattern, drawing; Colors – 256. So the gradient looks smooth.
And here is the result:
And this is another variation on the topic …)))
All the best!
Good luck in your work and creativity!
