How to paint the moon

People assume the moon is grey. It isn’t — it’s a hundred warm and cool greys arguing with each other.

Start with a mid-tone ground so you can work both lighter and darker. Map the maria as soft cool shapes first, then carve the craters with a near-dry brush. Keep the terminator — the edge between light and shadow — slightly soft, never a hard line.

Finish with the faintest halo of pale gold so it glows rather than sits.