HOW TO DRAW TREES with Diane Wright

[Mike Sibley]

Available as a PDF download - see end

FIRST STEPS:
When creating my artwork, the trees and foliage become an integral part of the landscape. How the trees, grass and foliage are represented in a drawing have a direct impact on the entire mood of the drawing.
In figuring out how to draw trees myself, I discovered some references that provided me with an excellent foundation to developing my own style. The most influential and important reference that I can recommend is Mike Sibley's book "Drawing from Line to Life". This is the best art technique book on the market. Mike also has an on-line tutorial on trees and grasses at SibleyFineArt.com.
Other items that are beneficial to include are the Smithsonian Handbook on Trees (This will provide information on the general shapes and varieties of trees) and my digital camera!

Understanding Your Subject Matter:
During the past few years, I have spent a lot of time observing and sketching trees. Even though my drawings do not depict individual leaves, I am very aware of the type of leaf it is and how it attaches to the branches. It is so important to understand the substructure of a tree. It's like trying to draw the human body without understanding about muscle, bones etc. Here is my analogy — just as elbows, wrists, fingers, knees, ankles and toes are crucial to express the 'flow' of the human body - the joints (limbs, branches, twigs and roots) are crucial in expressing the 'flow' of the tree.
I have sketched out leaves, leaf bundles, branches and different types of trees, trying to understand their general structure. Through observation and sketching, you can discover a lot about trees.

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The anatomy of a tree:
Drawing a bare winter tree is an excellent way to learn the anatomy of a tree. Let's start at the base of the tree...
How to plant the tree firmly in the ground? I always pay particular attention to this step when drawing. If that tree is not on solid fittings, it will look like it is floating on the paper.

• Most trees will flair out just as they meet the ground. Emphasizing this flare, and avoiding drawing the tree trunk straight, will give the tree a good base.
• Remember that trees are actually a cylinder in shape. The shading should represent a cylindrical object. Also, the bark of the tree will gradually get more dense on the edges as it wraps itself around the tree. (See sample below).
• Be sure to put shadow at that base and draw the grass 'around' the trunk.
• Change and vary the weight of your pencil stroke to help develop depth in your tree. The darker areas should have a heavier weighted line. 'Feel' those shadows go through your hand as you lay down that pencil stroke.

The following might seem like very simple and obvious tips - but they are crucial to making that tree sit firmly on the ground.

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Tips for drawing a winter tree:

• Pay particular attention to the 'points of articulation'. This means the point of where every limb attaches to the trunk, every branch to the limb and every twig to the branch. This is what helps identifies the type of tree it is. Drawing the correct proportions and angles of these points is what 'creates' the tree.
• A common mistake is drawing the branches too straight. Try to identify those knots and kinks, and those bends in the branches. This gives 'life' to the tree. To help see these, it is helpful to observe the negative space between the branches instead of looking just at the branch.
• Another common mistake is making the branches too thick.
• One more tip...watch the angle of the joints. The angles between the branches should be wider at the bottom of the tree and gradually become tighter at the top of the tree.

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I worked to feel the flow of the limbs, and I kept the shading to a minimum. The branches are kept thin and emphasis has been placed on the kinks and knots. I did not draw all those little branches at the top - but gave the suggestion of them. Hopefully, the viewer will 'fill in' the rest. This tree is very simple and non-descriptive but serves to show these tips very well.

Tips for drawing summer trees:

• When I draw a tree with leaves, I don't think about drawing each leaf. Instead, I am thinking of what kind of 'texture' or pencil stroke I can use to represent that bundle of leaves. I find that with each variety of tree I draw, my texture seems to change to accommodate the different leaf variety and how the leaf bundles lay.
• The distance of the tree - background, midground, foreground or up-close - determines the size of the texture and detail I place on the tree.
• Always, always, always know where your light source is coming from. This will impact how those leaves will look and how the bundles will be shaded.

This is the same tree as the winter one in all its glory! Let's see if the following work in progress can speak the rest for itself...

TREES4.png

[Mike Sibley]

Putting this all together:
Here are the journal entries of a recent drawing as I step through the process of drawing a tree and the landscape around it...

Iowa Pasture Drawing
Iowa Pasture: I took this photo a couple of weeks ago, it was a beautiful Saturday morning.

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I started this last night and just didn't want to stop! I'm excited because some of my cows really look like cows!

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Anyway....I lightly laid down a layer of F graphite using my mech pencil on the sky, going from darker at the top to lighter at the horizon. The sky on the right side is also much lighter as that is the light source. I then used a chamois and smoothed the sky out. I've been using F hardness throughout the drawing so far. I am going to switch to a B for the trees on the right. Well, got to spend a couple of hours working on the dark trees on the right. I started with a B hardness lead and worked in the forms of the trees. Then switched to a 2B to get the darker shadows.

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I really work to keep the trees looking textured. To prevent flat shaded areas I use small strokes and pushing the darks slowly, trying to stay aware of where the branch bundles are and the direction of the leaf sprays. I typically work in the shadows (negative space) between the leaves and branches. I then switched to a 3H and worked into the details and the lighter branches. That seemed to work really well.

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I pulled some of the branches out of the darkest shadows using Blu-tack and touched my electric eraser to pull out the white specks.There is probably 5 layers just slowly building up my branches. I should have taken scans between each phase...but I still wasn't sure just how to do them, so didn't want to stop. Next time, I promise I will.

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I have started on the right foreground tree. I have laid in all the branches, as that really helps keep me on track where the branch bundles need to go. I am going to start with an F hardness less for the leaves on the top of the tree.
Those need to have some definitive distinction to them to register as 'leaves'.I have included a detail shot of how I hold my pencil. (Yeah… I'm a lefty). When I am working on the leaves, I hold my pencil with the barrel resting on my little finger and clasped lightly between my index finger and thumb. I also do not rest my arm, wrist on the paper.
Sometimes for balance, I will rest the tip of my little finger on the paper. The wrist stays stiff, and my pencil strokes are created by using the entire arm. This method takes quite a bit of practice to learn to control your pencil strokes (especially with small areas), however, it gives a great freedom of pencil strokes. For tighter control, I use the pencil in the standard writing hold.Well, that was long-winded... oh I forgot, the grass under the trees I started with a 3H to get a smooth even shade and then introduced an F for darker clumps of grass.It's a bit detailed, but I hope this helps....

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Well, as promised, I am scanning the foreground tree as I work on it. I have built up a lot of the textured leaves in the top right section. That area is fairly easy because they are thinner and just one layer. I am still using the F lead and have started to shade in the bulkier branches on the bottom of the tree. I am stopping for the night. I get too impatient and want to rush through this section, and then I don't get the detail. I have most of the branches and leaves laid in. Now I have to work on balancing the shadows and highlights to 'create form' and hopefully capture that morning sun coming from the right. At the same time, working in some details. I will be switching to the 3H to get those lighter gray values.

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I continued to work on the trees and grass. I've used B lead on the tree on the left, and I'm using 3H on the grass to build up the shadows.
I think I am now finished with this one. I have darkened and evened out the trees in the foreground, and have darkened the grass in the lower right foreground.

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"Iowa Pasture" by Diane Wright

Tutorial © 2009 Diane Wright

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This complete tutorial is available in .PDF format (2.64MB)