7 Steps To Help With Sketching Trees.

I am not intending to tell you how to sketch, this can be a very personal choice and if you don't already have a personal style then you will aquire one with experience. I am going to offer a number of different techniques that you may like to consider. This module is simply to show you that it is easy to get a sense of what is in front of you by quickly noting down what you see. (The first three are in watercolour and annotated for a previous blog post but for our purposes here the annotations can be ignored.)

It is the same in any medium but if you are doing a "study" it may be that you feel a need for a more detailed approach. Do not however get carried away, just get down the detail that you need and no more.





in most cases it will be perfectly adequate to use the same technique as with watercolour, get in the masses which delineate the foliage.

Remember, only put down as much as you need to get across the basic requirements. How much time do you intend to spend after all. Time enough for detailed drawing in your studio - if you need it, take a photograph.

In the examples above I have mainly looked at individual trees, although only loosely based on reality. No botanical details here. I am after something that will add to the overall effect in a landscape, and after all if you are intending to paint landscapes you will probably need the odd tree or two.

I shall offer two sketches in watercolour done very quickly to try to capture the essence of the landscape. The first is a path through a forest. Obviously trees are essential here, but I have always liked this sketch for the very simplistic addition of a couple walking their dog. Very poignent for me as I used to have a dog which I walked twice everyday, until he was seventeen, a grand age for his breed. But I digress, here is the sketch:

The second is an attempt to capture the sunny and windswept view by simplyfiying the background trees, a light and airy character comes through in this sketch, I believe.

Lots more I could show but I hope this gives an idea. In each case the trees are developed by drawing/painting the trunks, leaving gaps where the leaves will hide them. More distant trunks are painted in with a more dilute paint to emphasis that distance. I then use two or three tones of a green to develop the bulkiness of the canopies. Lighter where the sun strikes and darker where they are in shadow. Very wet and loose stokes of the brush. A touch of a complementary colour (red) will also help to give a darker tone and add a little colour for balance.

It is not necessary to paint in a realistic fashion to learn or have fun when sketching. The two examples here are in fact just the opposite. the first is a "spattered" painting of a stand of trees. Sorry about the focus here but it was sold as an ACEO ( for definition see my lens on Making, Collecting And Selling Artist Trading Cards). I will replace it with another soon.

A very much more abstract sketch is this one which I called "Reflections", maybe it should have been "Reflections In Blue", a much better title, but again I digress.

The important thing is that the artist should be enjoying his ( or her) sketching so don't worry about wether anyone should see what it is; just do it!

Do you have issues with trying to paint abstract paintings? I have just posted a lens on just this subject with a method to help you overcome creativity blocks, How To Paint Abstracts. It is designed to get you working with abstracts so that you will feel at ease with the gendre. Try it out"

These examples were painted en plein air. Both were done whilst out sketching with my art group, the first is a very simple scene, We don't have much time to paint as we meet in the evenings so we need to start getting something down on paper very quickly otherwise the evening light has gone.

The first was done right at the end of the autumn, so the trees are mostly bare. The thinnest branches are interpreted as washes of dilute water colour. You can see where I have strengthened the tone of the nearest tree on the LHS with strokes of a flat brush, probably a half-inch flat. This also adds a little shape to the rounded trunks and larger branches.

The secong sketch was done quite late and I tried to capture the sunset above the trees. The yellow tree stood out for me and made the picture. It was a scene across a canal basin close to where I live with reeds starting to turn yellowish although the trees were still in full leaf.

There is a story to this ( again!!!), whilst packing up, a couple came along who were out for a walk after viviting the local tavern. They were interested in what we had been doing and the gentleman seemed particularly taken with my efforts. He suggetsed the name, " Autumn Flames" whch I liked and it has been called that ever since. Although barely finished, I have exhibited this painting in a few exhibitions, whilst getting good reviews however it has never attracted a buyer - any offers? LOL

WEEPING WILLOW TREE T SHIRT by alittleblack
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Birch Trees in the Snow by BDorsa
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Within a forest, trees ink drawing, oak tree trunk by editionha
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Red Tree and Poplars by helenzapata
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Group of trees with path into the landscape by editionha
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brokem fence by artyfax
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I have attempted to grow a number of bonsai trees, I love gardening and these came about by accident. Birds dropped seeds, amongst other things, in my garden which germinated. I dug up the seedlings and tended them carefully for 10-15 years, but never quite found time to do the leaf pruning that was required for successful bonsai. But one day, I decided to sketch these trees as I was at a loose end. I added a little background et voila! Tree sketches..........

I can't remember now what they were except they were all very common hedgerow species. I had rowan, oak, ash, and beech for example. The structure of the trees was marked by my attempts at pruning and the loss of some of the main stems. the first was of a simple upright habit, and is seen to the right.

The second tree here was an oak I seem to remember. I had tried to wire it with a right angle bend and eventually replanted it with the original trunk parallel to the top of the soil.

The third sketch here, is of a damaged beech tree. It had a lovely structure until one winter it did not make it. Did I let it dry out in the wind? However, I left it and tried to make something of it. here is a sketch.

Hope you like these. They are a little insight into two of my hobbies.

As I said this lens is not really about telling you how to sketch trees. I have shown a number of examples, some more detailed than others and here I want to lay down an approach. I assume that you have the understanding of how to draw, etc.
This is an approach that I find useful.

1. First find your subject. Are you intending to do a detailed sketch of the tree, not necessarily a botanical sketch; or is the sketch showing the tree(s) in a landscape.


2. decide what medium you are using, what lends itself to what you want to say about the subject. Stong tones are easily rendered in charcoal, whilst pastel is great for colour, etc.


3. Look carefully at the subject and decide wether your sketch will be a portrait ( high) or landscape ( wide) format. Do a few small thumbnail sketches to find the composition that is right for the subject.


4. When you are ready, outline or mark up the mainpoints of the subject according to your composition.


5. Add detail as required, draw or paint the trunk and branches from the lower end upwards


6. Add shading and shadows, layer on any colour requirements.


7. Repeat 5 & 6 until the sketch is complete. Do not overdo or fiddle with the sketch un-necessarily.
   Stand back and ask if you have captured the essence of the subject. Do you have enough detail to do a drawing / painting back in the studio if required. It is quite feasible to add a few text notes to aid your memory if necessary.

You should remember when sketching trees that there are three elements to consider as outlined by EditionH in his lens, How To Draw A Tree. A tree grows out of the ground ( unless this is masked by undergrowth, etc. It has a crown, the leaves form shapes which you should use rather than attempting to define each leaf. These are joined by a trunk, which may be straight or crooked; plain or gnarled, etc.

Sometimes less is definitely more, an example is shown in this sketch of a riverside scene. This was painted on location with my dog rushing me to carry on with his walk - not an artistic bone in his body! We were on holiday in a small Welsh village called Cwm Cych. the nearest large town was the holiday center at Aberporth on the coast a few miles away. The village boasted one pub, three cottages and a postbox. Oh yes and a bridge across the river seen in the sketch. Although it looks unfinished, I have had this framed on my lounge wall and have exhibited it as it is, I personally really like this, perhaps it is the memories it brings back, anyway one of my favourites.

This last sketch shows a more complete sketch. There is quite a bit of work put into the larger trees, even so there is a lot of licence taken and it is a very loose painting.

Have fun with your own sketching, I would love to know how you get on, you can leave a comment in the guestbook below.