How to Draw Trees with Pen and Ink

this lesson we'll take a look at how to draw trees with pen and ink of course there are several things we need to keep in mind so that we can find success when we draw the tree the first of course is shape shape is an element of art that refers to an enclosed contour so if we create a contour line and close it up we've created a shape of course trees come in a variety of different sizes and shapes the first thing to do when you're drawing your tree is to look at the overall shape of the tree now in many cases we can break this complex shape of a tree down into simpler shapes and we'll do this in this exercise so that we can create the illusion form but I'm getting ahead of myself first here are just a few basic shapes of some trees that you might encounter if you're finding it difficult to recognize and draw the overall contour of the shape of the tree initially you might find it easier to break the shape of the tree down into smaller simpler shapes we can see how this is done with all of the shapes of trees that we drew previously these shapes can be loosely drawn in the beginning stages of your drawing they don't have to be particularly exact we're only really concerned with finding the outer contour of the overall shape of the tree and it doesn't really matter what the shape of the tree is that you're trying to draw it usually can be simplified into basic simple shapes once we have the basic shape and overall contour of the tree in place the next thing to consider is creating the illusion of form of course a tree is a three-dimensional object so let's take a look at a few basic simple shapes and how we can quickly turn those into forms the key to creating the illusion of form in a drawing is by the placement of the values value is the darkness or lightness of a color a lot of times when we refer to adding value we're talking about adding shading so we'll need to consider the light source in this case we'll have a light source originating from the upper left hand corner this means we'll have darker values found on the lower right-hand portion of each one of these shapes in order to create the illusion of form now the value will gradate this means that it will transition from lighter values closest to the light source to darker values further away from the light source irregular or organic shapes like we're most likely to find on a tree should also have irregular or organic areas of shadow as you can see with the sphere the shapes of value or darker value are regular and predictable as we become more organic with the shapes that we create on the tree we should also become more organic with the areas of shadow that we create as well we'll still see that transition or gradation from light value to dark value but we'll also find that that transition might be more irregular on irregular shapes the third thing that we'll need to consider of course is texture now the texture of the tree or the texture that we create in our drawing is going to greatly influence the realism or believability of the drawing that we create we can take these basic shapes and just add a few textural marks will create a bit more of a concentration of these textural marks in areas of shadow to create the illusion of form these are just small squiggly marks that I'm making here these small squiggly marks will create the illusion of a collection of leaves we don't have to overthink things too much or draw every single individual leaf remember when you're creating a drawing you're creating an illusion and by creating a collection of textures like this we can create the illusion of the texture of leaves without having to draw every single one now of course each tree that you draw will be different and the texture of the leaves will be different as well so you might need to experiment a little bit to find the marks that are best suited to create this illusion now a tree of course is made up of much more than just a collection of leaves there's also the trunk to consider so again let's take a look at the trunk as a basic form in in most cases the basic form of the trunk is going to resemble a cylinder here again we'll consider a light source originating from the upper left-hand corner this means that the area of darkest shadow or value will exist on the right side of the trunk of the tree there'll be somewhat of a reflected highlight on the right side even past the areas of shadow in most cases so when we draw a trunk all we need to do is consider that basic form of course the form being a cylinder within this cylinder we can carve out an organic form and then add a few textural marks to create the illusion of texture of course but also to create the illusion of shadow this of course leads to the illusion of form as well we can concentrate the textural marks that we make in the areas of shadow to make the value darker now let's put this information into action and draw a couple of trees here we'll start with a light application of an HB pencil and I'm just going to draw the outer contour or the shape of the tree then within this overall shape I'm going to break the tree down into simpler shapes now in this case I'm looking at individual clumps of leaves or collections of leaves that happen around the tree this is what's going to create the individual shapes that I'm drawing at this point now these shapes are just loose shapes drawn with the pencil when we go back and start to develop the texture within the drawing we'll define each one of these shapes by creating areas of contrasting value so we'll have darker values and lighter values and that contrast in value will help to create the illusion of form and thus the individual clumps of leaves with these shapes in place we can go back now and start creating our textural marks remember these textural marks will not only create the illusion of leaves but they'll also create the illusion of form here again our light sources originating from the upper left hand corner this means within each collection or clumps of leaves we'll have areas of darker value and lighter value so we're thinking about each one of these clumps as an individual form that we're developing as we go we can create some indications of some of the branches peeking through in areas it's also too important to remember that there are going to be breaks in the tree where we can still see portions of the sky through the tree so don't get too carried away here and fill up the entire space with textural marks we also want to make sure that we preserve the integrity of the organic shape that we created in the first step so as we bring leaves and collections of leaves out to the edges of the tree we'll make sure that the patterning is quite irregular which will lead to a more natural looking tree now this process of course is a patient process you have to work slowly here if you want to build up a consistent texture it's important to make sure that the textural marks that you create are consistent if your marks are not consistent then you're not going to create the illusion of a realistic tree in other words if you start with small strokes or small patterns to create the illusion of the leaves and then later get a bit larger with your marks this is going to lead to an inconsistency and take away from the realism of your drawing we'll also need to consider that the areas within the tree that are closer to the trunk are generally going to be darker in value this is simply because less light is able to penetrate the center portion of the tree at the same time we want to consider the overall form of the tree as well in this case our light sources originating from the upper left-hand corner which means the lower right portion of the tree will generally be overall darker in value now keep in mind again that these marks are pretty loose we're just creating a collection of marks that create the illusion of texture we can change the direction of these strokes according to the different surfaces that we address in other words the marks made on the trunk will be vertical while the strokes made for the leaves will be irregular and looser notice that a defined outline is not created around the outside portion of the tree instead the collections of leaves are creating that illusion of an outline so we don't need to add an outline there we also may include a few loose leaves extending outward from the body of the tree without any visible branches this will add a bit of realism to the drawing and of course on the lower portion of the trunk we'll need to concentrate our textural marks on the right side of the tree since the lights or is originating from the left side in order to help communicate the light within the scene will add a few marks underneath the tree to create a bit of shadow these marks are pulled upward as the grass grows to create the appropriate texture now we can go back in and make a few areas darker in order to further the contrast of value and further the illusion of the form of the tree we'll select a few areas closer to the center portion of the tree and in the lower right-hand portion of the tree to make a bit darker now let's take a look at drawing a different tree with a different texture here again we'll start by drawing the basic contour or outline of the shape of the tree this time we'll draw a weeping willow once we have the basic outline of the shape of the tree in place we can go back and create individual smaller shapes within the tree here again we'll look at the flow of the collections of leaves with a weeping willow the leaves and branches flow and droop so the shapes that we make should reflect this with the simplified shapes in place we can now go back with our ink and start to define the form of each clump of leads in this case again we'll create areas of darker value on the opposite and lower portion away from the light source the light source again is originating from the upper left hand corner which means that the areas of darker value are primarily going to exist on the lower right portion at each clump or collection of leaves here again we'll use loose textural marks to create the illusion of the leaves and the form of the tree again we don't need to draw each individual leaf we just need to create a texture that best reflects the texture observed on the tree we'll pull out a few collections of leaves and branches around the outer edges again so that we preserve that organic nature of the shape of the tree most of the marks you'll notice follow a pattern with this particular tree we're pulling the strokes upward and then downward as the leaves and branches droop even in the shadowed areas we're repeating this directional stroke in this particular subject less of the visible sky is seen through the tree on the lower portion of the tree less of the light is able to penetrate so of course these areas are slightly darker than the areas on the upper portion of the tree and with the weeping willow several of the branches droop very very far down almost to the ground and in some cases maybe even touching the ground so we'll pull a few of these marks down as well and we'll address the trunk in the same manner creating mostly vertical marks following the cross contours of the form of the trunk of the tree concentrating the marks and the areas of shadow here again we'll add a few groups of leaves or branches that extend outward from the contour of the overall form of the tree and we'll add just an indication of grass underneath with a few additional textural marks and now our second drawing of a tree using pen and ink is complete just remember it's all about shape creating the illusion of form and of course those textural marks if you enjoyed this video I encourage you to subscribe to this channel and if you're ready to learn more about drawing and painting I encourage you to check out our comprehensive membership program which includes video courses weekly live lessons ebooks 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Channel: Drawing & Painting - The Virtual Instructor

Views: 2,581,133

Keywords: how to, draw, trees, tree, pen and ink, ink, lesson, tutrorial, beginner, drawing

Id: hw0EwL3SXWQ

Length: 15min 3sec (903 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2016