How To Draw And Cut A Big Letter R Out Of Wood

How to Draw Trees

Updated: 24 February 2022

In this guide, I will demonstrate how I simplify the drawing process, and I hope that by the end of information technology you will be able to depict your favorite tree.

In order to draw realistic trees with pen and ink, information technology is important to pay attention to accuracy of the grade (construction), and to larn how to create the illusion of brightness values and transitions with pens.

Bamboo

When looking at Whatsoever tree, examine its basic shapes.

It is a good practice to draw its unproblematic shapes showtime:

Once you understand these simple shapes, y'all can apply your artistic license and your noesis to recreate information technology.

In that location is no point drawing every single leaf as y'all see it (when using a reference image as a guide).

Bamboo trees pen drawing Bamboo

Banana Tree

For trees with large leaves, like a banana tree, showtime describe a study of the leaves from different angles.

For a realistic upshot, make certain at that place is no symmetry, and that each leaf is unique.

You can utilize markers; they piece of work well with pens.

Banana leaves, drawing and painting with markers

Olive Tree Torso

Look at some reference images, or actual copse, before drawing the tree trunk.

Showtime, draw outlines to create the form (structure).

Remember:

Describe thin and gentle outlines, so they are not assuming.

Next, add together some guidelines and basic details.

Adding some details to olive tree trunks

Last stride is texture drawing.

Focus mainly on brightness values, while cartoon marks with shape and direction like the reference image.

Olive tree trunks pen drawing Olive tree trunks

Keep in mind:

Each olive tree trunk has its own "personality", merely all olive copse share common basic shapes.

How to Draw Leaves

Drawing leaves can be challenging. Understanding their structure, and breaking the drawing process into steps, will produce a satisfying and realistic consequence.

Each tree leafage is in different direction, has a dissimilar degree of foreshortening, and is overlapping other leaves.

Simply put, the grade and texture of leaves is abstruse and messy.

To describe that, you need to exist sketchy and loose with your marks, and to avoid whatever pattern!

Adjacent stride is to pay attention to brightness values. That is how you create the illusion of volume. Significant, three-dimensional and not flat.

To create that illusion, scribble more lines for darker values, and fewer lines for brighter values:

How to add depth and volume to leaves when drawing

In addition, pay attending to leaves size, depending on the tree type, and how afar it is from the observer.

For big leaves, sketch big marks, and vice versa:

Different pen marks size for different leaves size

While the treetop is messy, at its edges you tin add some indication of leaves type and size.

A drawing of an olive tree with pen and ink Olive tree

After understanding the characteristics of a specific tree (olive tree in this example), it is quite easy to describe it from imagination.

If some terms similar foreshortening and overlapping are new to you, read my guide on how to draw with a sense of depth. Information technology covers xv methods to add together depth to your cartoon or painting.

Expert to know:

Mostly, I utilize a pen with nib size 0.1. It is small-scale plenty to create fine details.

Photos & Contrast

When I am taking photos of a tree, I do it from several angles.

If possible, I circle the tree to go a photo from every angle.

I select a photograph that has high dissimilarity as my reference epitome.

Contrast betwixt highlights and shadows is crucial for a drawing to stand out, and to take presence.

Non enough contrast leads to a flat drawing with no depth. Too much contrast looks cartoonish.

Realistic olive tree pen drawing Olive tree

Pine Trees

Important:

Earlier diving into complex texturing and rendering, if you lot are a beginner, you might desire to practice the next step.

Draw any random tree shape, sketch some random marks to fill it upwardly, and so draw more sketchy marks in i side and at the bottom of the tree (to create a darker value for the shadow expanse).

This should not take more than 5 minutes! The advanced texture you will see subsequently this example is merely a matter of many hours of practise to refine the texture marks.

Pino trees are relatively piece of cake to describe from imagination.

They take very small, needle-similar leaves.

I like to offset by gently drawing the course, and then fill it with small, random marks, that are NOT in any specific direction or with reoccurring shape.

Last footstep is to depict more marks for darker areas, depending on the direction of lite you lot cull.

How to draw pine trees from imagination with pen

Pine trees come in many types and shapes.

Looking at a reference paradigm can help at the beginning, only as a guide to draw the course, and to pay attending to dark and light areas.

Other than that, attempt to exist loose and sketchy with your marks.

When drawing a close-up view, yous tin indicate the needle-like leaves at the edges of the tree.

Realistic pine tree pen drawing Pine tree

Snowy Pine Tree

A pen has only one brightness value. Therefore, you lot have to use different techniques to create the illusion of transitions in brightness values.

One technique (or fashion) is to use hatching. Hatching means drawing parallel lines.

By drawing lines with unlike caste of spacing between them (or with different line width), you can create an illusion of unlike brightness values.

Another method is to utilize cross-hatching.

Cross-hatching means drawing sets of parallel lines in different management. Past adding more than sets of cantankerous-hatching, you tin create the illusion of darker values.

You can use ANY pen for drawing. I adopt artist-course technical pens (also fineliners). They create lines with fixed width, and their ink is fabricated of pigments, which is very durable and lightfast.

Drawing with ballpoint pen and with a technical pen

For the snow office, you can exit it empty ("white"), or you tin use hatching in some areas.

In this example, I used some hatching, and some marks with very lite gray marker.

Pen drawing of a snowy pine tree Snowy Pine tree

If you want to know more than about markers, visit my markers review for artists.

Christmas Tree

A Christmas tree is just another pine tree, but with decorations.

To add some baubles, first draw their shape, and and so attempt different types of hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling.

Stippling is a drawing technique that uses dots. The more than dots yous add in 1 area, the darker it looks.

Yous tin can add other decorations to your Christmas tree.

It is all-time to kickoff sketch some test drawings on a different paper, to run across what works, earlier adding them to your cartoon.

To add together boxes in perspective, yous should be familiar with linear perspective drawing, and larn to draw from imagination.

Pen drawing of boxes and other decorations for tree

Tip:

If you observe it hard to draw a tree with a pen, yous tin e'er start with a pencil.

When you attain a satisfying result, you can go over it with a pen, and gently erase the pencil marks.

Pen drawing of a realistic Christmas tree with decorations Christmas tree

Drawing with White Pens

When drawing with white pens, pay attention to the same drawing fundamentals.

While with black pens you draw more lines for darker areas, with white pens you should draw more lines for light/bright areas.

Tree drawing with white pen on black paper

These pens are most constructive on blackness (or dark) newspaper, and for highlights.

Keep in mind:

White pens are designed for covering.

Drawing with a black pen (which has ink) over white areas (fabricated past a white pen), may ruin the pen'southward pecker, because it will be covered with the white substance (therefore its ink volition not flow smoothly).

Aspen & Birch Copse

Aspen & birch tree trunks are like shooting fish in a barrel to draw when doing it in steps.

Describe the class first:

Then, add some basic details:

Finally, draw some brightness values, and texture:

Birch trees and aspen trees pen drawing Birch & aspen tree trunks

You tin can use (lite) gray markers for coloring:

Overlapping

Overlapping means an object that partially covers some other object.

When you lot run into an object that overlaps another object, you presume that this object is in front of the object information technology covers.

Overlapping is 1 of the nearly powerful ways to create the illusion of depth on a flat paper.

Two overlapping trees pen drawing Overlapping trees

Considering yous cannot erase pen marks, it is best to draw foreground objects first!

If yous want to describe a house in front of a tree, depict the firm first:

Exercise the same for tree branches.

First, draw the branch that overlaps a tree, so the tree trunk.

For trees that have a complex construction, with many branches, you tin can use a pencil to draw the basic shapes.

When you are happy with the result, you can describe over it with a pen, and gently erase the pencil marks.

A realistic drawing of birch trees with pen Birch trees

Transitions

Transitions are part of drawing (and painting) fundamentals. They exist everywhere!

For example, different areas of a flat airplane take different relationships with any light source, reflections, and shadows.

Therefore, e'er look for transitions (in brightness values) for your drawing to look realistic and natural.

Different types of values transitions in leaves

First, look for low-cal and dark areas.

Then, look for transitions inside each area. Transitions from dark to light, from low-cal to lighter, and from dark to darker.

Oak tree, realistic pen drawing Oak tree

By drawing with NO transitions (and using hard edges), you can create something that looks unnatural, as opposed to something realistic with transitions.

Drawing of an unnatural leaves box vs natural leaves

The aforementioned style a gardener trims bushes and copse, you lot can employ your artistic license to create something that looks artificial or human-fabricated:

Artistic license means to use your knowledge and experience.

Once yous understand how to draw leaves, you can draw annihilation with leaves texture. Objects, figures, vehicles, or even a refrigerator:

Pen drawing of a refrigerator with leaves texture

Practiced to know:

Transitions are not express to effulgence values. Transitions be in colors, texture, edges, and temperature (transition from warm colors to absurd colors).

If you are struggling with realistic drawing, y'all might want to read my realistic pencil-drawing guide. It covers the 4 important fundamentals (accuracy of the form, brightness values, edges, and transitions).

Weeping Willow

A weeping willow tree is a fleck catchy to depict.

Its leaves are easy to draw at an upwardly-close expect. Every bit you go further abroad, you tin can encounter long clusters of leaves with no unmarried leafage shape.

You can start by drawing an outline for the tree structure. Practice information technology gently.

Drawing the outline for the form of a weeping willow

Then, ane manner is to draw the treetop (crown), section by section.

Alternatively, similar in this example, y'all tin draw the dark values commencement.

Drawing the dark values for weeping willow tree

Something to consider:

Every bit mentioned above, a pen has one brightness value (usually black, though other colors exist, more on that later).

By drawing gently and swiftly, with a sharp angle, you tin produce lines that are less defined, and therefore with a lighter value.

The terminal step is to add the light values.

Pay attending to effulgence values, transitions, and texture. Be abstract with your marks, even so with a sense of management.

Weeping willow, realistic pen drawing Weeping Willow

How to Depict Huge Copse

For some large trees, similar Ficus, I like to use a large paper sail (A3 in this instance).

If the tree is besides complex to draw, you can depict a grid (softly with a pencil), to carve up the paper into smaller sections (and use the aforementioned grid for your reference image).

Go along in mind:

Drawing on a large paper with a pen (or a pencil) is time-consuming. For a tree like this, information technology tin can hands take more twenty hours to complete.

Realistic ficus tree drawing with pen and ink Ficus tree

Sometimes, huge drawings may not look so large on a pocket-size screen.

You can give information technology context by calculation background trees (from imagination in this case).

Pen drawing of a ficus tree and background Groundwork drawing

Something to consider:

You should use the rules of atmospheric perspective when drawing backgrounds (mural).

When objects are far away, in that location are more than temper particles (that besprinkle calorie-free) betwixt them and the observer.

For far abroad objects, employ less contrast and fewer details. In addition, background layers become lighter, and take soft edges.

Adding Background

Trees are cute on their own. Sometimes though, you may want to add a background.

Cartoon grass is a uncomplicated and easy solution for groundwork.

Start past drawing some short lines. The lines in the front end should exist a bit bolder and longer.

Add together more lines; some tin can be longer (mostly in the foreground).

Avoid any design, and try to be abstruse with your marks.

With a tree (eucalyptus in this case), grass (as background) adds depth.

There is no actual depth in a drawing, your paper sheet is flat. The higher you draw on your paper (until the horizon), the farther away it looks.

Past drawing bandage shadow by the tree, you lot can add a sense of space to your drawing.

To depict cast shadow, add together more than marks (lines) for that area, to create the illusion of dark value.

Adding Plants

Another choice is to add some plants. For example, cattail plant (Typha).

Remember:

Natural plants and trees take an abstruse shape. Make sure y'all practise not depict them as well round and uniform.

When drawing long leaves, pay attention to cast shadows:

Later on test-cartoon the plant's parts, draw some loose outlines.

For realistic results, draw each blossom or leaf with different size, shape, and direction (but, go on in heed the tree or plant characteristics).

Additionally, pay attention to overlapping.

Then, add some effulgence values and bandage shadows.

Cattail (Typha) realistic pen drawing Cattail

Now you tin can combine grass and plants to draw a landscape.

Landscape with trees, pen drawing Mural pen drawing

And, paint it with markers.

Painting a landscape drawing with markers Coloring with markers

Size & Context

The way to define the size of objects is by placing them near other familiar objects.

Although a worm is usually quite modest, by drawing it big compared to known objects like trees, it is possible to create a giant monstrous worm.

Giant monstrous worm pen drawing Giant worm

On the other hand, you might want to draw a minor tree, like a bonsai tree.

In this case, you demand context.

Drawing a tree in a plant pot can help, but sometimes fifty-fifty large copse are sold inside pots.

Drawing familiar surround, like a room, can help a lot in defining the bonsai's size.

Pen drawing of a bonsai tree in a room Bonsai tree

Colored Pens

While the main color for technical pens is black, many brands offer other colour options.

Pens with colors Colored technical pens

I prefer black ink, simply occasionally I like to mix it up with colors.

Pen drawing of an Acacia tree Acacia tree

Log

To draw logs, timber, or tree trunks, first by drawing the outlines gently.

Pay attending to foreshortening, and add some basic details.

Lastly, determine where to place the light source, and draw a gradual transition in effulgence values with sketchy marks.

Transitions:

A cylindrical object has a transition in effulgence values, from dark to light.

When using a black pen, depict more lines for darker areas.

Some other option is to draw less defined lines (swiftly at an angle), and add more lines for darker values.

Transitions in brightness values using a black pen

Colored pens:

Unlike black pens, colored pens come in different levels of opacity.

When drawing more than in the aforementioned area, the pen creates a darkness value. Sometimes you can let the pen ink dry, and so describe over it once more.

Transitions in brightness values using colored pens

Edges:

Cast shadows ordinarily have soft edges (come across below how the cast shadow from the rope has a soft border).

When y'all scribble the wood texture, you lot want to take some dents and holes in some areas.

Draw these dents with a hard border on their darker role, and a soft border when the transition ends (the light side of the dent, or pigsty).

For a more realistic rendering, with more details, draw large.

Realistic pen drawing of a tree log with a rope

Summary

While at that place are no lines in nature, pens tin just create lines!

Drawing is creating an illusion. The world is 3-dimensional, only your paper-sheet is ii-dimensional.

To create this illusion, pay attending to brightness values, edges, and transitions (among other things).

A pen has but 1 effulgence value, so, unlike other drawing mediums (graphite, charcoal, pastel...), you accept to create the illusion of different brightness values and transitions (in brightness values).

When drawing trees, focus on accurateness of the course, and on brightness values.

Make sure you have enough contrast betwixt highlights and shadows, for the cartoon to be noticeable.

After you chief drawing the form and effulgence values, details (texture) make all the divergence.

If you liked this article, you might similar my bloom pen-drawing guide also.

For my recommended pens that I used in this guide, visit my review for fineliners and technical pens for drawing.