Trees
Session 4 - Trees
We are learning to:
draw trees
I will know I'm successful if:
I can draw a tree showing its main features
I can draw trees from different angles
Do you have a favourite tree? What do you like about it? Spend some time outside (with a family member!) and pay attention to the trees around you. Is the bark smooth or rough? How tall is it? Can you see the shape of the leaves or are they too high off the ground? Are the leaves big or small? Does the tree and the leaves block out the sun?
Take photos of some different trees that you might like to draw.
Draw a tree from the ground looking up. Draw the same or a different tree from a different angle.
What you need
A tree you love that you can see from your yard or out of a window, or a photo of a favourite tree. Celia drew an Angophora costata, or Sydney red gum.
You will also need:
a pencil
a few pieces of paper or a nature journal (if you don't have a journal or exercise book, you can make your own!)
if you can set up outside safely in front of a tree, something hard to lean your paper on
Optional
pencils of different weights... e.g. 4B, 6B, 8B, HB, B
coloured pencils
watercolour paints
crayons
oil pastels
magnifying glass
small mirror
Here are the trees that Celia drew during the live session. Follow her steps below to draw the Sydney red gum, or your favourite tree!
Choose a tree that you like, or draw this one.
Draw in the main lines of the trunk and any large areas of foliage (leaves).
Draw some lines for the thicker branches, like drawing arms and legs on a stick figure.
Look carefully at the shape of the branches. Are they straight, wiggly or forked? Do they face upward facing or crisscross?
What other detail can you see?
Add more lines to show the branches and bark. Press harder to show thicker branches.
Look for the darkest parts of the tree and press harder with your pencil to shade them. Notice the branches look a lot darker than the tree trunk.
The leaves of the plant next to the tree are dark too. Press harder and colour the whole bush in. Leave some spaces white where the light comes through. These gaps or light areas are called negative spaces.
Don't worry if your drawing doesn't look the same as the tree. Remember every tree is different.
You don't have to draw every leaf. Look at the shapes of groups of leaves and sketch them in. Which direction do the groups of leaves go? Are they round? Pointy?
Push harder on your pencil to fill in darker spaces. This makes your subject (the tree) look more three dimensional.
It's time to add colour to your drawing. There's no limit to what you can use. Try using soil from around the tree or even get some colour out of the leaves and flowers. Add colour with pencils, paint and pastels; whatever materials you have at home. Mix up your mediums (the materials you're using).
In this picture I've used watercolour paints. Here are some tips to using watercolours:
start with lots of water on your brush and just a little paint on the tip
add more colour and build up and blend layers
it's a lot harder to take away paint, so start bit by bit
Can you see that there are many colours in the tree? What colours can you see? How many colours can you see in the tree you are drawing?
Use the steps and tips in this video to try to draw a tree that you can see (or use one of the photos on this page).