Saturday Morning Skraw - Drawing Lesson 3

Good morning!  Let's draw a tree together.  How about a big ol' oak tree.  Trees can be fun to draw and they really are not that complicated.  However, the more you practice drawing them and indicating the branches, the leaves, the bark, and how the light hits the tree, your trees will look wonderful.  Just remember, your impression does not have to look like mine or anyone elses impression - it just has to be your impression of the tree.  That is what makes art so wonderful and unique - is that the way you draw, the way you paint, the colors you use, and your brushstrokes are uniquely yours.  We can learn from each other, but ultimately, take what you know and what you learn and make it your own.  Be creative.  Let's give your tree some pizzazz.

Let's start by sketching out the general shape.

You can sketch in some random branches at this stage, or wait a bit, it's really up to you because some of these branches will change.  You'll see why in a minute.

When you look at a tree, you may notice that it has shapes, or clusters of leaves, and then you may notice that some leaves are in shade and others are in sunlight, and still others are somewhere between the shadow and the light.  

How you represent your tree is up to you, but here are some hints:

Pay attention to how the sunlight is hitting the tree and how the branches and leaves indicate the light.  

Understand that you are not duplicating the tree branch for branch and leaf for leaf.  Drawing or painting a general indication is quite enough.  Unlike a portrait where every shade, every shape of color, every highlight, everyTHING needs to be exact.  Having said that, I think I'll stick to drawing and painting trees for now because portraits, although I have done a number of them, give me a headache.

Use your kneaded eraser to erase some areas of the branches that you may have drawn earlier.  Add more shadows, and make the shadows different values (some darker than others.)

Don't draw in every leaf.  Goodness, scribble.  And besides, scribbling is more fun.

Remember to also add light and shade to the trunk of your tree and maybe a shadow area indicated on the ground. 

There you go.  Now my tree is nothing to write home about, but it's my Saturday morning oak tree and I think I'll keep it.  

I want to see some of your sketches! Photograph your sketches and email them to me.  

Have a great weekend and get out there and draw!