Branched tree drawing. How to draw trees? Drawing oak, pine and weeping willow step by step
Trees may seem like some of the easiest subjects to draw. If you have never drawn, the task may be too simple...
...or too literal:
In none of the drawings do we see anything similar to real objects. The first is just a symbol of a tree, and the second suggests the definition of a tree. Your job as an artist is to paint what we see, not what we know. Drawing trees– a great exercise for developing this skill!
In this lesson I will show you, how to draw oak, pine and weeping willow trees in a simple and realistic way.
What you will need:
- Several sheets of paper;
— Hard pencil (HB);
— Pencil of medium softness (2B);
— Soft pencil (5B or less);
- Sharpener.
Usually a pair of hard pencils (HB) is enough, but this set is not universal for all drawings. To get dark shadows, we need soft pencils. There is no need to choose expensive ones - I bought the most common ones, and they perform their function perfectly. If you doubt whether you need to draw, then a set of pencils of different degrees of hardness will not be a big loss on your budget, and drawing with these is much easier!
You will also need a sharpener. A dull tip leaves lighter strokes and does not achieve the expected effect. Always keep your pencils sharp and remember that soft pencils wear out faster!
Regarding paper: it can be anything. Regular printer paper will also work. However, you should not draw on a whole sheet of paper - the smaller the drawing, the less detail you will need to add. In reality, my drawings are about 9 cm in height.
Soft pencils help make shadows darker, which cannot be said about hard pencils. Hard pencils are not as dark, even if you press hard on them!
- DRAWING AN OAK
Step 1
The brain works in an unusual way: it first grasps the big picture and then pays attention to the details. Therefore, you should not start drawing with details - you will need to create a base first.
Draw the general shape of the tree with a few faint strokes and dots. To do this, use a hard (HB) pencil, do not press on it. These strokes will not be part of the finished image - they will not be visible in the finished drawing; The camera and scanner don't recognize them (I used Photoshop so you can see them!).
Step 2
Draw the trunk. Don't forget - the lower part should expand downwards. The larger the tree, the shorter and thicker its trunk.
Step 3
Draw the branches at the top of the trunk.
Continue drawing the branches, gradually lowering the line as they lengthen.
Step 4
Add other branches to each branch (the longer, the lower they go). The strokes should be light.
Step 5
Using short, sharp strokes, draw the shape of the tree's crown. It doesn't have to be smooth and neat.
Step 6
Using the same method, draw small “clouds” of leaves inside the crown. Leave some areas empty so that parts of the branches are visible - this structure looks more interesting.
Step 7
Add thickness to the branches in places where they are not covered by leaves.
Step 8
Before you start applying shadows, determine which parts of the tree will be bright and which parts will have shadows. You can identify them by simple shading.
Step 9
Take a soft (2B) pencil (make sure it's sharp) and create texture on the trunk. Remember to also leave white areas - this is important for texture.
Step 10
Take soft pencils (2B and 5B) and darken the barrel according to the original light distribution plan. Don't be afraid to press down on the soft pencil to get the shadow you want, but don't overdo it either! The fewer black areas in the picture, the more impressive it looks.
Step 11
Take a hard pencil and sketch out the outlines of the leaves. Draw them in relaxed circles, quickly, with sharp movements.
Step 12
Each branch also has its own small crown (these are the “clouds” that you drew). They need to be shaded in the same way as if they were separate trees.
First, use a soft (2B) pencil to draw darker circles on the dark side. Don't press too hard at first so you can correct any mistakes.
Once you're sure you've got the dark sides right, add shadows and depth to them, and add some transition between the light and dark parts.
Step 13
Use a soft (2B) pencil to add some stray leaves throughout the crown and "little crowns." This will create the effect of additional, barely visible branches.
Step 14
Take the softest pencil and add some dark accents in the darkest places. The crown will be more contrasting. Also make sure that all leaves are darker than the “sky” background - leaves cannot be transparent! You can go over the lightest areas again with a hard pencil.
- DRAWING A PINE TREE
Step 1
Again, we start drawing with the general outline of the tree. Take a hard pencil and draw light lines.
Step 2
Draw the branches. Don't try to get them exactly right, just sketch them out.
Step 3
As with the oak tree, draw “clouds” on the branches. This time they should be narrower and even more uneven. Leave plenty of free space between them.
Step 4
Draw the outline of the trunk - long and narrow.
Step 5
Use a soft (2B) pencil to darken the barrel...
...and then a softer pencil to highlight the darkest side.
Step 6
This time there is no need to fill in the “clouds” with circles; fill them instead with sharp and chaotic strokes.
Step 7
Use a soft (2B) pencil to draw needles along the outline of the clouds. They should be thin and sharp.
Step 8
Draw the branches and darken them with two soft pencils.
Step 9
Draw even more needles inside the “clouds” with a soft (2B) pencil).
Step 10
Use the softest pencil to darken the clouds. If you want, you can simply darken them completely - evergreen trees are usually dark themselves.
Step 11
Finally, use your softest pencil to draw in the completely dark “clouds” between the branches.
- DRAWING A WEEPING WILLOW
Step 1
We will draw according to the same scheme. Let's draw a general outline of the willow - something like a fountain.
Step 2
Draw the outline of the trunk.
Step 3
Draw the branches away from the trunk...
... descending with length.
Step 4
Draw the outlines of the “clouds”; this time they will look more like curtains.
Step 5
Fill in the trunk and branches with shading using a soft (2B) pencil.
Step 6
Darken the trunk and branches with the softest pencil.
Step 7
Take a soft (2B) pencil and draw ribbon-like lines along the “curtains”. They should form an arc at the very beginning.
Step 8
Darken the "curtains" with darker and wider curling lines in the spaces.
Step 9
Use your softest pencil to draw dark “curtains” on the other, darkened side of the tree. You can also add leaves to the branches to make them more detailed.
Your trees are ready!
As you can see, draw trees- an easy task; you just need to convey their appearance, not their definition. However, this is just the beginning of learning - if you want to become a real professional in drawing trees, take a notepad with you on your walk. Observe the trees you pass by and try to make quick sketches of them. This way you can develop intuitive drawing. If you prefer to stay at home, look at photos of trees on the Internet.
Translation of an article from design.tutsplus.com.
I am sure that almost all of you are interested in the topic of creating landscapes. Landscapes can be very different, showing beautiful and interesting views of different parts of our planet, in many of them you come into contact with the task of depicting trees. How to draw a tree that is alive, beautiful and natural is the topic of our lesson today.
Trees are not difficult to draw, but sometimes they come out too drawn or flat.
Basic mistakes
The main mistakes in drawing trees are:
Lack of volume
The lack of volume in a drawing (in color or black and white) is achieved by using paints of different tones and intensity. Even on a cloudy day, some part of the crown and trunk will be more shaded, and some less. The colors are always darker in the thick of the foliage. Think of a tree as a ball (crown) and a cylinder (trunk) to understand how shadows form on this complex shape.
Here are examples:
Too regular and unnatural forms
To avoid this mistake, gently draw trees easily and quickly, and if your hand trembles somewhere, it will be more natural than when all the lines are very folded and dewy. In nature, you will not find completely identical trees, a perfectly symmetrical crown or trunk. Something always stands out from the general order. Something always stands out from the general order, and this is what gives the tree (plant) and your drawing more liveliness and naturalness.
Naturally, this rule does not apply to trees and bushes, the shapes of which are shaped by gardeners.
Advice: Before you start drawing a forest or a park alley, practice drawing trees and bushes separately on a sheet of paper, so that you can begin to draw them easily and naturally. It is important that you can quickly outline the trunks and branches, this will help avoid “loneliness” in your work. After training, move on to a more serious task.
Drawing step by step
There are a huge number of trees in nature, each with its own character. Let's try to depict different types of trees step by step in order to better understand the process of creating such a drawing and some of the nuances.
Determining the General Shape
The main thing is to correctly determine the general shape of the tree, its crown and trunk. If it is somehow tilted or rotated, then at the very first stage it is important to note this direction.
The initial sketch may look very primitive, but it is important that you can already guess from it what kind of tree or bush it is. No details are needed or important right now.
Clarifying the silhouette
A clear shape and correct direction (turn, bend or tilt), a good basis for some detailing and clarification.
Now, we can clarify the silhouette of the crown, some small protrusions of branches, show gaps, clarify the placement and direction of branches on the trunk and among the foliage. 
Remember that trees that are too straight and symmetrical will not look natural.
Adding general tone and color
The sketch is ready and now we can pick up paints or a pencil and give the tree more expressiveness and volume.
If you work with any paints (except watercolors), then the crown and trunk can be immediately painted with a common color, without showing light and shadow.
At this stage, it is important to choose a good shade for the foliage and trunk, characteristic of this particular type of tree and corresponding to the lighting.
Spots of light and shadow
After the main colors have been selected and applied, it is worth adding some volume. To do this, depending on the lighting, you need to show shadow and light throughout the entire crown, without highlighting the branches and the trunk.
Also now you need to mark the shadow on the trunk, depending on the location of the sun.
In the illustration above, we assumed that the sun is above and to the right. Accordingly, shadows on the trunks formed on the left side.
Small shapes and details
When the overall volume is shown, individual branches, clusters of branches, depressions and gaps between leaves can be highlighted. If there is a need, you can highlight some leaves in the foreground, this will create a feeling of greater detail.
You shouldn’t draw out every leaf, as this will make the picture look like a child’s picture. After all, when we look at the forest, we see the overall picture, and only by looking closely, concentrating our attention, can we look at individual leaves.
Trees without leaves
During the cold season, trees remain without leaves; this is also an interesting topic in fine art. Drawing dry branches is a good practice for any artist, since here you need to correctly show the volume, direction, shape, angle and perspective.
Each type of tree has a different arrangement of branches; this must be taken into account. Some trees have small branches, with many bends, and they are located close. Others, on the contrary, have long, straight branches with a minimum of branches. Also pay attention to the shape of the crown without leaves.
Video lesson
Watch the lesson on how to draw a forest, tree, trees step by step with a pencil:
Examples for inspiration
Claude Monet, Olive Trees in the Moreno Garden In this tutorial I present you with the opportunity to enjoy drawing a simple tree with a conical trunk and a bunch of foliage. I have always been impressed by the roots of huge trees peeking out of the ground, the thick trunks of large oaks, the hanging leaves of a weeping willow. The trees that surround us protect us, warm us, and saturate us with oxygen. Trees are fundamental to our way of life, from the table and chair you sit on to the paper you draw on. After this lesson, I encourage you to go outside and plant a tree in your yard, your friend's yard, near your school, or somewhere else. But first, let's draw an inspiring tree!
1. Start with a trunk that widens towards the bottom.
2. Connect the sides of the trunk at the bottom with a curved contour line. It will serve as a reference line for the tree's root system.
3. Using the bottom contour line, draw guidelines in four directions: NE, SE, NW and SW.
4. It's fascinating, isn't it? Draw the roots of the tree using long tapering tubes coming out of the trunk following compass directions. Have you noticed that we use guide lines in almost every object when we draw in 3D?
5. Erase the additional lines. Draw the branches tapering and gradually dividing into smaller branches. Note that you should draw folds where the branches diverge to define the edges more clearly.
6. Easily mark the first leaf zone by marking it with a circle.
7. Add two more circles behind the first one, creating a 3D overlapping effect. Essentially, a group of three leaf clumps will look more visually appealing than just one.
In general, an odd number of objects in a group looks more attractive than an even number. I'm looking out the window right now and I see several examples of groups. The store across the street has three windows to the right of the door and three to the left. Find examples of famous Roman architecture on the Internet, notice how many columns they have on each side of the entrance to the building or windows. Look at the windows, arches, sculptures in historical Renaissance architecture. Grouping is an important art concept that I will cover in more detail in our next tutorials.
8. Just like we did in the drawing lesson, we will draw a “surface feel” on the leaf clumps. Start by drawing small rows of scribbles like the picture below. As you apply multiple layers of these scribbles, you create the illusion that these spheres are becoming leaves. Now apply the wood grain using repeating smooth lines going down the trunk. Notice that the shadows are darker under the branches.
9. Continue building up the visual effect of the leaves by filling each of the large clumps with a circle with small scribbles. Finish the tree by adding textured shading. Draw long vertical lines to shade the trunk and branches of the tree. Great job! It turned out to be a beautiful, and most importantly realistic tree!
LESSON 21: PRACTICAL TASK
Let's try to complicate the drawing. Can you draw such a tree?
Experiment!
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There are more than 100,000 species of trees in the world, which means that one tree can be completely different from another. However, even trees of the same species can differ significantly. In this lesson we will look at the most common, “average” tree. However, the steps below are quite universal, so this tutorial will be useful whether you are drawing an ash, maple, pine or other tree.
Preparation: looking for a reference
Whatever you draw, it's best to always have an object to reference. If you want, look for photos on the Internet, if you want, take your own pictures, or just look at the trees on the street. Studying the object will help you quickly decide on an idea, as well as more accurately convey the details.
Now let's proceed directly to the pencil drawing. 
Step 1.
Start by sketching out the trunk and lightly sketch out the branches growing from it. Please note that the branches grow to the sides and slightly upward. Imagine that they are reaching for the sun with all their might. Do not use a ruler under any circumstances: a living tree is knobby, uneven, and curved, so perfectly straight lines will only harm you.
Step 2.
Now lightly outline the outlines of the foliage. It's likely that this shape will change as you draw, but this sketch will help you always remember what exactly you want to draw. Just as the branches should not be even, the crown of the tree should not be symmetrical! 
Step 3.
Shadows and highlights are what will give your work depth and dimension, but before you start breaking down your design into light and shadow, determine your tree's lighting source.
Step 4.
Once you've decided on the light, shade the main dark areas on your tree. It is convenient to do this with a soft pencil (for example, 6B) - this will create the illusion of more realistic foliage than when shading with a hard lead. The bottom of each "block" of leaves should be darker than the top.
Step 5.
Now let’s fill the entire crown with tone, not forgetting to leave the illuminated areas lighter than those in the shadows. However, even if you forget and darken some areas too much, you can always go over them lightly with an eraser (it’s best to do this with tapping movements so that the eraser picks up the pigment but doesn’t smudge the drawing).
Step 6.
Let's not forget about the trunk. If the light source is on the right, as in our example, of course, the left side of the trunk and the branches on it will be darker. However, at the very left border of the trunk you need to make a thin light stripe - a reflex formed due to the “girdling” of the trunk by the rays of the sun.
Step 7
During the shading process, your original outlines should merge with the shaded shapes - in real life, objects do not have outlines, which means they should not have them in a realistic drawing (of course, if you are drawing comics, this rule does not apply).
Step 8
Finally, draw the falling shadow. Of course, in the picture it should roughly follow the shape of the tree and fall in the opposite direction from the light source. The length of the shadow depends on the height of this source: the higher it is, the shorter the shadow. As you know, shadows disappear at noon :) 
It would seem that drawing a tree could not be easier. But in order for you to get a beautiful drawing that pleases the eye, you need to try hard. It is not necessary to have the talent of an artist; you can master special techniques and you will succeed.
A tree can be drawn in completely different ways. It can be a bright colorful drawing, or, on the contrary, a black and white picture. It all depends on your mood, on the emotions you want to convey.
By depicting just one tree, you can convey the entire situation around it.
How to draw a tree for kindergarten step by step
From a very young age, children strive to draw. Yearlings will be happy to imitate you, waving a pencil over a sheet of paper. By the age of two, a child's hand coordination will allow him to draw the simplest things. At this age, many children begin to go to kindergarten.
In kindergarten, classes are held in which children learn to draw. They begin to hold a pencil correctly and draw lines and circles. Parents should practice with their child at home. To do this, you need to know how to correctly explain to a novice artist the technique of drawing a particular object.
Drawing a tree is also divided into several stages, which the child must remember well and master in practice. Do not try to complete the task instead of him, assigning the child the role of observer. In early childhood, all manipulations with hands and fingers help the child’s speech development.
Let's look at the simplest way you can teach a child.
First stage is to draw a tree schematically. To do this, the child must understand that a tree grows from the ground, that it has a trunk and a crown with leaves. Do not forget that first we do all the sketches with a simple pencil. We don’t put too much pressure on it, so that later it will be easy for you to remove unnecessary elements.
We denote the ground with a horizontal line, and draw a tree trunk perpendicular to it. So that the tree has a crown, where the tree trunk ends, draw a circle or an oval.
Second stage making our tree more real. Outline the trunk by adding a few root shoots and a couple of large branches.
IN third stage outline the crown.
Fourth stage. Making the tree realistic. Add a few more lace turns of the crown in the center and remove all unnecessary details. The tree is ready.
How to draw a tree trunk
The trunk is the base of the tree. It doesn’t matter what kind of tree you draw, be it a lonely birch tree in a field or, on the contrary, a dense pine forest, you will start drawing from the trunk.
To make the tree look more natural, the trunk must be drawn correctly, regardless of whether you have a pencil in your hand or a brush. According to the rules, starting from the ground the trunk is wider and gradually narrows closer to the crown.
If you paint with paints, then paint the base with the wide part of the brush, and the top part with the narrower part. The line should be thin and flying.
Try to draw so that the trunk looks alive. It is difficult to find a tree with a perfectly straight trunk or symmetrical branches. Don't forget about shadows and highlights. They will add volume to the picture.
How to draw a tree branch
The tree has large main branches and smaller branches growing from the main ones. Just like the trunk, large branches are thicker at the base. The type of tree determines the nature of the image of the branches. The branches of a birch stretch upward towards the sun, while those of a pine or spruce fan down to the ground.
First make a sketch, deciding where the branch will grow, how many branches it has, what its structure is.
How to draw tree leaves
Leaves are an integral part of any tree. Each tree has its own type of foliage. If you do not have a goal to depict the tree in detail and as accurately as possible, then you should not thoroughly draw each leaf.
Let's look at how to draw leaves, for example maple leaves, more realistically.
First, we make sketches, draw the base and outline. Gradually outline the entire edge of the sheet and remove the excess with an eraser.
Add a leaf, a twig and veins. Fill the drawing with color. For the summer version we use several shades of green, for autumn warm red-orange tones.
How to draw a tree with a pencil step by step
Let's not draw any specific type of tree, let's draw an ordinary tree. Follow all the steps below and you will have a nice quality drawing.
First stage.
Remember that you don’t need to put too much pressure on the pencil, otherwise it will be difficult to erase the sketch later and the drawing will turn out a bit dirty. So, first we draw the trunk and the approximate outline of the tree crown.
Second phase.
We make the outline of the trunk clearer and add a few branches.
Third stage.
It's time to draw the foliage. Decide what the weather is like, windy or calm. If the wind is blowing in your drawing, the foliage should lean in one direction or another. Our example shows calm weather.
Fourth stage.
Now you need to remove the sketch and draw the elements of the tree in detail, starting from below. Draw the bark and branches.
Fifth stage.
To make the bark more natural, the lines should be like sketches; accuracy is not needed here. At this stage add a branch with leaves on the left side.
Sixth stage.
We continue to sketch out the foliage using rounded movements. Add earth to the drawing.
Seventh stage.
We highlight the tree trunk with a darker pencil, and on the contrary, paint over the foliage softly and lighter.
Eighth stage.
Don't forget about the play of shadows. Since the sun shines from above, the top of the crown should be lighter, and where the shadow is, in this case the lower left corner, should be a little darker.
Ninth stage.
Draw a few leaves in random order.
Tenth stage.
On the right side we also add a little shadow under the branches.
Eleventh stage.
The last step is to add highlights. For work done with paints, use white, and if you paint in black and white, just erase it a little with an eraser.
How to draw a tree step by step for beginners
If you are a complete beginner artist, then this method will definitely suit you. Prepare a white sheet of paper, pencils, including a simple one, and an eraser.
Stage 1 and 2. First, let's draw a trunk and several thin branches.
We add volume to the branches, draw the same lines next to the existing branches, which smoothly turn into new branches. We remove unnecessary details with an eraser.
Let's draw foliage. To do this, using smooth lace lines, as if we were putting a cap on a tree, we draw a crown. After it we draw the next one, larger in size. Next is the third, largest crown.
Now all that remains is to paint the trunk brown, and each part of the crown with different shades of green.
How to paint a tree with paints
Before you start painting, you need to choose quality paints. It is better to learn to paint with gouache, it does not spread like watercolor. This means the drawing will be more accurate.
Let's paint a winter spruce with paints.
First, draw the trunk and the branches emanating upward from it in brown. Then you need to mark the needles in green. In some places the paint should be lighter to make the drawing more vibrant. We paint the inside of the spruce with green paint with the addition of blue.
We wait until the paint is completely dry and start working on the snow. To depict snow on the branches, add a little blue to the white color.
How to draw an autumn tree
With the onset of autumn, nature is painted in all shades of red. In September you can see a mesmerizing landscape, when against the backdrop of still green foliage, another, already red-orange, glows. Hands are reaching out to paint.
An autumn tree is drawn the same way as everyone else, starting from the trunk. Draw parallel, uneven lines at a wide distance from each other. From these lines we draw twisting branches.
To make the tree look more alive and voluminous, we draw small shoots in different ways, without repeating ourselves. We draw some of the branches clearly, and some as a sketch.
Next we draw the bark. To do this, we apply a lot of chaotic lines and a few tubercles to imitate real tree bark. To give the tree color, draw the bark lines in red-brown color.
Use a lighter brown to paint the remaining areas, watch the lines, they should be in the same direction. Adding shadows.
At the last stage we add foliage to the tree. On small branches we depict orange-red leaves.
How to draw a beautiful tree
Each tree is beautiful in its own way. But you must admit that the tree, large, with roots spread above the ground and a dense crown, is a little more impressive than an ordinary park maple. To draw such a tree, you will need a sheet of white paper, a simple pencil and an eraser.
We draw a trunk tapering upward. At the bottom of the trunk line we connect with an arc. Set the direction of the roots in four directions, and draw them like curved pipes that taper towards the bottom.
We produce two main branches from the tree trunk, and draw a fold between them. We remove all unnecessary auxiliary lines with an eraser.
Circles indicate crown locations. Build up the foliage by filling the main circles with smaller ones with an outline in the form of small scribbles. Add shadow.
How to draw a rowan tree
Rowan is very beautiful in winter, against the backdrop of white snow. Try to paint a winter rowan with paints.
Paint the background light gray and let the paint dry. First, make a pencil sketch. One rowan tree has several trunks growing out of the ground. They are thin and branched. Use small ovals to mark the location of future clusters. Now you can take on the paint.
We outline the trunks and branches with dark brown color. We take a rich red color and fill the ovals with small strokes. You will get bunches of rowan berries. Since we are drawing winter rowan, put a little white snow on each bunch. Using the same white, draw snowdrifts at the base.
How to draw a maple tree
The maple leaf has a characteristic acute-angled shape. The maple itself is a tall branched tree.
We make a sketch of a maple tree, draw a trunk and a crown cap. Next, we complicate it a little by adding several stripes inside. We divide the crown into parts, drawing the branches and partially the foliage. Next, we outline the crown in more detail.<<колючими>> lines.
We color the maple with shades of yellow, orange and brown. Don't forget to add light and shade.
How to draw a sakura tree
It’s not at all difficult to draw a beautiful Japanese cherry tree. We use a simple pencil.
- Draw a large oval. Beneath it is a curved tree trunk. From it we draw crooked branches, they should intertwine a little and curl above the ground.
- Add more branches. This will make the tree look denser. Let's start with the flowers.
- Do not draw all the flowers clearly; turn some of them only into a hint.
- Draw the bark on the trunk.
- Remove all unnecessary lines with an eraser. Start working with paints.
- Paint the trunk dark brown. Bark lines are black. We paint the flowers with all shades of pink.