How to Draw a Tree

13 қадамҳо ~14 дақиқа Душворӣ 3/5 Бепул, бе қайд

Чӣ чизро имрӯз мекашед

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Draw the trunk as two lines that spread apart at the base.

The trunk should be clearly wider at the ground than at the top.

Дар ҷои он дар коғаз кашида шавад?

Мо барои шумо суратро рост ва тоза мекунем. Шумораи коғазҳо ҳамагӣ якхела аст.

Дар бораи ин тасвирот

Everybody's first tree is a lollipop: a brown stick with a green cloud on top. The reason is that a tree has roughly two hundred thousand leaves and you cannot draw them, so the brain substitutes a symbol.

The professional answer is not to draw leaves at all. You draw five or six clumps of foliage as masses of light and dark, put a few leaf-shaped marks around their edges, and let the viewer's eye supply the rest. It does, every time.

Қадами ба қадам

  1. Қадам 1

    Draw the trunk as two lines that spread apart at the base.

    A trunk is not a rectangle. It flares where it meets the ground, and that flare is one of the cheapest things you can do to stop the tree looking like a post someone hammered in.

    Диққат Parallel-sided trunk with a flat bottom.

    & Озмоиш The trunk should be clearly wider at the ground than at the top.

  2. Қадам 2

    Fork the trunk into two or three main branches.

    Every fork loses thickness: the two branches leaving a fork together should add up to about the width of the branch they came from. Get that wrong and the tree looks inflated at the top.

    Диққат Branches as thick as the trunk they come from.

    & Озмоиш Each branch should be thinner than the trunk below it.

  3. Қадам 3

    Fork each branch again, thinner each time.

    Two more levels is plenty - most of these will be hidden by foliage anyway. What matters is that the structure exists under the leaves, because the canopy shape follows the branches and looks arbitrary without them.

    Диққат Branches that stay the same width all the way out.

    & Озмоиш The outermost twigs should be thin lines.

  4. Қадам 4

    Sketch the overall canopy shape, lightly.

    One big irregular mass - never a circle. Real canopies are wider than they are tall and lopsided, usually leaning toward wherever the light comes from. This is a guide you will break, not an outline you will keep.

    Диққат A neat symmetrical dome.

    & Озмоиш The canopy should be wider than it is tall, and asymmetrical.

  5. Қадам 5

    Break the canopy into five or six overlapping clumps.

    This is the step that decides whether you get a tree or a lollipop. Each clump has a bumpy top edge and a flatter shadowed underside, and they overlap - some in front, some behind. Vary their sizes deliberately.

    Диққат Clumps of equal size arranged evenly.

    & Озмоиш You should count at least five distinct clumps of different sizes.

  6. Қадам 6

    Leave two or three gaps where sky shows through.

    A solid canopy reads as a cutout. Sky holes - especially near the middle where you can see through to the branches behind - are what tell the viewer this is a three-dimensional thing with air in it.

    Диққат Filling the canopy completely.

    & Озмоиш You should be able to see branch through at least one gap.

  7. Қадам 7

    Add leaf-shaped marks around the outer silhouette only.

    A dozen small scalloped marks on the outside edge is enough for the eye to read the whole canopy as leaves. Adding them across the interior destroys the mass you just built and turns the tree into wallpaper.

    Диққат Drawing leaf marks all over the inside of the canopy.

    & Озмоиш The interior should have no individual leaf marks in it.

  8. Қадам 8

    Pick a light direction and shade the underside of each clump.

    Every clump is a rough sphere, so it is light on top and dark underneath. Shade the undersides all from the same direction. This single step is what turns a flat green shape into a volume.

    Диққат Shading the outside edge of the canopy instead of the underside of each clump.

    & Озмоиш Each clump should have its own shadow, on the same side.

  9. Қадам 9

    Push the clumps at the back darker than the ones in front.

    Sort the canopy into a front group and a back group and pull their tones apart. Depth in a landscape comes from grouping values by distance far more than from shading each object individually.

    Диққат Every clump the same tone, which flattens the canopy into a single shape.

    & Озмоиш You should be able to say which clumps are nearer.

  10. Қадам 10

    Shade the trunk, leaving a light strip down one side.

    A trunk is a cylinder, so it takes the same treatment as the mug: dark on the shadow side, with a slightly lighter strip right at the edge where light bounces back. Keep the strokes vertical, following the bark.

    Диққат Shading the trunk evenly, which makes it a flat plank.

    & Озмоиш The trunk should have a clear light side and dark side.

  11. Қадам 11

    Add the canopy's shadow onto the trunk.

    The foliage above blocks light from the top of the trunk, so the trunk is darkest where it enters the canopy and lightens toward the ground. Missing this is why drawn trunks often look like they belong to a different picture.

    Диққат A uniformly lit trunk under a heavily shaded canopy.

    & Озмоиш The trunk should be darkest at the top.

  12. Қадам 12

    Draw the ground line and the cast shadow.

    A short line through the base of the trunk, and a shadow stretching away from the light. Both are one stroke, and without them the tree hovers - which is the single most common thing wrong with beginner landscapes.

    Диққат A shadow that does not touch the base of the trunk.

    & Озмоиш The shadow should start exactly where the trunk meets the ground.

  13. Қадам 13

    Go over the lines you want to keep, and lose the guides.

    This is the step that turns a construction drawing into a finished one, and it is the one most people skip. Press harder on the outline and the features; leave the small stuff light. That difference in weight is what makes a drawing look deliberate rather than traced, and it costs thirty seconds.

    Диққат Going over everything at the same weight, which flattens the drawing back out.

    & Озмоиш The outline should be clearly darker than the smallest details.

Чӣ тавр ба назар мерасад, ки ба итмом расидааст

Ин рисолати якхела бо ҳамаи роҳнамоҳо нест карда шуда ва танҳо хатҳое, ки шумо мехоҳед нигоҳ доред, дар вазне, ки шумо мехоҳед, ки онҳо бошанд. Агар шумо ҳанӯз ҳам хатҳои марказӣ ва шаклҳои блокиро дар он дошта бошед, ин қадамест, ки шумо ҳанӯз анҷом надодаед - ва он тақрибан 30 сонияро мегирад.

The finished drawing of a tree with the construction lines erased

Шумо ин тавр нахоҳед буд, ва он набояд чунин бошад. Ин сохти бо тахтаи буридашуда аст, на расмие, ки касе барои лаззат кардан сохтааст - ҳадаф нишон додан аст, ки кадом хатҳои шумо роҳнамо буданд.

Чӣ тавр ин ба шумо меомӯзад

This is the restraint lesson: how to suggest enormous detail with very few marks. The technique - draw the mass, detail only the silhouette edge - transfers directly to hair, grass, crowds, fur and clouds, which is to say most of the things beginners avoid.

It also introduces depth through value grouping. Rather than shading individual objects, you sort everything into a front group and a back group and pull their tones apart. That is how landscapes get their space, and it is a completely different skill from shading a single form.

Ба шумо чӣ лозим аст

A pencil, and ideally a second softer one for the dark clumps. You will be building distinct light and dark masses, and getting them properly apart is much easier with two grades than by pressing harder.

A real tree out of the window works better than a photo here, because the thing you are learning to see is depth in the foliage, and a photograph flattens exactly that.

Агар хатогӣ рӯй диҳад

If it looks like a lollipop, you drew one outline round the whole canopy. Break it into five or six overlapping clumps with sky visible between some of them.

If it looks flat, every clump is the same tone. Some clumps are in front and lit; others are behind and in shadow, and that difference is the whole illusion.

Let the branches disappear into the foliage and reappear. A branch that runs unbroken from trunk to leaf edge tells the viewer the canopy is see-through.

Чоп кардани қадамҳо

Аз экран дур кунед. Варақаи қадам дар як саҳифа чоп мешавад.

Мактуби US А4Name

Саволҳои маъмул

Why does my tree look like a lollipop?
You drew one outline round the whole canopy. Break it into five or six overlapping clumps instead.
Do I have to draw individual leaves?
No, and you should not. Draw masses, then a few leaf marks on the outer edge only.
How thick should the trunk be?
Thicker at the base than you think, and it should narrow at every point where a branch leaves it.
Where do branches go?
They fork and get thinner every time. A branch never gets thicker as it moves away from the trunk.
How do I make the canopy look deep?
Some clumps light, some dark, and let sky show through in a few gaps. Even tone reads as a flat cutout.
What kind of tree is this?
A generic broadleaf. Conifers are easier - the same clump method with downward-angled masses.
My tree looks like it is floating.
No ground line and no cast shadow. Both take one stroke each and both are essential.
What should I draw after this?
The rose, which is the same problem - too much detail - solved with construction instead of restraint.