Amarpreet Singh: Drawing a Tree

For my final post, I decided to put all of my skills to the test. Throughout my blog posts I’ve done many things such as shading, drawing curves freehandedly, and even more shading. Alright most of my blog posts somehow relate to the topic of shading. For this final drawing, I needed something that could show my improvement in overall drawing and shading as well.

That’s why I decided to draw a tree. Catherine V. Holmes, the author of my book called "How to Draw Cool Stuff: Basics, Shading, Texture, Pattern and Optical Illusions,” has a very detailed tutorial on how to do so. 90% of the drawing itself is shading the tree, which was perfect to show my improvement from drawing my first drawing freehandedly.

First, Holmes tells us to draw “a basic trunk and a few bits of branch stemming from it.” (Holmes 134) Holmes also suggests not to use a ruler as the tree’s trunk should be natural with lots of tiny imperfections.

Next, I drew the outline around the tree. I made sure not to make this symmetrical, as Holmes had stated “don’t make it perfectly symmetrical – trees are organic structures and are never exactly the same on both sides.” (Holmes 134)

Continuing on with the shading, I took note of the fact that there would be a light source. Of course, Holmes had a work around, shading darker on the left side of the tree while having some darker parts pulling off to the right.

Going on I darkened some parts of my tree, mostly the shaded leaves and the trunk itself, only to bring it out a little more in the mess of the shading.

Again, I used my technique of swiveling the pencil lightly around the parts I needed to shade, I learned to do this while drawing my eye.

Finally I erased the outline of the tree and added details to the trunk of the tree, noting the fact that the light would change how the trunk looked. Also drawing a cast shadow can be important as well.

What do you think, did I improve from my first post? Also, was my human eye better or this tree?

Overall I had fun learning about all these different techniques and things about drawing. I still need a guide or helping hand but practice makes perfect.