Draw Leaves on a Tree
Drawing leaves on a tree is simple. And this article shows how to do it.
Steps
- Take a leaf from the tree you want to draw, and do a sketch of just the leaf itself. Do as much detail as you want, this will really help warm you up.
- Draw some vertical lines for the tree's base, and some big branches reaching up and out. Uneven unsteady lines tend to look the best. Think of blood veins, how they branch out, and are rather varied.
- Draw the outline of the mass of leaves, kind of like a cloud. From there draw a little leaf here and there to add some texture, and make it really resonate as a tree. If there is a sun in the picture, you might want to show the way the light is hitting the leaves, and the tree branches.
- Make the parts that are furthest away from the sun darker and more shaded, and the parts that are closer, less shaded and lighter. This will add depth to the leaves. You can even do the outside edge of the leaf that's closer to the sun lighter, and shade the rest. Maybe the leaf is curled, and the sun is hitting it differently. Remember you only have to do a few leaves here and there to show the texture of the foliage. Do not get carried away drawing every single little leaf, because too much detail will actually take away from the picture. Keep it very simple.
- Do some more shading on the bark. Do a few knots and roots sticking out and add a little grass around it.
- Add a sun or a few clouds, or a mountain in the background. The picture is complete. Evolving from a pencil sketch to a more detailed in depth version of drawing tree leaves, it's easy! Have fun!
Tips
- If you don't want to spend too much time in to detail, but still want to get that natural look, sketch out the branches for your tree. It will look like it's winter at first, but then quickly draw tiny oval shaped leaves in clusters around the branches. After you've worked up a good amount of leaves, it should look like spring again
- Usually start by doing the outline of the entire tree in "contour lines." Contour lines are what separate the different colors. So your picture basically would look like a piece of broccoli. The pencil sketch should not be too detailed.
