How to Draw Trees with Pen Ink

Hey everyone, so here I am with another video now I was looking over some of the previous videos that I made and I realized like some of them while I did I think I Did provide some useful information the quality was not that great, you know And I'm really appreciative that you guys are so understanding You know the you know The video quality was not the best but you still watch it and appreciate it and that means a lot to me So I decided I'm going to remake some of them and I'm going to start with the one on trees Of course, I'm going to continue, you know adding new videos to the different series and so on. I think the next one may be the Portraits portrait drawing series. I'm going to actually start that next So today I'm going to remake the tree drawing video. So how to draw trees with pen and ink now Before I get into that, of course, I just want to thank everybody again for supporting my book It really means a lot the amount of support I've been getting It's just awesome, you know, I think thank everyone so much who have actually went out and purchased it and Was even kind enough to leave a review on Amazon and as I said, you know, feel free You don't have to say anything nice per se. I appreciate genuine feedback. So whether something good or There's something constructive that can even help me to reflect on what I did and someone and how I can improve that in the future I appreciate that. Okay, so thanks everyone Thanks everyone for supporting it and even those who want to and wish to and plan to I still appreciate the intent Okay, so thanks so much everyone. I appreciate it. Now the first video I focused on strokes Shapes and form and shading. Okay, I think those are the three core elements to focus on when you're drawing trees now strokes I think of course are most important because you have to Kind of decide what type of strokes am I going to use to capture? You know this tree that I'm looking at and it's important to be aware of the strokes you're using so that you'd be consistent I've seen drawings where you know, people would use different types of strokes in the same drawing but unintentionally now if it's intentional That's fine, but it's good to decide on what stroke you're going to use and try to be consistent These are some of the most common types of strokes that I generally used when I'm drawing trees Sometimes I use scribbles Sometimes I use like a zigzag Sometimes I use just like loose hash marks like this sometimes I use Like something like this But like overlapping, you know Another thing I think that's also important. Is that you should I also use curved hash marks Like that. Yeah So another thing that I focus on also even when you're using strokes is that you try to be consistent consistency Consistency is very important meaning like you try to maintain the same type of variations in your strokes by the same time apply Some variety. Okay, so don't do it like this where it's completely See that's robotic unless I'm drawing like a roof or something where it's very geometric and I can that pattern is there but for natural forms is important to You know incorporate some variety Make some inconsistency, you know somewhere large and see this appears more lifelike than this does. This is very geometric and this is more organic and That's the feel you want. You want it to be just like what drawing as a matter of fact this let's go into shapes So like when you're drawing trees, of course You know Sometimes of course when I'm sketching the tree, I may start out with something as simple, you know like this right now, however, see how even and perfect the shapes of these This tree is now, of course in the actual drawing you may do this in the beginning But in the actual drawing it's important to make these those same shapes a little bit less perfect Overall, you know, they can be perfect, but it's important to apply some inconsistency and This is a key difference with the way we see things in our mind and the way things are in reality Like for example, you know If you're drawing the eye like children or even adults the mind Tend to believe because we like order and unity So we tend to draw the eye as if it's a perfect oval or almond shape like this When in truth the eye is a little bit more asymmetrical It's more asymmetric in its shape. See what I mean? So it's more like that Than being and even this is to a certain extent Made a little bit more Orderly than it really is see so we tend to like symmetry Like when things are equal on both sides So when you're drawing trees be careful not to fall in that Okay, and it will give your things a little bit more life. So like with this, you know, you wouldn't necessarily want to just Things be perfect like that and This sometimes take effort. You have to tell yourself. I will not make things be the same See you break break that monotony And this is good practice as well. Just try to draw outlines of trees No shading Just get the outline. See what I mean? See how much more life like this is than this because I'm not making things Be completely uniform. I'm breaking that monotony by using some adding some variety Okay So the idea is which is a fundamental concept in design unity in variety and variety in unity You need unity, but you need variety. But at the same time you can't make things to You can vary things too much we're lose consistency, you know, so unity in variety and variety in unity Okay. All right now while we're discussing shape now Say again, we are Addressing The whole idea of of looking at a tree in terms of whole and part so to in terms of shape. Let's discuss Shapes the shapes in terms of parts and shape as a whole It's important before anything else to look when you're looking at a tree to sense its overall shape That's like the the gestalt effect, you know, you want to sense What does this thing look like as a whole so it may look something like this? Don't in other words do not allow you so to get lost in the details too much try to feel What's the overall feel of this tree? What's what's the mass? What's the larger mass and in other words try to find that overall enveloping shape it could be you know, you see what I mean because Ultimately, this is the character of the tree. It'll give it, you know that type of personality So it's good to kind of like feel things out and and also appreciate the symmetry that you feel now another thing that's important is that You may want to Adjust it a little bit and there's nothing wrong with that So what I mean, so for example, if you find that the tree looks a little bit too symmetrical You can break it, you know and make it a little bit more interesting So if you find the tree looks completely like this, it doesn't mean that you're not being true to it It's just that you may want to make it a little bit more Say heavy down here and heavy at the top, but still maintain that Symmetry see to me. This has more character than this This looks like a perfect like a mushroom and this looks more, you know interesting and and I do stuff like that That's my approach. You don't necessarily have to do that. You can just stick to what you see and do that now Let's move from the overall shape and start looking at small clusters now a technique that I use I think is useful is that I try to think of Clusters of leaves as as like Like like a mushroom so, you know first It's not just a circle. Okay circle is flat That's flat. Okay. I think of it as a as having like a spherical form see, so now I cut this and now it's like a I Think of it like a it's like a half a circle or like an orange. All right, it's like that now Let's imagine it's like a jellyfish or it's like a it's kind of it's like a mushroom and like a jellyfish together it's like it's it's it's amorphous it can be it's like a Something that's jelly like you can mold it into different shapes. So this underside Is showing so now you have something that looks Like this and this is in shadow. Okay. Now imagine having a whole bunch of these Overlapping each other See and eventually, what do you get? Well, you have something that may look like this. So say for example, you have different clusters leaves like that, okay, and then Use the pen and actually show you how I'm thinking of it See what I mean? So even though this looks, you know May look a little Complicated compared to this. This is the type of approach that I'm applying here I'm seeing these different clusters of leaves as just simple Mushroom like shapes that are morphous. They don't they're not they don't have a fixed shape or say But this is the way I perceive them and the shadow underneath is almost like the underside that's showing That you can see from underneath. Okay, and it's it's important to do that now another thing that's important while I address that about the Outline of the tree is that it's important to keep a loose and open form So, you know just like with here see notice that what I did I left certain open space Well your areas of open space So in other words, the contour is not completely connected and it's important to do that because if you make it more organic You leave it open to breathe and you're giving it space Okay, now this can also you can even think of this same shape as Layers, so for example, let's say we have something like this All right, and we have another one And we have another one All right, something like that now that would transfer to Something that looks like this See what I mean? So this is the same approach that I used here here Alright, so hopefully I give you some ideas in terms of how to organize like the different clusters of leaves in terms of smaller shapes But merging into this overall overlapping Main shape. Okay. So this is the whole and these are the parts. Okay, so let's get into some of the topics about shading now first and foremost, it's important to think of the trees or even the forms as Three-dimensional, okay so they have Volume, it's important to think of it in this way because it helps you to think of Varying your strokes according to the areas and shadows. So say for example, you have something like this All right. So let's say you have we're just gonna use a spherical shape. It could be something like this It could be something like like this or we're just gonna think of something spherical for now So let's say we have light coming from this side So on forms like this, you know the shadow would Form on the side away. Okay now just like with a sphere, you know a spherical form light gradually Weakens or shadow gradually forms and the areas that are facing away. So it gets gradual Gradually lighter or gradually deeper. However, you want to look at it. Now the point is if you have Let's say we just have a tree very simple like this Okay branches now important thing to keep in mind is that you have to think of light and shadow, right, so let's say we have Shadow area here. Now. There isn't just light and shadow. It gradually goes into shadow. So let's say okay, let's let's start putting in Our little Outline so you notice I'm varying it and I'm making it Open right. It's not closed. I'm a little branches here, right a little tree Okay now As I'm going to use the particular pattern, this is my pattern I'm gonna use I'm gonna use these I like using these Okay. Now what I'm gonna do is They're gonna gradually Start massing up as They go towards the areas in shadow. So here in areas like this close to the light. I'm just putting little Sporadic, you know, they're random little arbitrary little scribbles, but as it goes down to the areas in shadow Now you start seeing the clusters of strokes See that so it's no just sudden light and shadow. You kind of have it Gradually happen and then you can start putting in the random areas that are solid and of course to kind of Enhance the illusion of light and shadow you can like deepen or shade in the branches They're close and it gets lighter as it goes down here So under here is receiving no light at all and that's just a simple volume In terms of doing that see that light and shadow and this helps it create a sense of volume see you really feel like This is a spherical form and basically when you're actually drawing larger trees You're just simulating the same idea now, even if you had something like like this Okay, so let's say light is shining again and we have light here. So this is this is the shadow area Okay, and we have a little like that. All right. So now I'm gonna break this up even more Let's say it's not just a simple shape like that But this is the overall the dominant shape now, I'm gonna break this up and say I have little clusters. I look like this see that Okay, and now So it's the same idea light air shadow air. So up here, you know, I'm keeping it like this See up here. I'm keeping things really Light. So if we here is where we start seeing the shadow forming What I'm doing is it's pretty much using these random type of strokes But I'm keeping them organized Under here as I said Darken the areas because I'm here shadow then gets light areas. It goes down Here we have a little grass See, it's important to appreciate that's one of the cool things about about drawing with pen and it's the fact that you can Communicate a lot just by simple scribbles like that See that looks like grass and all I did was just scribbles scribbles scribbles and it looks like grass see that and You have to it, but it's it takes having a playful attitude to be able to appreciate this About pen and ink you have to be able to be loose not everything has to have a clear-cut Definition you're keeping things light and playful light and playful It's like organized chaos seems see how it just seems like scribbles But eventually, you know, it can take form See what I mean? Also, let's discuss branches a little bit now because it's good to have an idea especially when you're doing larger trees It's good to have an idea of how you organize your branches or you should be thinking about them underneath right now in my book I there's a chapter I devote to this what I refer to as a line of balance and this is another Tutorial I'm gonna redo as well I did a video on it before and I think I'm gonna remake it and really maybe give a better and more comprehensive introduction Video to the line of balance which I've devoted the whole chapter to in my in my textbook in my drawing book So hopefully you can you know When you read over that you'll be able to appreciate a lot more of what I mean by this now This simple line is pretty common And you see it a lot in nature and that's what really inspired my this whole concept and I believe it's almost like God's or Nature's Divine line in a sense, you know because you see it everywhere now in terms of how this helps us to design Branches you can think of it like this Alright, even if say for example, I'm gonna draw a tree that Here we have that's the trunk right and then from here you can just use There is one There is one and you can keep doing this And it will eventually create a very complex structure See that now, of course if you're drawing trees, you may not necessarily need to go this detail okay with it, but it's just to give you an idea of how you can use this to form a Underlying framework for your tree. Okay. So basically even if you're you're drawing a tree that's Fitting this shape or whatever shape it is. It's good to have a sense of like How does the branch help you to be able to form that? Cluster of leaves because the cluster of the leaves are really, you know based on how the branches are Okay, so something like this Here could be shadow and so on. Okay, so it's good to keep in mind how the branches are and Creating the clusters of leaves so I'm just gonna maybe just end this by just doing one Drawing of a tree for you guys and then you can just see how I develop it I'm gonna draw the overall shape and then break it up and then you just see how I You know kind of like render it gradually and you see my process All right, so that's about it so as you can see that I started with a general shape and then I broke up that Simple shape into smaller sections or clusters of leaves and then from there It's just a matter of thinking about how you're gonna render the areas of light and shadow I kept the areas of in light pretty light and sparse in terms of strokes There's not much going on here and I left it pretty open you can see from the contour here and then in these areas are where the strokes get more dense and a Lot deeper in value and you know, it's something that takes practice But eventually you have to try to keep a playful attitude and be loose and you know, have fun. All right Thanks everyone for watching if you enjoyed it learn something or were just inspired feel free to give a thumbs up below and Also hit that subscribe button if you haven't subscribed already, so thanks everyone for watching and I'll see you in the next tutorial