Exercise: sketching individual trees

For this we were asked to find an interesting tree and do 4 sketches to try to better understand how to draw them.

Above left: Used HB first to sketch, then B pencils for tone. Trying to be too accurate instead of thinking about overall tone and shape. Bit sparse and used a putty rubber to blend a bit.

Above right: decided to sketch first the outline, then the branches then use side of charcoal to get more movement, tone and this was helpful to be more fluid with sketching.

Above left: Tried only using charcoal to fill tone and shape and give movement to the droopiness of the the branches then added pencil on top to get the tufty effect of the edges.

Above right: Used only charcoal directly and concentrated more on form and tone while trying to respect the outline. I then did the branches and dark point trying to capture those with more character and not them all. This one I think I managed to get more body to and make it look less scarce and capture more of the essence of the tree.

Key take-aways:

• Practicing quickly helps discover more fluidity and technique
• Filling in tone help build more depth and makes it easier to then add the detail instead of the other way round
• Using charcoal or chunkier materials for first tone is more successful for me and loosens my drawing rather than using pencil – I was getting quicker and less bogged down when I started using charcoal directly and not pencil.