How to Paint Trees - Learning to Paint

Painting trees is possibly one of the first features that new artists attempt to put in their landscape paintings. Painting trees is not difficult, but you do need to follow a few simple guidelines.

There are two types of trees, deciduous and evergreen. Deciduous trees go through quite a few color changes and eventually lose their leaves every year. Therefore they look different and have different color foliage at different times of the year. Evergreens may change slightly, but in general look the same all year.

When painting either type of tree, look at the overall silhouette that the tree forms. Most of the time you will notice pockets and spaces where you can see through the branches. This empty space is called negative space and without it, your tree will not look accurate.

Start by painting in the tree trunk. You may not see too much of a trunk on an evergreen, but paint it in anyways. Usually a gray paint is a good choice for tree bark. Deciduous trees trunks usually do not grow straight upwards. Usually as the tree grows and becomes heavier, you will see it curve and bend. The trunk will also be larger at the bottom and get smaller up the tree.

When you paint the branches make sure that you overlap some of them. It depends on what type of tree you are painting as to the shape, size and direction of the branches. Branches, like the trunk, will be larger near the main trunk and get smaller the further away they grow.

Now add foliage. It would not be reasonable to think you could paint every single leaf on a tree. Painting foliage is dabbing clusters of paint here and there to make the viewer believe it is leaves. The trick is to add enough paint without filling in all of the negative space. You should use a few variations of color as you work. Chose color based on the season that you want your painting to express.

Adding pine needles is similar to adding foliage to deciduous trees. In general, you will start at the base of the tree and work upward. The reason that you should paint in the trunk first is because pine trees usually have fairly straight trunks and as you add the pine needles, you can follow the line without having your tree lean to one side or the other. Start to leave some negative space about half way up the tree and leave more near the top. You should see parts of the trunk. Now use a lighter color and add a few highlights.

One last tip is that trees often grow in clusters or groups. Overlap them in your paintings. Don't make your trees look like perfect round lollipop trees, or Christmas trees. Nothing is perfect and to create perfect looking trees, you need to show their imperfections! Have fun and enjoy learning to paint trees.

Source : ezinearticles