Drawing: Trees with William F. Powell

Branches & Boughs

As trees grow, they become both taller and thicker. Notice the different growth patterns of the different types of trees. With broad-leaved trees, the trunk divides into many crooked spreading branches, while the pine grows upward with shorter branches at somewhat regular intervals.

In step A, draw a rough sketch of the individual branches, showing where they change directions. Use the sketch as a guide for blocking in the branch shapes in step B. Finally, add shading to convey the roundness of the twisting limbs. Your shading strokes should be loose and broken, because continuous, smooth shading tends to make an object appear shiny and metallic.

BROAD-LEAVED TREE

Notice the tubelike shape of the diagram below. Use cylinders, ...