Drawing barks and trunks

For a good tree to be featured as the main subject of a picture you must know how to produce realistic looking bark. Figure 1 shows four types of bark and trunks. The first tree on the top left is a popular subject for landscape work and simple to draw. See how the white trunk is filled with black blotches that increase in number towards the base of the tree. The bark surface pattern is shown by curved lines which run around the trunk. The branches are dark in tone and this is shown by shading. The second tree shown on the right is quite different. The bark and the trunk is made up of large over-lapping scales which appear to hang down the tree. Each of these slate-like pieces, when viewed close up, can be seen to have small flakes in its make-up. It is clearly shown with a few fine lines.

The thrid tree often drawn or painted by artists is easy to sketch. The bark is composed of rough, deep ridges, with many cracks. The trees have heavy, sometimes twisted branches. A point to remember in drawing trees is to draw one side in shadow with markings more detailed than the opposite side. This helps to create depth and shape. If you use the same way of showing bark for the whole trunk, it will look flat. Make one side lighter, with less detail.

The bushes - It pays to spend a bit of time observing bushes and shrubs to achieve the proper effects. Figure 2 illustrates how bushes and small shrubs are drawn. They are an attractive part of a picture, if properly drawn. Notice how the scribbled dark shadows tend to project the lighter parts and this helps to suggest the form of a bush. Copy the illustration shown on Figure 2. Drawing them will give you more practice.