The Anatomy of Trees
Trees are probably the most common elements in landscape paintings. They will appear in every season. This is why it is important to make them look right. They are good friends to the artist because they can be formed to any size, shape, or value. They can be darkened or lightened to fit the painting's needs. There are many species of trees depending on the geographical area. It would be wise to know how they grow. The greens will vary in different regions. In Mexico, for instance, trees acquire a brown-green look, whereas in Canada they tend to be more in the yellow green hue. Ironically, trees are also one of the simplest things for an experienced artist to paint, yet difficult for the novice for the following reasons.
A novice artist will:
A professional artist will:
One of the biggest problems that inexperienced painters face is the influence of preconceived concepts which interfere with their painting. Everybody knows that foliage is composed of hundreds of individual leaves that form clumps. Knowing this, one will try to paint these individual leaves resulting into an overworked version. This is the result of what he believes the tree will look like. In the distance all these small leaves will merge into one mass and should be painted as one mass with simple large brush strokes. In general most landscape artists summarize everything they paint. It is not uncommon to hear people in exhibitions express that a painting looks blurry from close up but once they view it from a distance the painting seems to come into focus.
TV is a wonderful art teacher. The way foliage is viewed on TV is the way it should be painted. The TV cannot display things in sharp focus as we would see normally. The average TV set about the size of most medium size paintings. This will help you envision a working size in comparison to the overwhelming gigantic size of trees that appear in nature where all the leaves are seen individually. The TV will reduce these to a mere few inches giving us the right dimension and the look of how trees should appear in our paintings. Next time you watch a movie take mental notes of trees. Another way to put this, imagine you have 20-20 vision and you borrow a pair of reading glasses. Everything will look blurry. That's the way you paint it..
Some artists say that nature is the best teacher. That is true to a point but does not apply in many cases. If you keep your eyes open, you will only occasionally see objects in nature that will provide a good enough model to work from.
Trees in nature:
Even if you see trees as described above, do not take them at face value and copy them. Many professional artists will edit an element or scene to improve the overall look. Borrow the best of several trees to assemble one.
Here are some examples: The reason these are displayed is to prove my point as well as to avoid you from being over influenced by photos. The artist should improve nature. Paint trees the way they should be, not the way they look.
So what can we do if we cannot trust nature 100% for reference. I put it this way. Look for the "beauty queens" in nature and build your photo reference library. Take pictures of trees that are nice looking.
Here's a good metaphor. You are a photographer for a publicity agency. You have been commissioned to find a model with certain characteristics. You are in Central Park with your camera. Thousands of common not necessarily attractive looking people walk by (trees in a forest). Suddenly that gorgeous woman walks by with a long neck, well defined shoulders, great hair, nice cheekbones, etc. This is the one you've been looking for (that tree that stands out from the rest). You snap the picture.
This same concept applies to the elements that will appear in your painting. Do the same when you are out in the field. Be selective. Next time you will have the precise photos you need for the landscape you intend to paint. You like everything except that big round tree at the end of the river. Change it for the tree in your model photo album. Actually that's the way it works in all of your painting. If you pick the best looking elements from the different subject material, you will have enough models for a Miss universe pageant. Your painting being the stage, the models, the various elements, when handled right will result into a successful beauty contest.
If you look hard enough, you will find that unique winter tree that doesn't grow straight up or the evergreen that doesn't fit into a triangle. How many beautiful people are there in a normal crowd? It will take some looking but you will find the ones that fit the profile.
After looking for hours, through many nature magazines, I finally came across the tree that I would paint as it displays in the photo. At last the beauty queen I was looking for was found in a natural environment. But being so, she will need some improvements to her looks; that is, a darker value and a few more colors, some makeup.
Now let's look at some examples of trees painted by professionals:
The following pigments can be used to give you the colors for tree foliage. I only recommend professional pigments with the highest grade pigmentation. This is the only way you will get the best color variation possible. Even if you lay on several layers, the colors will remain fresh and lively.
This would be a suitable palette for tree foliage.
Foliage:
Summer trees: Prussian blue or pthalo blue (to mix greens) cadmium yellow, Indian yellow, yellow ochre, cadmium orange, burnt sienna, burnt umber. By intermixing all the yellows and oranges you will get may variations of greens. For summer greens sparingly use orange, for autumn foliage add more oranges and ochre.
Caution. In the early stages premixed manufactured green out of the tube such as sap green, hooker's green, or windsor green is not recommended These will easily seduce you into producing monotonous hues instead of mixing new and different greens.
Tree trunks:
ultramarine or cobalt blue , cad orange, burnt sienna, burnt umber. Make sure all these colors are showing by not over mixing them on the palette.
Do's and Don'ts
In this section we avoid the common problems one can face when depicting trees.
Paint sky holes so the tree has a loose airy feeling to it.
Variegate the colors from three to five different variations in one tree.
Make sure every tree within the same painting has a different shape and size. If possible slightly different colors.
Don’t crop your trees in half, near the edges. Preferably show two-thirds. If this can't be done, leave the tree out completely.
Make sure your tree trunks do not grow vertically at a 90 degree angle.
Make your trunks more interesting by having them tell a story. Give them a personality. Add knotholes, broken branches, peeling bark etc. Avoid straight parallel tree trunks.
Use branches as pointers that will lead the viewer's eye to the center of interest or as a stop to keep your eye from wandering out of the painting.
Resist the temptation of overdoing the texture in trees that appear in the middle ground or background.
Show texture only in foreground trees. Keep it simple!
Take advantage of this common element that appears in almost every landscape painting to create a dark light value contrast in the center of interest.
Take into account that trees can be depicted in dark, mid value, or light value. After all, it is your painting, you may show the sun shining on the leaves at the angle of your choice.
Make sure your trees do not fit into a square, a rectangle, an oval, or a triangle.
Don't allow the tip of the tree to touch the top of the frame known as "kissing" the edges. Either bring it down or make it exit the picture with a comfortable margin.
Do not place the tree in such a way that it makes the trunk appear that the roots are part of the frame.
Take into account that branches will be facing towards you and away from you. The latter being lighter in value. This will help convey the appearance of three dimensions.
Soften or blur the edges of trees that appear in the distance. This can be done by blending the tree color with the sky color.
Do not overdo your trees by having too many branches or lines. This will only make them look busy. Just a few here and there their will do the trick. Less is more.
"Sky holes" within a dark tree mass will be darker than the sky itself. This is a visual effect because of the surrounding value. The smaller the hole the darker it gets in value.
On the shadow side of a tree there will be reflected light. Because of their shiny surface some leaves will reflect the blue sky resulting into blue leaves.
When depicting winter trees with no foliage, take into account that the overhanging limbs and branches will cast shadows on the surrounding branches. In the case of trees with full foliage the branches immediately under the clumps will be very dark in value because the overhanging foliage will act as an umbrella covering the source of light.
Demo 1.
When starting out to paint an artist, will use up a lot of his energy to draw the tree with a lot of detail when only the silhouette is needed. Eventually, the pencil marks will be covered. One way to visualize this, will be imagining you wrap the tree in shrink wrap and trace the image. All you need is a contour drawing.
Exercise 1
Either from nature or photos, submit three contour drawings of trees. Use the sample above.
Exercise 2
Match the colors that appear in the color chart below as closely as possible. These colors when combined in different summer trees will provide ample color variegation. Afterwards use the same paint to create a blended version like the sample on the right.
Exercise 2.
Here is a grayscale drawing of several trees. Notice the values. Paint them in your favorite medium using some of the colors shown above. try to have at least three different variations of colors in the highlights.
