Caroline
Learning how to draw a tree is a very useful skill to have. Aspiring artists of all ages will find a lot to learn in this guide!
Trees will be at home in all sorts of art such as landscapes and backgrounds, and that’s why it’s good to learn how to draw one. This guide will show you how to draw things like the leaves, trunk and base of the tree in a simple, easy-to-follow way.
The tree is quite cartoony, but once you have the hang of it you could adapt this drawing to different kinds of trees and perhaps even build up the drawing with more background details and maybe even characters.
The steps have been designed to be easy and accessible for all ages and skill levels, so all are welcome to join us for this journey.
You’ll be so glad you took the time to learn this skill when you’re done!
Watch These Simple Steps On How To Draw A Tree
How to Draw a Tree – Let’s get Started!
Step 1
The first step in this guide on how to draw a tree is to draw in the top of the tree. To do this, draw in a few horizontal curved lines that connect with each other.
You could draw these with a pen or darker pencil as they will be showing up in the final drawing.
If you find yourself struggling to get the right shape, then you could use a lighter pencil first until you’re happy with it.
Step 2 – Draw in more of the treetop
For this second step of your tree drawing, you will be adding in more of the top of the tree. Using the reference image, draw in more of the curved lines down the side.
Made sure they flow out a bit to give the tree a nice thick top!
Step 3 – Next, draw in the rest of the leaves
The next step of your tree drawing will have you adding the rest of the leaves. Using the same wavy lines, draw in the rest of the treetop, raising it in the center a bit as the trunk will be going in this area.
For this stage, using the reference picture will be especially helpful. For this stage as well, it could also be beneficial to use a lighter pencil before going over it in pen or a darker pencil.
If you do use a lighter pencil to draw over, make sure that your pen ink is dry before you erase the guiding pencil lines!
Step 4 – Now draw in the tree trunk
You’ve finished the leaves of the tree for now, so for the next part you’ll be drawing in the tree trunk.
This is probably the trickiest part of this tree drawing, but it doesn’t have to be tricky if you take it slow and closely reference the image we have here.
Start off by drawing a curved line down from the leaves to make the left side of the trunk. Draw a much shorter line down the right side, and then draw out the cut branch as you see it in the reference image.
Finally, you just need to draw the rest of the line down from the cut branch. For the next bit, simply draw two lines near the top of the center of the trunk to make a gap as you can see in the image.
All that remains is to add a few little lines at the base of the trunk and you’re ready for the next step!
Step 5 – Next you will be adding the leaf details
Your tree drawing is almost complete at this point and just needs some details. For this step, we will be adding lots of small, curved lines to the interior of the treetop.
You can do these in the same way they appear in the picture, but you can also add lines as you wish!
There isn’t really a wrong way to do these kinds of details, and you should add them in a way that looks great to you.
Step 6 – Now draw in the final trunk details
At this point, you’ve almost finished your journey of learning how to draw a tree! For the final trunk details, we will be adding mostly thin, straight lines going down the trunk and a few wavier ones to suggest knots in the tree.
This is another step where you could copy the lines in the reference image or use them as inspiration for your own lines of your tree drawing.
Step 7 – Finish it off with some color
With that done, you’ve finished your awesome tree drawing! You’re not quite done yet, though. There’s one more fun step, and that’s to color in your tree.
For this step, you should really let your creativity flow! You could go for a nice bright green tree or have some beautiful reds, oranges and yellows for a stunning Fall tree.
It’s really fun to experiment with different art mediums as well. You could use tools like acrylic paints, watercolors, colored pens or pencils along with any of your favorite mediums to create some beautiful images!
Once your tree drawing is finished and colored in, you should hold your head up high because you’ve just learned how to draw a tree!
Do this to take your tree drawing to the next level
Branch out and make your tree sketch even more incredible with these tips!
When you see a tree in real life, you will often see all kinds of animals among the leaves and branches. You could add some of these animals to your tree drawing!
These could be anything from wise owls to majestic eagles. They could also be other animals such as squirrels or even monkeys.
It could be any animals you love, and you can try and fit in as many as you like! What animals would you add to this tree?
Trees will also often be covered with fruit or flowers, and you could easily add these to your drawing of a tree. It could be as simple as adding small orange circles or as complex as some little flowers with petals.
These are just a few ideas, but adding these kinds of details along with animals as suggested in the previous step can really bring it to life. Do you think you will add anything growing from this tree?
To take this tree sketch to the next level, you could also create a whole scene around it. It could be something lovely and peaceful such as a swing hanging from a branch with some flowers and bushes.
Or, you could create a whole lush forest and draw many different kinds of trees around this one. It’s all up to you, and you can have lots of fun building a setting around the tree!
Once you have finished adding any additions and changes to your tree drawing, you can then finish off with some colors. We spoke about a few colors you could use and gave one example in the guide.
These are just a few of the colors you could choose, however. You have a whole range of colors you can choose, and you also have some fun art tools and mediums you could try out.
Don’t be shy about mixing different colors and art mediums together that wouldn’t normally be used! It can be lots of fun to experiment.
Your Tree Drawing is Complete
We really hope that this step-by-step guide on how to draw a tree in 7 steps was not only helpful but also lots of fun to use!
Drawing something new can often feel a bit intimidating because you don’t need to start. That’s why we create these easy guides for you, as they can really make the process of drawing fun and easier.
Now that you’ve drawn your tree, you can show your creativity even further with your own details!
Apart from choosing your colors, you could also add in details like fruit and birds into it. You could even draw in a beautiful background, perhaps with a rainbow or someone lying under the tree.
The possibilities for you to personalize your tree with your own details are pretty much endless!
Once you’ve finished and colored in your beautiful tree drawing, we hope that you will share it to our Facebook and Pinterest pages for us to admire!
We always love to see the creativity and artistic skills you all have, so we would love to see how your amazing trees come out.
Here Is A Fun Tree Drawing To Inspire You!
Trees feature commonly in many forms of art, and it’s easy to see why! They are a beautiful part of our natural landscapes, and there are so many types to behold.
Our artist Amanda has created a really cool interpretation of a tree for you to use as inspiration. This fun tree drawing for kids provides an interesting art challenge for all skill levels.
She used a lot of rounded lines for the leaves, trunk and face on the tree to create something really cool and unique. Now that you have this image to work with, you can use it to guide your own drawing.
If you wanted a bit of a different look for the tree, then you could also change the facial expression or add some more details. It will look amazing no matter what you choose!
