Draw a summer forest. How to draw a forest with a pencil step by step

In this short lesson we will learn to draw a forest step by step. If you are excellent at drawing trees, then drawing a forest will not be difficult for you.

Of course, it is better to paint the forest with paints to convey its delightful atmosphere. But in this lesson we will only sketch the forest, explaining to you all the main points when drawing, so we will only use a pencil.

Learn to draw a forest with a pencil

We will not draw an ordinary forest; to add contrast, there will be a long path in it. Also, to add contrast, you can make a house or some kind of eye-catching animal instead of a path.

Stage 1
First of all, we need to sketch out the horizon and the path. The path must be built according to all the laws of perspective: it must be as thick as possible at the beginning of the drawing and gradually narrow towards the horizon. Since the trees and the path itself in our drawing are on a hill, the path does not narrow to a point, but seems to go behind the hill.

Even if you don’t have any path, you should still draw a horizon line, at least for yourself, so that it will be more convenient to arrange trees in the future.

Stage 2
At the second stage, we begin to draw the trees, or rather, outline their stumps or bases. Try to make a variety of trees, namely, different breeds, different widths and different heights.

Please note that in the distance next to the path there are no trunks visible, but only the tops of the trees. This happens because beyond the horizon the surface of the earth is lower due to the hill.

Stage 3
The forest is chaotic, so tree trunks should not be exactly at one angle. They may be tilted heavily to the left or slightly to the right. Shade the lower part of the trunk darker.

Also, at this stage, we must outline, with a light pressure on the pencil, the lines that will display the shadow of the trees.

Stage 4
At this stage we will work with chiaroscuro. Pay attention to the own shadow of the right tree closest to us. Since the trunk is not an ordinary cylinder, but a relief surface, the shadow from it should not be ordinary. This applies not only to the right tree, but also to all other trees in the forest.

On the left side of the road we shade the shadow that crosses the road. This gives our drawing an incredible three-dimensional effect.

Also, at this stage you need to plant bushes and darken the mounds.

Stage 5
Let's detail our trees. We finish drawing the trunks and adding branches to them. All branches, of course, should not be similar friend like two peas in a pod. Therefore, try to depict them in different sizes, thickness, etc.

Stage 6
At the last step, we detail the entire drawing as a whole and finish drawing the branches. It is very important to convey the volume of the picture, so all objects located in the distance must be made darker than those in front of us.

It will also create a great effect if we shade the entire background except for the small space above the path. Well, accordingly, do not forget to shade the path itself.

Our forest is ready! Now you must pick up a pen or pencil and draw your own unique forest. Don’t forget about animals, because they are an integral part of the forest: wolves, foxes, bears, deer, etc.

Nature is eternal source for inspiration creative people. Poets and prose writers, composers and artists dedicate their works to her. One of the most common landscape subjects is the forest. This is not surprising. It can be so different. Good and beautiful at any time of the year. What kind of flowers can you see in the crowns of trees!

Pencil painting

Every artist has his favorite materials for drawing, fortunately, now there are great amount their types. However, among the favorites is still the usual simple pencil.

Before starting work, the master needs to think about how to draw a forest with a pencil, since it is quite difficult to convey all the beauty of the landscape with just one color.

The difficulty may also lie in the fact that it is difficult for novice talents to convey the shadow.

To make the image more voluminous, it is necessary to apply it with strokes. It is better to make lines in different keys.

How to draw a forest with a pencil step by step?

When choosing this type of drawing, you first need to depict common features. First of all, straight lines appear on paper. curved lines. These are sketches of future trees and hills. After this you need to draw several thick trunks.

The next step is to place the bushes and grass.

When this is done, you should depict the trees that grow in the background.

If all the main objects are already placed on the canvas, then you need to think about the details. In how to draw a forest, it is very important that the picture is believable. To make the image look realistic, the artist uses shading. The stroke can be either horizontal or vertical. It is necessary to leave some areas of the image undarkened - those where the color falls. A similar effect can be achieved using an eraser.

Tree image

Trees are the main components of the picture. When thinking about how to draw a forest, you should learn how to draw trees. When drawing a sketch of each individual tree on paper, you need to consider some rules:

  • the further away the object is, the more it will be enveloped in bluish fog, and the contours of the image will look fuzzy, as if blurry (one of the rules of aerial perspective);
  • The closer the tree is to the master, the more saturated the color of its crown will be.

Creation beautiful texture may I help right choice Drawing Papers: Watercolor paper may have rough edges. They will help create beautiful view leaves and tree bark. To do this, you need to not press the pencil too hard when shading the surface.

In order for the image to look realistic, it is important to be able to work correctly with the foreground and background of the picture. For example, so that trees that are closer do not mix with those that grow a little further, they need to be painted with brighter colors.

Watercolor drawing

For those who prefer to paint with a brush, watercolors are perfect for painting.

When starting work, you need to sketch out the landscape. This is best done with a pencil. Draw the sketch with thin lines, otherwise a shadow may appear on the picture.

After the sketches are made, you need to start depicting the sky. Having chosen its location, you need to apply ultramarine and cobalt colors to it. In order for the line of clouds to be clearly visible, it is better to draw its edge with diluted burnt umber. A good option if carmine is added to it.

If the question arises about how to draw a forest especially expressively, then you should know that for this purpose more attention is paid foreground. The grass is drawn with jerky, sharp movements.

Leaves can be depicted in any color that your imagination suggests. The variation that uses a large number of various shades.

When choosing how to draw a forest, it is important to choose a method that will bring as much pleasure as possible from creative work. Young artists should sometimes listen to advice on how to choose the right light, what time of day to paint, how to correctly compose color scheme. But the main thing is unity with nature and creative impulse.

If the artist has a developed sense of harmony, how to draw a forest step by step fades into the background. Any manner of execution will only emphasize the beauty.

Trees may seem like some of the easiest subjects to draw. If you have never drawn, the task may be too simple...

...or too literal:

In none of the drawings do we see anything similar to real objects. The first is just a symbol of a tree, and the second suggests the definition of a tree. Your job as an artist is to paint what we see, not what we know. Drawing trees– a great exercise for developing this skill!

In this lesson I will show you, how to draw oak, pine and weeping willow in a simple and realistic way.

What you will need:

- Several sheets of paper;

— Hard pencil (HB);

— Pencil of medium softness (2B);

— Soft pencil (5B or less);

- Sharpener.

Usually a pair of hard pencils (HB) is enough, but this set is not universal for all drawings. To get dark shadows, we need soft pencils. There is no need to choose expensive ones - I bought the most common ones, and they perform their function perfectly. If you doubt whether you need to draw, then a set of pencils of different degrees of hardness will not be a big loss on your budget, and drawing with these is much easier!

You will also need a sharpener. A dull tip leaves lighter strokes and does not achieve the expected effect. Always keep your pencils sharp and remember that soft pencils wear out faster!

Regarding paper: it can be anything. Regular printer paper will also work. However, you should not draw on a whole sheet - than smaller figure, the less detail you will need to add. In reality, my drawings are about 9 cm in height.

Soft pencils help make shadows darker, which cannot be said about hard pencils. Hard pencils are not as dark, even if you press hard on them!

  1. DRAWING AN OAK

Step 1

The brain is working in an unusual way: first he grabs big picture and then pays attention to details. Therefore, you should not start drawing with details - you will need to create a base first.

Draw the general shape of the tree with a few faint strokes and dots. To do this, use a hard (HB) pencil, do not press on it. These strokes will not be part of the finished image - they will not be visible in the finished drawing; The camera and scanner don't recognize them (I used Photoshop so you can see them!).

Step 2

Draw the trunk. Don't forget - the lower part should expand downwards. The larger the tree, the shorter and thicker its trunk.

Step 3

Draw the branches at the top of the trunk.

Continue drawing the branches, gradually lowering the line as they lengthen.

Step 4

Add other branches to each branch (the longer, the lower they go). The strokes should be light.

Step 5

Using short, sharp strokes, draw the shape of the tree's crown. It doesn't have to be smooth and neat.

Step 6

Using the same method, draw small “clouds” of leaves inside the crown. Leave some areas empty so that parts of the branches are visible - this structure looks more interesting.

Step 7

Add thickness to the branches in places where they are not covered by leaves.

Step 8

Before you start applying shadows, determine which parts of the tree will be bright and which parts will have shadows. You can identify them by simple shading.

Step 9

Take a soft (2B) pencil (make sure it's sharp) and create texture on the trunk. Remember to also leave white areas - this is important for texture.

Step 10

Take soft pencils (2B and 5B) and darken the barrel according to the original light distribution plan. Don't be afraid to press down on the soft pencil to get the shadow you want, but don't overdo it either! The fewer black areas in the picture, the more impressive it looks.

Step 11

Take hard pencil and sketch out the outlines of the leaves. Draw them in relaxed circles, quickly, with sharp movements.

Step 12

Each branch also has its own small crown (these are the “clouds” that you drew). They need to be shaded in the same way as if they were separate trees.

First, use a soft (2B) pencil to draw darker circles on the dark side. Don't press too hard at first so you can correct any mistakes.

Once you're sure you've got the dark sides right, add shadows and depth to them, and add some transition between the light and dark parts.

Step 13

Use a soft (2B) pencil to add some stray leaves throughout the crown and "little crowns." This will create the effect of additional, barely visible branches.

Step 14

Take the softest pencil and add some dark accents in the darkest places. The crown will be more contrasting. Also make sure that all leaves are darker than the “sky” background - leaves cannot be transparent! You can go over the lightest areas again with a hard pencil.

  1. DRAWING A PINE

Step 1

Again, we start drawing with the general outline of the tree. Take a hard pencil and draw light lines.

Step 2

Draw the branches. Don't try to get them exactly right, just sketch them out.

Step 3

As with the oak tree, draw “clouds” on the branches. This time they should be narrower and even more uneven. Leave plenty of free space between them.

Step 4

Draw the outline of the trunk - long and narrow.

Step 5

Use a soft (2B) pencil to darken the barrel...

...and then a softer pencil to highlight the darkest side.

Step 6

This time there is no need to fill in the “clouds” with circles; fill them instead with sharp and chaotic strokes.

Step 7

Use a soft (2B) pencil to draw needles along the outline of the clouds. They should be thin and sharp.

Step 8

Draw the branches and darken them with two soft pencils.

Step 9

Draw even more needles inside the “clouds” with a soft (2B) pencil).

Step 10

Use the softest pencil to darken the clouds. If you want, you can simply darken them completely - evergreen trees are usually dark themselves.

Step 11

Finally, use your softest pencil to draw in the completely dark “clouds” between the branches.

  1. DRAWING A WEEPING WILLOW

Step 1

We will draw according to the same scheme. Let's draw general outline willows are something like a fountain.

Step 2

Draw the outline of the trunk.

Step 3

Draw the branches away from the trunk...

... descending with length.

Step 4

Draw the outlines of the “clouds”; this time they will look more like curtains.

Step 5

Fill in the trunk and branches with shading using a soft (2B) pencil.

Step 6

Darken the trunk and branches with the softest pencil.

Step 7

Take a soft (2B) pencil and draw ribbon-like lines along the “curtains”. They should form an arc at the very beginning.

Step 8

Darken the "curtains" with darker and wider curling lines in the spaces.

Step 9

Use your softest pencil to draw dark “curtains” on the other, darkened side of the tree. You can also add leaves to the branches to make them more detailed.

Your trees are ready!

As you can see, draw trees- an easy task; you just need to convey their appearance, not their definition. However, this is just the beginning of learning - if you want to become a real professional in drawing trees, take a notepad with you on your walk. Observe the trees you pass by and try to make quick sketches of them. So you can develop intuitive drawing. If you prefer to stay at home, look at photos of trees on the Internet.

Translation of an article from design.tutsplus.com.

→ Drawing a forest

What you will need

In order to draw a forest we may need:

  • Paper. It is better to take medium-grain special paper: beginning artists will find it much more pleasant to draw on this kind of paper.
  • Sharpened pencils. I advise you to take several degrees of hardness, each should be used for different purposes.
  • Eraser.
  • Stick for rubbing hatching. You can use plain paper rolled into a cone. It will be easy for her to rub the shading, turning it into a monotonous color.
  • A little patience.
  • Good mood.

Step by step lesson

True nature in all its beauty can only be revealed if you draw it from life. It will be much better to draw if you look directly at the forest. If this is not possible, then they can help regular photos, which are simply in abundance in search engines.

By the way, in addition to this lesson, I advise you to pay attention to the lesson “”. It will help improve your skill or just give you a little fun.

Tip: create a sketch with as thin strokes as possible. The thicker the sketch strokes are, the more difficult it will be to erase them later.

The first step, or rather the zero step, is always to mark a sheet of paper. This will let you know where exactly the drawing will be located. If you place the drawing on half of the sheet, you can use the other half for another drawing. Here is an example of marking a sheet in the center:

Step one. Let's start with something simple: draw a horizon line, and with two vertical lines Let's draw a path.

Step two. On the sides of the invented path we draw tree trunks, large and small.

Step three. Let's draw the trunks higher and draw their bottoms with a pencil. We’ll also add some grass at the base of the trunks.

Sha is the fourth. Finally, let’s draw the tops with branches and add shadows.

Step five.

Step six.

Save the forest - use paper on both sides (just not in the toilet). But it's better to plant new plants.

So you learned how to draw a forest, I hope it was interesting and informative. Now you can pay attention to the lesson “” - it is just as interesting and exciting. Well, the buttons social networks It's not just like that =)

When a person first picks up a pencil to draw a forest, he is faced with a problem: how to draw a huge variety of small parts? As a child, I asked a similar question to my teacher: “How should I draw trees correctly - should I draw all the leaves or not?” To which he replied with a smile: “Of course not!” How then to draw a forest correctly?

1. Conveying space and perspective in a forest drawing.

When artists paint interiors or city streets, then everything is clear with perspective. Rectangular, simple geometric shapes easily “fit” into a promising abbreviation. Here it is easy to outline the horizon line and bring all sides of the buildings to the vanishing point. But how is space organized in the forest, where it is filled with all sorts of branches, snags, foliage... In the illustration, I specially drew a diagram of five planes, reminiscent of a room. This makes it easier for a beginning artist to imagine space. Further, against this background distribute trees. Trees have trunks and crowns where the shapes are far from simple geometric. They are “clumsy” because they have many bends and kinks, and also abound in such details as bark, small branches, etc. But, despite these “difficulties,” they also subordinate linear perspective, like rectangles. The tree trunks in the foreground are larger, in the second they are smaller, etc. In addition, one tree covers another or one branch covers part of another branch. The trees in the foreground are so large that they do not fit into the sheet and extend beyond its frame. Thus, the viewer finds himself inside the forest, and is not an observer from the outside when the forest is built like a wall next to him.

In the illustrations I gave an example from my drawings, where the forest is drawn “from the outside” and “from the inside”. Therefore, you need to remember that different angles and points of view are possible. I.I. Shishkin loved to paint the forest, “placing” the viewer inside.

2. Generalization of small parts into masses of large, medium and small sizes.

In a forest drawing, of course, you can highlight individual leaves, focusing on composition center. I devoted a separate article to this issue, which you can read. However, more often the artist has to generalize. It is generalization that is always more difficult for beginners than drawing details. But it is necessary. So, what needs to be summarized and how? You need to generalize individual leaves and branches that form groups or masses. These groups should not be made the same size. Everything in nature is dynamic. Therefore, the drawing must be dynamic, and this is achieved through the transmission of rhythm. Rhythm is created when the artist does not create “sameness” in the drawing. Therefore, the masses of foliage will be different in size- large, medium, small. But the rhythm will be transmitted not only by size, but also degree of generalization. We greatly generalize some masses of branches and leaves, literally blurring the image. For example, it is appropriate in the background. But we can’t generalize some groups so much: in them you can discern a certain semblance of foliage that forms a “clumsy” texture. Well separate groups in the foreground, of course, will contain details: carefully drawn leaves and branches. However, they will belong this group. But separately located trees, branches, leaves need to be detailed with care. If there are too many such objects in the drawing, they will look “glued” to the drawing and will not part a single whole, which will cause a “cartoonish” and unnatural effect.

3. Volume in natural forms.

It is, of course, easier to convey the volume of a cylinder or ball when we draw a still life. But in the forest, there are no such forms. At first sight. But if you look closely, then in basis the shape of the tree trunks remains the same cylinder. IN basis intricately shaped groups of foliage - ball. IN basis paths in the forest - tetrahedral corridor shape. And so on. Understanding It is easier for an artist to generalize natural forms and convey volume. Chiaroscuro can be seen on tree trunks, on masses of foliage and individual leaves, on the entire crown of a tree, and even on the whole group many trees. As an example, I illustrated chiaroscuro on a tree trunk. Although its shape is based on a cylinder, it still has irregularities and bends. In addition, the trunk is covered with bark, which has its own characteristics for each tree species. Therefore, the shading will not be smooth, but more textured. Here, each artist has his own shading techniques, so let’s not philosophize beyond what is necessary and create unnecessary templates. As for chiaroscuro in general, it is built from light, penumbra, shadow, reflex and falling shadow. It’s easier to understand this on a jug or in a still life drawing. How can you see such subtleties in the mass of foliage? Observation is important here. No wonder I.I. Shishkin is called a naturalist. He studied nature in detail, memorized varieties of grasses and trees. Therefore, watching the forest, you can see all the nuances of chiaroscuro in foliage, branches, etc. In academic drawing, this is called light-shadow modeling of form. Namely, modeling. That is, here you need to model, not copy, but understand the essence by observing nature.

In drawing a forest, of course, there are other issues that cannot be covered in one article. But the three aspects I've listed here are key. That's why I called them the keys to success. Keeping them in mind, you can learn to draw a forest professionally and competently.