Painting Trees and Forests:
Tips for Artists Automatic translate

Trees and forests represent one of the most challenging subjects in painting. Artists are faced with the challenge of conveying not just individual objects, but integral organic forms where light, shadow, color, and texture interact. Each tree has a unique structure, growth pattern, and foliage characteristics, requiring a deep understanding of its anatomy and meticulous observation.

The art of depicting trees has evolved over centuries. Artists from Caspar David Friedrich to John Constable developed methods to convey the complexity of forest scenes. In his work "Abbey in the Oak Wood" (1807), Friedrich created an image of a desolate grove with pruned branches, using trees as symbolic elements of the composition. In "The Hay Wain" (1821), Constable used oil painting to convey lush greenery and the changing effects of sunlight, where the objects themselves become almost secondary to the interplay of light and space.

Anatomy and structure of wood

An artist must understand the basic structure of a tree before depicting it. Each tree species has distinctive features that distinguish it from others. The first thing to notice is the silhouette of the crown, which is best seen against the sky. The shape can be pointed or rounded, drooping or upward.

The trunk and branches require special attention. The way the branches extend from the main trunk, their direction, curves, and angles shape the character of a particular tree. A young spruce or larch exhibits a conical shape thanks to a long central trunk and short lateral branches that decrease in length from the base to the top. A mature oak or hawthorn, by contrast, has a dome-shaped silhouette.

Differences between breeds

A comparison of oak and ash reveals fundamental differences in structure. Ash has less open branch angles, arranged in pairs (each pair at right angles to the next) rather than in clusters like oak. Ash branches are more widely spaced, forming simple, flowing lines instead of the complex, angular arrangement of oak. They angle upward more, supporting the drooping branches below, while other branches on the upper surface curve downward, creating beautiful lines with their curved tips.

The sycamore is distinguished by its incredibly dense foliage, which is usually dull in color, and the smooth bark of its cylindrical trunk. These trees grow quickly — some sycamores reach their full height of 15–18 meters in just ten years. The sycamore’s branches are stiff, and even during periods of severe weather, the tree maintains its symmetrical silhouette.

The beech tree maintains a system throughout its life that is visible in the new and perfect structure of its branches. They are very similar to the branches of an elm and completely unlike those of an ash, oak, or poplar. The simple zigzag of the branch from bud to bud is repeated in later life throughout the flat structure of the branches, and the leaves are arranged in a characteristic pattern.

An approach to depicting a tree

Artists often make the mistake of trying to depict every detail of a tree from the start. Trees should be viewed as large masses, not as complex structures with countless elements. Breaking the tree down into its basic tonal components — dark areas, midtones, and highlights — simplifies the task and helps maintain the integrity of the image.

The process begins with determining the general location, size, and shape of the tree. This can be a basic sketch, a color spot, or a negative painting (removing paint from the canvas with a cloth). After this, it’s necessary to establish key light and dark areas, then block in the foliage. Subsequent refinement of the canvas leads to the addition of details — individual branches, leaves, highlights, and dark accents.

Working from shadow to light

It’s recommended to begin working with the darkest shadows. Imagine sitting under a tree, resting in its shade. Always paint trees from the inside out, from shadow to light. Establishing dark values creates a solid foundation for subsequent layers. Painting negative spaces — the spaces between branches and foliage where the background is visible — creates a more natural look for the tree.

Trees are often among the darkest values in a landscape. They are usually darker than the grass, although this depends on the type of tree. Generally, it’s best to lean toward darker greens when working on trees. Bright highlights persist throughout the painting. These might be shiny leaves reflecting direct sunlight.

Techniques for working with various materials

Oil painting

Oil painting offers the artist ample opportunity to create multi-layered structures and smooth tonal transitions. Working in oil allows for a gradual construction of the image, from dark underpaintings to light finishing layers. The branches taper and twist as they wind across the sky, requiring confident brushwork.

When painting tree crowns with oil paints, dagger brushes are used. They are ideal for creating realistic tree foliage. You can use either the broad side of the brush or the tip for finer details. Brushstrokes should be confident and loose, suggesting rather than literally depicting every detail.

The seven-step oil painting method begins with establishing a solid foundation with dark values. Then, work on the negative spaces, creating depth without drawing individual leaves. The technique of building up tonal values gives the trees volume. The final highlights are added at the very end for maximum effect.

Watercolor painting

Watercolor requires a fundamentally different approach due to its transparency. The artist works from the lightest values to progressively darker ones. This is because once a dark value is applied to the paper, there is no turning back. This often means considering how to depict the background before anything else. This is especially true when considering how to paint a forest in watercolor, as the lightest tonal values are typically the farthest from the viewer.

Transparency depends on the pigment and paint composition. Most professional brands indicate whether a color is transparent, translucent, semi-opaque, or opaque. Using transparent pigments and knowing when to mix them with translucent colors is the secret to achieving multi-layered depth without sacrificing light. Pigment transparency and paper brightness are key factors in the luminosity of watercolor.

Glazing — applying thin, transparent washes onto dried areas — allows for complex color transitions. Working easily and without excessive detailing, you can maintain transparency and add a magical effect to your painting. One of the most astonishing qualities of watercolor is its transparency.

Misty Forest Technique

There are three main methods used to create fog in watercolor. The first is the wet-on-wet technique, where paint is applied to damp paper. The second is edge softening: trees are drawn with sharp lines first, and then the edges are washed with clean water. The third is the blotting technique, which creates an uneven foggy effect.

The lightness of the fog only appears meaningful when there’s adequate contrast from the trees. Light and darkness must be present simultaneously for both to be meaningful. As the paper begins to dry, you can apply harder lines to the actual shapes of the trees.

Acrylic painting

Acrylic combines the advantages of quick drying with the ability to create both transparent and opaque layers. To create volume in the foliage, layering is used from background to foreground, with the greatest amount of detail in the foreground areas. Drybrushing works well for creating the texture of rough bark. Varying brush pressure allows the brush to naturally bleed through areas of the canvas.

White opaque brushstrokes with transparent washes over the white marks help convey texture. The white should appear like texture, and the washes should make it resemble colored texture. To create a bark-like underpainting, you can dip a piece of paper in white paint and apply it in any shape. When these marks are covered with brown tones, initially darker and then successively lighter washes, the impression of bark is created.

Color Theory and Mixing Greens

Green can easily dominate a painting, and many artists find mixing green tones challenging. Landscape artists must use a lot of green. The solution is to use a wide variety of green hues.

Two-step mixing method

One common way to mix greens is to start with a base medium green and vary it with two other colors to achieve a spectrum of shades. The base medium green can be a tube of single-pigment green, a tube of pre-mixed green for convenience, or your favorite mixture of two paints to create a medium green.

Starting with a base medium green, modify the hue and temperature with yellow (to create a lighter, warmer, more yellowish green) or blue (to create a darker, cooler, more bluish green). Then modify the saturation with any warming or neutralizing color from orange to violet. Typically, very small amounts are needed to begin to dull or reduce the saturation of a color. To increase the saturation, you can add a brighter green.

Using this method, you can mix a spectrum of green shades to provide the variety you need: warm greens, cool greens, light greens, dark greens, bright greens, and dull gray-greens.

Practical application

To depict totara trees, which have a color similar to some pine species but with more olive-green foliage, a mixture of ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, cadmium yellow, and cadmium orange is used. This gives the tree a beautiful olive-green color. A little phthalo green can be added for texture.

For the grass, a low-chromatic green mixture of ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, a touch of quinacridone purple, and titanium white is used. The trees should be darker than the grass to stand out in the painting.

Light and shadow in forest scenes

Managing contrasts between light and shadow is critical when depicting sunlight in a forest. Dense canopies create a complex interplay of light and shadow. Understanding how sunlight penetrates the tree canopy helps effectively illustrate the contrast between light and shadow.

Cloudy days provide even lighting, reducing harsh shadows and highlights. Pay attention to the angles at which light filters through foliage, creating intricate patterns of dappled sunlight on the forest floor. The integration of subtle blue-gray shadows adds variety to the lighting of forest scenes.

Transmission of penetrating light

When depicting sunlight filtering through the tree canopy, a combination of hatching and stippling techniques is used to create a detailed pattern of sunlight on surfaces. Varying pencil or brush pressure to achieve different levels of intensity in each area helps convey a sense of depth and volume.

Erasers or blending tools are used to smooth the transitions between light and shadow, creating a seamless image of dappled sunlight. Small adjustments in position can significantly impact the perception of the composition.

Highlights are preserved with masking fluid in the early stages of watercolor painting, as they may be unavoidable later in the process. A rubber tip is used to apply the masking fluid.

Composition and perspective

Atmospheric perspective

Atmospheric perspective creates real depth in your work. Details in distant objects aren’t as clearly visible. Atmospheric perspective shows this when the tonal range is smaller in the background than in the foreground. When you depict background objects using a narrow tonal range and foreground objects with a wider tonal range, you create more depth.

Trees appear more three-dimensional when the outermost leaves are paler, bluer, and have a smaller tonal range. Use only a pale shade of blue for the furthest leaves. The leaves become brighter and greener as they move forward. The green can then be subdivided to create even greater contrast for the nearby leaves. Red is added to darken the tones in the shadow areas, and yellow is added for the highlights.

Atmospheric perspective allows you to control the amount of depth you want to convey. You can choose how far away an object appears by varying the tones in the foreground and background.

Linear perspective

Linear perspective shows how objects appear smaller as they recede into the distance. While linear perspective creates the impression of distance, it is atmospheric perspective that gives real depth to a work.

The rule of aerial perspective commonly used in landscapes — namely, that the sharper, darker, clearer, and larger elements come forward relative to the blurrier, lighter, less defined, and smaller elements that recede — is a reliable guide for judging and constructing depth in a composition.

Depth control

Depth of field (from near to far) should be considered in the composition. Different patterns of light and their effects play a vital role in conveying the essence of the forests. Techniques for depicting dappled sunlight and balancing contrasts between light and shadow enrich the work.

Brush technique

Selecting brushes

For foliage, it’s recommended to use the most worn brush. This helps create random leaves and makes the tree look more natural. Rotating the brush while painting the foliage creates even more randomness and helps avoid patterns and repeating shapes that don’t exist in nature.

Avoid geometric shapes and patterns like squares, circles, and triangles when drawing trees. When you see such a shape while working on trees, try changing it. This will make your trees more natural and convincing.

Free writing style

Free brushwork suggests, rather than literally depicts, every detail. A brush can convey much more with a confident, free stroke than with rigid, overly detailed ones. When depicting grass, not every blade of grass is drawn, but the essence of how the grass moves and catches the light is captured.

Confident brushstrokes are essential for depicting branches. Branches require tapers and turns as they twist and turn through the sky. Trees require a balance between abstraction and detail.

Creating bark texture

Vertical strokes

Load the brush with a slightly darker version of your base color. Drag it vertically down the trunk using uneven pressure. Allow the brush to skip sections and catch — this creates natural breaks in the texture. Don’t fill every gap — the eye will complete the pattern.

Vary the length of your brushstrokes. Some bark patterns have long, continuous lines, while others are broken into shorter segments. Use vertical brushstrokes that follow the natural growth patterns of the bark. Horizontal brushstrokes look irregular.

Palette knife effects

A palette knife can create beautiful bark texture effects. Lightly scrape the wet paint to reveal the color underneath. Try pressing the edge of the knife into the wet paint and then lifting it straight up. This creates crack-like marks. Don’t overdo it with the palette knife — use it sparingly for accent areas.

Bark without texture looks like smooth plastic pipes. Real bark has grooves, bumps, and surface variations. Add texture while your base coat is still slightly damp. The paint will blend naturally for realistic effects.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

plane trees

Create depth with overlapping branches and varying value ranges. Use atmospheric perspective to make distant trees cooler and lighter. Layer foliage from the background to the foreground, with the most detail in the foreground areas.

Smooth unrealistic bark

Use vertical brushstrokes with a flat brush, then add horizontal cracks. Dry brushing works well for creating the texture of rough bark. Vary the pressure and allow the brush to naturally flow across the canvas surface.

Excessive detail

Artists often try to depict every leaf and branch. This leads to overcrowding and a loss of overall impact. Instead, a more introspective approach should be used: a few confident brushstrokes can convey the idea of foliage better than a detailed rendering of each element.

Sometimes in painting, less is more. Paint the brightest leaves last, and try not to completely cover all the areas you’ve painted earlier. Hints of bright leaves are enough.

Geometric shapes

Avoid creating geometric shapes and patterns like squares, circles, and triangles. When you see such a shape while working on trees, modify it. This will make the trees more natural and convincing.

Working with different types of trees

Coniferous trees

A young spruce or larch exhibits a conical shape thanks to a long central trunk and short lateral branches. The branches taper in length from longest at the base to shortest at the tip. Conifers require careful attention to their structure — the branches are arranged in tiers around the central trunk.

Deciduous trees

A mature oak tree has a dome-shaped silhouette. The spaces in the crown are broken up into individual star-shaped clumps of foliage. The oak has a complex, angular arrangement of branches, formed in clusters. The branches are more twisted and compressed due to the dense foliage.

Ash’s lighter foliage allows its branches to play more freely. They are less compressed and twisted. The simple zigzag pattern from bud to bud, visible in young shoots, is repeated throughout the flat structure of mature branches.

Trees with special features

The sycamore is distinguished by its incredibly dense, dull-colored foliage and the smooth bark of its cylindrical trunk. The branches are stiff, and the tree maintains a symmetrical silhouette even in adverse weather. The hawthorn has a distinctive domed silhouette with sinuous branches.

Seasonal features

Trees change with the seasons, and this influences the approach to depicting them. Spring foliage is lighter and fresher, with yellowish-green hues. Summer greens are richer and darker. Autumn brings a rich palette of yellows, reds, and browns. Winter trees reveal the structure of their branches, requiring special attention to tree anatomy.

The growth direction of branches of equal length can explain the wide variety of appearances. Trees grown in close plantings should not be expected to have characteristics exactly similar to those grown in open spaces, or even less so to those exposed to the elements.

Features of plein air work

Working outdoors provides the opportunity to directly observe how light changes throughout the day and how this affects the perception of trees and forests. Lighting conditions are constantly changing, requiring quick work and the ability to grasp the essentials.

If your subject is a tree, notice how it differs from other tree species. First, notice the tip of its foliage, which is best seen against the sky — pointed or rounded, drooping or upward. Then, note the nature of the trunk and branches, the way they extend from the parent trunk, their direction, curves, and angles.

The variability of natural light requires flexibility and openness to changing light conditions. This allows for depth and vibrancy in artistic works. Overcast days provide even lighting, reducing harsh shadows and highlights.

Impressionistic approach

When working on forest scenes, experiment with impressionistic techniques to capture the essence of light and movement. Accentuate the interplay of light and shadow within the forest, using loose brushstrokes or quick sketches to create an atmospheric effect.

By blending colors and shapes suggestively, one can evoke the feeling of being surrounded by trees with sunlight filtering through the leaves. Claude Monet developed his signature style, creating immersive recreations of the changing effects of sunlight on lush greenery. Themes and objects were almost secondary in Monet’s colorful rendering of this beautiful landscape — the primary themes were space, light, and the natural world.

The impressionistic approach frees the artist from the need for detailed rendering and allows them to focus on the overall impression, atmosphere, and color relationships. This is especially effective when depicting forests, where an abundance of detail can overwhelm the composition.

Controlling complex light patterns

When working with complex light patterns in forest environments, it’s crucial to understand the dynamics of sunlight angles through tree canopies. Various light patterns and their effects play a vital role in conveying the essence of forests.

Methods for depicting dappled sunlight require careful observation of how light passes through the various layers of foliage. Light can be direct, diffused through leaves, or reflected from other surfaces. Each type of lighting creates its own distinct character of shadows and highlights.

Balancing the contrast between light and shadow enriches a work. Too much contrast can make an image harsh and unnatural, while too little creates a flat, lifeless image. Finding the right balance requires practice and sensitivity to subtle lighting nuances.

Use of masking techniques

In watercolor, masking fluid allows you to preserve highlights that would otherwise be covered by subsequent layers. This is especially useful when depicting sun dapples on foliage or bright highlights on tree trunks. Masking fluid is applied early in the painting and removed after the base layers have dried.

A rubber tip or an old brush is used to apply masking fluid, as it can damage good brushes. After completing the dark and midtones, the masking fluid is carefully removed, revealing clean white paper or a light underpainting.

Painting trees and forests requires a combination of technical skill, an understanding of tree structure and anatomy, a mastery of color and tone, and the ability to perceive and convey the interplay of light and shadow. Each type of wood has its own characteristics that the artist must study and understand. Different media — oil, watercolor, acrylic — offer different possibilities and require specific approaches.

The basic principle remains unchanged: work should proceed from the general to the specific, from large masses to details, from dark to light in most techniques. Avoid excessive detail and remember that suggestion is often more effective than a literal depiction of each element. Constant observation of nature, study of the works of masters, and regular practice are the path to mastery in depicting trees and forests.