No one can study out-of-door pictures without wishing to know how to draw trees. This can best be done by observing from a distance some tree as it grows.
The pictures on this page tell you plainly that the willow and the sycamore, or buttonwood tree, were chosen for the sketches, yet not a single leaf is shown as you would see it if you held it in your hand. What is it, then, that tells the story? It is the truthful drawing of the big things—the shape of the mass of foliage, the height and width of the trunk below the boughs, the size and direction of the branches, and the way they grow from the trunk.
In the sketch of the willow, the many small branches are plainly seen, and you can easily understand why it is that the willow bends and sways so gracefully in the wind. The brush strokes show something of the slender, pointed character of the leaves.
The sycamore is not round and regular like the willow, but shows patches of foliage and stretches of bare branches in a ragged and uneven way. Its shape is very different from the shape of the willow.
Make a large drawing with ink or crayon, from some tree out of doors.
Shapes of Bare Trees.
Winter is the best time in all the year to study the growth of trees. Although the leaves are gone and the branches are bare, the trees themselves are beautiful.
It is well to study a tree that is at some distance from you, so that its dark branches may be seen against the light sky. The willow and the sycamore are shown without their leaves on this page, and their shapes stand out clearly. You can see the strong trunk, and the branches that spring from it. The trunk of the sycamore becomes smaller as it throws off its boughs, and all the branches and twigs taper at the end.