It’s been a while since my last blog post. I wish I could write faster but, you know, I’m lazy.
Anyway, I thought today I’d share some techniques I learned recently from my personal art teacher Isaia.
I can hear him protesting: “Stop calling me that!” lol.
Anyway, I’ve always loved Isaia’s trees, they have character and look so so stunning. See those on the left so you know what I mean. Aren’t they just gorgeous?
So one day I asked him: can you show me how?
We sat down one morning (Sydney)/night (Rome) and drew trees together. Below is what took place on my canvas.
1. Started with a rough sketch of the tree, mostly to get the shape right. | 2. Made it fat by adding ‘flesh’ using several texture brushes and decorated it with branches. | 3. Slimmed it down a bit, refining the edges and giving shape. Also added more textures to give it life. |
4. Isaia told me that the best trees are the weird ones–whatever that means, but I think I understand him :). So here, I tried to make mine weirder by adding a new trunk to curve around the main trunk to create that ‘hugging’ effect. | 5. Once happy with the shape, I added the setting. Started thinking about the lighting here too to achieve the right depth and mood. | 6. Added details for the clouds, the grass, the rocks and also highlights and shadows on the tree. |
And since I drew it on Valentine’s day, I added the hanging red-heart when I coloured the piece. So here is the final art 🙂
We had lots of fun drawing this together. If you’re interested to see Isaia’s final piece, check it out here.
Anyway, I hope you gain something useful from this process. Thanks so much for your visit.
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