Tips for Drawing Trees
Understanding the simple geometry that lies under all those branches and leaves
I have a busy month coming up, so this is your August 2025 Newsletter, being sent out early! I’m compiling notes for my workshop at the 13th International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poland, where we will draw a lot of the natural world.
It’s easy to look at trees and be overwhelmed by the complexity and multitude of leaves and branches. But under it, all is a simple structure. Here is a page from my notes on some trees I saw in Provence last month. and a breakdown of how to look at them.
• Think in simple shapes.
Think of a sphere, lit from the top left. Now cut that sphere in half, giving it a dark underside. Add a cylinder, lit from the same direction.
• Use simple shapes to build more complex ones.
Some trees are just one “upturned bowl” shape over a cylindrical trunk. Others like this oak tree are built by combining many of these bowl shapes.
• Different trees, different shapes.
While there’s no one-shape-fits-all solution, you can use the same concept to look at very different-looking trees, like these tall, thin cypress trees.
Now it’s your turn: Use these tips to sketch some trees of different shapes and let me know if you find these hints helpful!
WORKSHOPS
Beginning Watercolors (Fall Edition: Painting Pumpkins)
Join me in San Jose at Cosentino Farms for a fall-themed workshop designed for beginners. Sign Up Here before spaces fill up!
Not a local? Watch this newsletter: I’ll release an online version of the three workshops so far (Citrus and Spring, Sunflowers and Summer, Pumpkins and Fall) in late fall.
Colors of Santa Fe, 2026
The Colors of Santa Fe workshop is a mixed-media workshop that blends studio time with on-location sketching, exploring color & composition through urban sketching and landscape painting, using watercolor, gouache, colored pencils, and more. Inspired by O’Keeffe’s art and led by Maru Godas and me.
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Last month, the Sketching Together group (the paid tier of this substack) sketched (virtually) at this farmers’ market. Here are just a few of the varied and interesting takes on the scene by participants in the session.
This month's session is being held early, on the 1st of August (join now and I will send you a recording of the July session as well), and we will look at a scene where we are looking uphill and take up the challenge of conveying the feeling of a slope.