How to Draw Pine Tree Bark

Learn to draw a pine tree's bark.

Drawing is the art of seeing an object and transferring it onto paper. To effectively draw pine tree bark, you will need to study what a pine tree's bark looks like. Using some basic drawing techniques and observation, you will be able to draw a pine tree with realistic looking bark.

Instructions

1. Sketch in defining lines of the tree.

2. Consider your light source. Keep the shadows and highlights consistent throughout the drawing. Study other drawings to see how a light source impacts the color and quality of the object. You will begin to notice that a red ball is not one solid color, but instead a range of different red values.

3. Sketch in the defining lines of the bark. Pay special attention to the shapes of each section of bark. Bark is a trees skin. It grows as one piece and then begins to burst at the seams, which causes it to split toward the edges.

4. Scribble angled lines to add dimension, depth and texture to the bark. Put your pencil on the paper, drag and then pick it up. Keep repeating this.

5. Use line quality, which is the thickness and darkness of each line, to help add emphasis to each piece of bark. Some areas will be lighter and some will be darker. Using a thicker, darker line will show that a certain area doesn't have as much light hitting it.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not make each section equal or spend too much time on one little piece of bark. The whole tree will begin to come together as a combination of value, line quality, texture and light.

References

• Rural Route On: Bark: Stumps and Trunks