I was out by Mt. Shasta yesterday drawing the scenery and remembered a comment I wrote on Ask Mefi that I want to share:

Hi, trees and plants are my favorite thing to draw, along with rocks and landscapes. I’ll be checking out the recommendation above! As far as field guides go – that’s great, I’d love to learn to identify local species – I think for sketching you want to move away from naming and categorization and towards connecting your eyes and hands (Yes, Drawing on the Right Side mentioned above has great exercises). Do both but be aware they’re competing mental processes.

Here are some techniques to try. While of course these aren’t “the way” adding them to your vocabulary will help describe a scene.

• Start with a pen instead of a pencil. It helps to keep moving forward and forget “mistakes.” A growing tree doesn’t have an undo feature – be like that. They are also some of the most forgiving subjects: tip a branch a few degrees or make the trunk too wide and nobody cares. After you’ve gained confidence & momentum & filled up many pages, try a pencil, you’ll like it.
• Try contour drawings of the foliage – start at the ground, draw up the trunk without lifting the pen, move slowly around the whole shape looking carefully at every crinkly turn, letting your fingers get into the rhythm.
• Plants have a lot of gesture. Feel it first: windswept, stately & vertical, puffy, reaching towards light, craggy and gnarled, well-manicured, ragged… show it in the overall shape and the sweep & quickness of your line; slow down for older trees. When each branch or leaf springs new from its predecessor, it has a quality of motion: upward/horizontal? curved? sharp & straight? Each species has its own personality this way, and when you feel it the drawing looks more true.
• Suggest the size & shape of leaf by sprinkling just a few inside, more around the edges (they are most visible here) – are they pointy, round, etc. – since you obviously can’t draw each one.
• In bright sun you’ll see strong shadows – look for these blobby shapes and block them in early – don’t be afraid to push the contrast to convey the 3D form. Do some sketches with solid black + white. Susan Rudat is inspirational.
• In clusters or densely forested area, draw the negative space (between the trunks & branches). ex
• Hatching (read me!!), to both shade and show surface quality. Especially on conifers to show needle direction. Change the direction following the surface of the canopy or trunk.
• These squidoo links have good advice + examples.
• Do close details. Spend an hour on the texture of a patch of bark. Pick a small cluster of leaves — or one leaf — and study what makes it unique, the veins, the way the light varies across its surface.
• Also do panoramic landscapes. It pays to plan the composition beforehand: visualize the page’s rectangle across the world and decide where key points will fall, mentally measure proportions, mark them with dots, then rough in the scene
• Lose detail on farther away scenery (“atmospheric perspective” opens up the space a lot) – these hills and trees can fade to outlines, where the nearest have full tonal range and detail, bolder lines.
• I’m a huge fan of Danny Gregory’s blog & books, they always get me motivated and excited.
• The most important part is to actually get out and do it, experiment, draw from life rather than photos wherever possible.

Good luck! It’s a great way to get out and connect with nature.