Transcripts
1. Intro: Hey, how's it going? Hope
you're having a good day. I'm duplo, I'm an experienced
artist and designer and I really enjoy drawing and
painting all sorts of trees. In this course, I will
teach you how to paint a beautiful autumn
tree digitally. And the cool thing
is that you can participate with any software, procreate, Photoshop, Creta, anything where you can use
different brushes and layers. Because this right here is about the technique of painting
a tree and the step by step process that you can replicate for basically
any kind of tree. After this course, you'll have your own autumn tree painting
and you'll be able to make unlimited trees in a similar style using
the same process. Because it's actually
quite fun and simple to paint
different trees once you know what you're supposed to do from sketching to painting, creating leaves and details, understanding where the
highlights and shadows go will cover all of
that in this course. All you need is a software that has different
brushes and layers, which should be pretty
much any drawing software. And you need a way
to paint digitally, like an ipad or a
drawing tablet. You can, if you want,
also draw with a mouse. I mean, there are people who
are really good at that, but if you ask me,
that's pretty damn hard. I recommend you use a Stylus
in one way or another. For this course,
I'll be using Creta, which is a completely
free drawing software that you can download right now, but we'll be using only
the simplest tools and functions to
create the tree. I'd say it's quite
easy to follow the course even if you
use a different software. Just do what I tell you. Have a bit of patience. And Yeah, in maybe
an hour or so, you'll have your finished
painting if you're ready. See you in the first lesson.
2. Sketching: Okay. Let's go time to open
up your drawing software. As I've said, you can
use anything you like. Procreate Photoshop,
I don't care. As long as you have
different brushes and layers, you're good to go. I'm using Creta, as I've said. You can download it
right now because it's completely
free and you'll be able to follow the process because all we're going
to use is layers, brushes, and good technique. Make a new file,
high resolution, white background and horizontal. Then let's click on Create. And we have our file where
we will paint the tree. Now what do we do? First, of course, sketching. We know where
everything belongs. I'm going to double click on the first paint layer
and rename it to sketch. You don't necessarily
have to name your layers, but I highly recommend it because that way
it's easier to keep an overview of your artwork and you always know what you're doing and what
you're working on. Here we go. Then set the color to black and
pick your sketching brush. Anything that produces
thin black lines works. But I really like
to use that one C. I always use
it for sketching. Actually, the first
thing I'm doing here is warming up because that really helps with my brush work When I'm
making a digital painting. Just some parallel lines, some circling around, some straight lines in
different directions. Yeah, I really believe that
helps with precision and confidence in your brush strokes when you're working on
the actual painting. Just do that for maybe one or
2 minutes before we start. All right, now time for
the first brush stroke, which is going to indicate
where the ground goes. The ground is not that
important in our painting, but it's still
supposed to be there. Then we can start
sketching the tree. Let's start with a
big tree trunk that of course gets in the hyd guess. Just draw some basic
outlines of the whole thing, like the thickness of the tree, some branches and all that to indicate where you're
going to paint this. In the next lesson we're going to get more precise
about all that. But right now, just try to make the shapes of the tree aim for an authentic
and natural look. Where the branches go in all different
directions and they are not symmetrical or something like,
please don't do that. That's actually
quite a common error when people draw trees. Also remember that a tree is
a three dimensional object. Some of the branches go in
front of or behind the tree, which you can
indicate like this. After you're done
and you've made a nice composition of where
the branches will go, start indicating where
the leaves will go. By painting a few like little bushes on
top of the branches. Try to imagine where the leaves would grow
out of this tree. That would probably
be where there are the most branches
outside the tree, on top of the tree, maybe
some in front of the tree, at the top and behind the tree. Just with very
light brush strokes because you still want to
see where the branches go. Okay, that looks pretty
good when you're done. Move on to the next lesson.
3. Tree and Branches: Okay, lesson number two. Now we will actually paint
the tree and its branches, create a new layer underneath the sketch layer and
call it tree one. This indicates that we'll
make another one later. But for now, we will
take care of the basics and create the outlines and
the basic shapes of the tree. Okay, Now I want you to pick a brush that varies
in thickness, depending on how
much pressure you apply to your ipad
or drawing tablet. In digital art, there are
generally two types of brushes, the ones that vary in opacity and the ones
that vary in thickness. I want you to pick one
that varies in thickness, like this one right
here in Creta, which I really like
for painting branches. Pick a very dark brown tone on your color picker and then we will start
painting the tree. Use your sketch as a guide line, not as a precise plan for where you want
to put the paint. Start with a big brush and only paint the big branches
and the tree trunk. No details. Make the
branches natural and curved. And don't add too many of them, just a little bit more
dense at the top. Okay, this looks pretty good for the basic shape of our tree. Now we will paint
smaller branches and add a little bit
more detail to it. Use the same brush, but make
it a little bit smaller. And then use it to paint smaller branches that grow
out of the bigger ones. As you finish each branch, quickly take off your
stylus from the tablet, so they become very
thin at the end. This is really good
if you do that. Also, I recommend you use
a little bit of momentum when making the brush strokes
for the smaller branches. That way they will
look a little bit nicer and just more energetic. Make sure that not all of the branches point in
the same direction. And you have a little
bit of randomness here. But still, most of the branches should be
pointing upwards in one way or another
because there is the sun and branches
want to grow to the sun. Also, they should
get a little bit denser the further they are
away from the tree trunk. Just follow your sketch
and give each of the bigger branches
a good amount of nice smaller
branches that you paint with dynamic
brush strokes. It doesn't have to look perfect, because this tree is going to be covered in many, many leaves. When you're finished,
you won't be able to see all the small branches and small errors
that you made here. Okay, now it looks pretty good. So let's paint a few roots
at the bottom that again get thinner the further they are away from
the tree trunk. Just like the branches, but they don't have that
many junctions, just a few lines that
go away from the tree. You really can't do
much wrong here. Okay, I'm going to
add a few more small branches here and here. And yeah, maybe here because this tree is a three
dimensional structure. There is going to be a few
small branches behind the tree that grow from bigger branches
that you just can't see. Okay, that's it. Once you got your whole tree covered in
small branches that look nice, move on to the next lesson.
4. Foliage: Okay, now we're getting started. Create a new layer
underneath the tree on E layer and call it leaves. One go to the color
picker and pick a very dark and
saturated tone of red. Not too dark, but yeah,
pretty dark, I'd say. Then it's time to find the perfect brush
for your foliage. Now, this is different
from program to program, like they all have
different types of brushes, but these texture brushes that vary opacity are
very good for that. Pick one that looks
somewhat like these that I've tested right here
and see if it works. If you add a little bit of
orange of a few dark red dots, because that is somewhat what the foliage is going to
look like in our artwork. Once you found your brush that
looks somewhat like this, make the size of the brush to something similar
like I have it here. Then we will start painting
the first layer of leaves. We're going to do
this by basically spamming brush strokes
in different directions. In the places where there
are the most small branches. Surround all of
your branches with brush strokes that
slightly vary in opacity. You have a very
nice basel texture of leaves for your tree. Leave some parts empty where there are maybe
not that many branches. And try to not sum in too
much on certain parts because then it's very easy to make them too dense or
not dense enough. You don't want parts
where there are significantly more
leaves than in others. The whole tree is supposed
to be surrounded by a texture of leaves that
is relatively even, but still has a little bit of randomness and variation in it. Keep that in mind when working on your first layer of leaves. Actually, also for
the other ones that we're going to make later. Okay, once you got that, let's create a new layer
on top of the tree. One layer we're going to call it leaves two because now we're going to cover the branches with a layer of leaves that is
on top of the branches. Pick a very saturated
tone of orange because the leaves that we're
going to paint now are supposed to be
lit by the sun. And I'm just going
to determine that the sun comes from
the top right. You can, if you absolutely want, also make the sun light come from the top left
or from the top. But I would say it's easier to follow the course if you
have the same light as me. Sun comes from the top right. And that is precisely
where we're going to put most of these brighter leaves because that just
makes sense, right? Okay. So we're going
to start painting these orange leaves on the
top right parts of the tree. Also, I'm going to
deactivate the sketch layer because we know where
the leaves go by. Now it's a little bit annoying. All right, here is how you should paint this
layer of leaves. If you look at a tree, you will notice that usually the leaves grow
in little groups. Like small bundles that come from the smallest
branches right here. We're going to try to
simulate that by putting the brush strokes that will make the leaves in small groups. These groups are
bigger, more frequent, and more dense at all The top right parts of the
tree that are being lit by the sun on top of these branches right
here on top the tree. Of course, you don't
want that many of these orange leaves at the bottom left
part of the tree, but right here in the middle,
on the top of the tree. I'm going to actually play
some of them because this is a three dimensional structure
and there's going to be many leaves here. Yeah. In the end it's supposed to
look something like this. You don't necessarily
have to listen to me. You can also just
paint it so that it looks somewhat like my
painting and it's fine. But yeah, in the end, you can see there are many
more bright orange leaves on the top right parts of the tree that grow
from the branches. Okay, When you're done,
we're going to add another layer of
leaves on top of that. Decrease the size of your
brush by approximately 13. And pick a tone of
orange that is a little bit brighter than
the one you've used before. Then on all the
top right parts of these leaf bundles span these dots and follow the same rules as for the
leaves you've used before, except that this time
they're supposed to be even more exclusively on the top
right parts of the tree. After that pick a bright
saturated tone of red. Once again, spam a few
dots in small groups, in approximately the middle
parts of the leaf bundles, but also in the shadow areas. Because this red works for the shadow parts
and the light parts, that's the cool thing about it. This provides us with a
nice layer of detail. As you can see,
this tree is coming together and we've already
got some detailed leaves. Be patient. Do it like me, and once you're done, move on to the next lesson.
5. Tree Details: All right, now
we're going to take a break from the leaves and take care of the tree and
a few more branches. As you can see, many
of these branches are covered up and you can't
really see them anymore. Make a new layer above the leaves two layer
and call it tree two. Then pick the color
from the tree trunk and switch back to the brush
with which you've drawn it. Make the brush quite
small and then just draw a few more
branches on top of the ones that
you've already drawn paint on top of the branches
that you've already made. You can now see them
through the foliage. But don't forget to create
a few new ones too. Especially at the top and at
the very edges of the tree, I would draw a few
small and thin branches that give the tree a
nice level of detail. I'm making my brush even
smaller for those ones. You should make quite
many of these branches, but not in every place. You can use the way I'm doing it here as an orientation
for your picture. As you can see, some of these small branches even extend slightly
outside the tree, because later we're going to add small leaves and they're going
to look very nice on that. Okay, now I think it
looks pretty good. Let's take care of the
trees texture for that. Pick a very light and
desaturated tone of brown and search around
in your software for a brush that would create a nice texture if you make it big one that is
similar to this one, which creates like
parallel lines of different thickness would
be very fitting for a tree. Pick a texture brush that
is quite similar to mine, which should be possible in pretty much any
software because, well, they all have
nice texture brushes. You're going to find one, make
the brush quite big first, and then follow the shape
of the tree trunk on the right side because that's where the
sun hits the tree. Make your brush
strokes round and natural and make them even
smaller and brighter. On the very right
side of the tree, the branches actually don't
need a lot of texture. I would just add it
very lightly on some of the bigger ones and some
of the branches on top. But generally, these branches will be covered in
even more leaves, so it makes no sense
to add much texture, but also not that
much sun is going up there because there are
just so many leaves around. Do it like me and focus
on the tree trunk, the roots, and just some
of the bigger branches. Also, I'm going to add a bit more black on the
left side because there is going to be
a lot of shadow and I've added a little
bit too much texture. Once you're content with your texture and it looks
somewhat realistic, move on to the next lesson.
6. Leaves Details: Okay, now we're going to
go back to the leaves. Now is the time
when we're adding the details. Go to your leaves. One layer, it's the one
with the red leaves. And switch back to your
brush for the foliage. Pick a very dark and
saturated tone of red. It should be even darker than the one you've
used before on the same layer and make the size of your
brush even smaller. You can paint little
dots just like that. Yeah, this is exactly
what we're going to do. You're spamming the
small dark red dots on the bottom right of
the tree because they represent the details
in the shadows. This time you already
know where the leaves will go because we've
already painted them. Just follow the already
existing shapes of the foliage and add these small red dots
on the bottom right, just like I'm doing it here. You should add them
at the bottom of every single bundle of leaves that you have in your painting. Once again, this is shadow, none of them at the top right. We're going to put other
leaves there later. Yeah, this might take you some time and you have to
be quite patient here, but this is a very
important step. So make sure you do it
right after you're done. And you filled all the shadow
areas and all the parts below the foliage with
these dark red leaves. Make a new layer on top of the tree to layer
on the very top. And then pick a bright
tone of yellow. Because now we're going to do
the exact opposite and add highlighted bright parts on the top right of the whole tree. Once again, I find it works
best when you paint them in very small groups that get more dense and more frequent
the further they are. On the top right of the tree, on the bottom left, you want pretty much none of these groups because there is not really
sun that reaches there. Instead, you want
lots and lots of these yellow leaves
on the top right of the tree where
the sun hits it. A little bit like a
smooth transition in frequency the further you
go down to the bottom left. After that, I'm going to add even more detail by
making the brush red and painting red dots in the middle of
the leaf bundles. They are like the mid
tones of our foliage. You should really take your
time here and do it well. Patience is the key here. It might seem a little bit boring if you're just
watching this right now. But I'm telling you that it's
actually quite fun to make all these dots because
you really can't do that much wrong if you
listen to what I'm saying, when you're done, it's
going to look very detailed already and
like an actual tree. Once you got that, move
on to the next lesson.
7. Highlights & Shadows: Okay, our tree actually looks
pretty good at this point, but we're going to add
even more highlights and shadows for
even more contrast. Stay with the same
brush, the same size, and pick white as your
color for high lights. And put your highlights on the top right parts of the tree. Just like with the yellow dots, just even more top
and even more right. Once again, put them in
small groups and try to avoid putting them in places where there should
be natural shadow. These white dots represent little reflections of
the sun in the leaves. They only occur on
the top right parts of the tree where the sun
directly hits the leaves. Nice, When you're done and you're confident
that it looks good, pick a very dark tone of red, just like you've used before to add even more shadow leaves. We're going to do this
on the leaves two layer because we do not want to interfere with the highlights and very bright leaves
that we've added. But we still want these
shadows to be seen. And we want to cover
up some of the areas that might be a little bit
too bright on the leaves. Two layer once again, spam, spam, spam, small groups, a little bit of patience. Try to make it realistic. And only put them in places where there would
be real shadow. Yeah, once you're
done with this step, your tree is actually done too. Now is the time to make small
adjustments to your tree. You can switch between
different colors and layers and create more highlights
or shadows if you like, but I really like
the way it looks. Now in the next lesson, let's take care of
the background.
8. Ground & Sky: Our right time for the
background and the sky. First of all, we're going
to make a new layer at the very bottom and
call it Sky and one more layer on top of it
and we're going to call it ground so that we can comfortably
work with both of them. Go to your sky layer, select a very bright tone of blue
and fill the whole layer. You can do this
with a fill tool, which should be in
every drawing software. But if you can find it,
you can also just make your brush very big and just
draw on the whole layer. Just make sure that the
background is completely blue. I'm sure you will find
a way to do that. Okay, then go to the
ground layer and pick a texture brush that produces a different texture than
the ones from the leaves. Pretty much anything works here. Pick a very bright
tone of green and then reactivate your sketch layer so you know where
the ground goes. Just a few big
brush strokes with different shades of green
should be enough here. Then you can basically delete the sketch layer because now we know where
everything goes. All we need to do is
just add some details. Let's start with a shadow
of the tree for which I'm going to pick the brush with
which I've drawn the leaves. But it basically doesn't matter which one you choose
because all you want to do is just make a nice
texture underneath the tree. The shadow should be bigger
on the left because, well, the light comes
from the top right. Make sure you include that. Now let's add more detail to the grass by picking
a texture brush and adding brush strokes with different shades of green
and different sizes. For the sake of simplicity, let's imagine that this is like a little hill that goes down
right behind the horizon. We don't have to paint anything else in the background
and can just focus on a small color
transition from dark to bright. It looks like a hill, all right? That looks pretty
nice and smooth now. But something is
missing here, isn't it? Correct, It's autumn. There should be a
bunch of leaves on the ground around the tree.
Let's take care of that. I'm going to make a new
layer called ground leaves. But you don't necessarily
have to do that. Just paint a bunch of
leaves on the ground. Pick exactly the brush
with which you've drawn the leaves before
and make it pretty small, like most of the
leaves in the tree. Then here, just paint a bunch
of leaves on the ground. Try to cover all
of the colors that you've used in the
foliage of the tree. Except for white, which is the reflections of the
sun in these leaves. They're not going to
appear on the ground, we're going to leave
them out here. Also, make sure that all the leaves in the
shadow area around the tree are significantly darker than the ones
outside the shadow. Only dark red and maybe
even brown leaves here, and certainly no bright
yellow or orange leaves. Please, the texture of these ground leaves
should be quite dense, but not as dense as
leaves in the tree. It will take you less
time, Don't worry. After that, let's add a bit
more detail to the sky. I'm going to pick a
darker tone of blue and a big air brush which also should be in every
drawing software, just like very big
and smooth brush, make a nice color transition
from dark to bright. Then I'm just going to add a little bit more of a transition between the ground and the sky
using a big texture brush. And yeah, that's fine. Then with the same
texture brush, I'm adding some
clouds in the sky. All right, time for
the final adjustments.
9. Final Adjustments: Okay, our artwork is
pretty much done, but now I'm going to make a
few more final adjustments because there are some parts of this image that I
don't really like. First of all, the tree, it has a little bit
too much texture. On the left, there
definitely should be shadow. I'm picking the very top
layer and I'm going to add more shadow by just
drawing black brust strokes. You can do that too
if you have it. Maybe it's better
for you, But yeah, this is the time where
you're supposed to make the final adjustments
to your artwork. I'm just scribbling around
in the tree trunk and yeah, just making a nicer texture and definitely adding
more shadow to these branches
because I've realized that there is texture where there really
shouldn't be any. If you have parts
like that, fix them. Now, last but not least, there should be a
little bit more detail in the clouds in my artwork. I'm just adding a
few more of them. Okay, and that's it. This
is our finished artwork of a tree in autumn digitally
with only brushes and layers.
10. Outro: All right, that was our course. Thank you so much for taking it. You should now have your
finished autumn tree. You can share it with
other students by uploading it as
your class project. All right, here's
something interesting. If you noticed, this exact
process that we used can be applied to pretty
much any other type of tree. You start by sketching. You paint the tree
trunk in the branches. You add some darker leaves
on the layer below, some brighter leaves
on the layer above. And proceed to add shadows, details and highlights just
the way we did it here. You can make the light come
from a different direction. You can make the tree
bigger or smaller. Or if you're painting
a tree in summer, you don't go from red to
yellow with the colors, but you go from dark
green to light green. Or if you make a Sakura tree, you go from violet
to pink to white. You can make the
tree or the leaves look very different if you just use different brushes
or different brush sizes. As you can see, there's a
lot of flexibility here. I recommend you
practice this method with at least one
or two other trees. I think it's really useful if
you're able to paint trees digitally because they are an important part of many
backgrounds and artworks. And of course, they
look really nice. Yeah, I hope you
enjoy this course. Make sure you leave a review to tell me what you think
or what I could do. Better see you soon
and have a good day.
Duplo, Designer, Artist
