Watercolor Holidays: 24 Ways to Paint a Christmas Tree - Part 2

1. Introduction: friends. Welcome. I'm so happy that you're here. I'm Volta, the artist behind Car Side Creative Studio. Because of the holidays, I wanted to create a two part skill short class that covers 24 types of Christmas trees. Yep, I basically wanted to find every single fun way of sketching a Christmas tree, and I wanted to share that with you. The first part of the class is great for beginners to watercolors, since we'll be covering some simple and easy to peaks and designs and sketches that you can try at home. The watercolor skills you will learn in this class will build upon each other as you progress through the videos. Second, part of the Siri's is great for intermediate students, or someone who has had some previous art experience in the class will go through Christmas trees. There are a little bit more involved in a little bit more detail. Upon completing this class, you'll have 24 creative ways of sketching a Christmas tree, and you can use that to send a postcard to someone. You could fill up a whole sketchbook with them, or maybe you'll be could frame them for yourself. In addition, to including a pdf guide. Grid line drawings that he could follow along or use as reference. I'll also provide a bonus video to give you additional ideas of how you can use these sketches. I hope you will join me in this class. I can't wait to see what you create. 2. Art Supplies: for this class will be using the following supplies. Uh, so for the peeper, I'll be using the cans and the water color £140 weight paper and you can get them in like larger sizes like this. And then for the actual cards and illustrations. I just simply cut up, you know, four pieces out of one large sheet. And I recommend doing that because, you know, having like a smaller size to work on like this is less stressful. You know, if you mess up, you can throw it away, get another one, and it's also a little bit easier to control. Starts the paper and for what colors. I'll be using my Majel Omission mission gold set. But it also has, um, Daniel Smith colors in here. But really, any set of water colors will work here as long as you have. You know, a range of colors will mostly be working with greens and blues. Uh, but some reds as well for like, ornaments and adding little details here and there and then for the brush is I'll be using the modes art art supplies. What a brushes. And I'm using the smallest toothbrush and the medium size and as well will be using a pencil to sketch some things and on some of some of these trees as well a za kneaded eraser or in any erasure that you want to use to erase those lines. I recommend a kneaded eraser because it erases things really well. And then, in addition to these supplies, will be using a posca wide pen, and it adds little details. And this paint is very opaque, so it stands up against the water color. So it looks really nice and opaque and it really pops. And then I'm also using a mono twin brush Ben, and this is also to like, add little details and what not and you're welcome to use any any brand. This is from Tom Bow, but any other brand has waterproof ink, so meaning that the ink won't bleed when you add water, colors will work here and then for one of the illustrations. I'll be using these jelly roll pens, which are also a little bit more opaque, and they stand out against the water color really well, and they're just fun. Little ways to add embellishments and little details and Of course. A little piece of paper towel you can use to, You know, uh, wipe off any mistakes or lift off any pains as well as whenever you're using this water brush, you just wipe it off and grab another color. I read. So I think these air all he should be all of the art supplies. And I'll include a pdf Ling Teoh. All of them. If you want to get any any of thes on Amazon from what not, but this is it. 3. Tree 13: Simple Style + Shading: this next tree is super easy as well. So we're starting off with a triangle at the top and I'm making my points little rounded just to switch it up a little bit, extending another sheep, but below it. Thank you. That the bottom surrounded again in these low edges are also around. I mean, the corners. Uh, yeah, the corners. Okay, so, no, I'm going Teoh be filling in these shapes with water color. So I'm adding a really bright green on the left hand side so that it indicates that the light is hitting it from this direction. And then on the other side, I'm grabbing a darker green color and giving it like a shadow. So I feel that and then start blending in your colors together. So go from your lightest into the dark and start pulling those colors in. And I'm grabbing like my darker green and going over the's bottom lines so that it creates like a little fun effect of the shadow. Maybe adding in a little bit to the side. So creates this variation and also that you can see the distinguished, the separate shapes, and you're welcome to let it all bleedin together. You don't have to out that. But I think it just adds a little fun on element to see those separations and you and add like little highlights on this left hand side on the way to do that issue web of your brush and then removed the color. All right, so we're gonna finish this off by sketching a little trunk. I hear the bottom. It's basically like a little directing rectangle shape, little whiter, the top more nearer the bottom so that you can tell it's on a tree. And since we have the sun or the light facing from his direction, I'm going to add a little highlight on the truck as well, just to kind of keep in with the with our shadows and actually going to add a little bit more dark green on this side so that it's a little bit more dramatic. I really like how that is looking. I can blend it in a little bit more so it's all nice and uniform. And, of course, add those highlights again if you feel that you may have lost when you were blending that and again, Barrett and the street is finished 4. Tree 14: Cypress Tree: to get started with our first tree from our illustrations. Lash Intermediate. Siri's just just a little bit more more involved in the previous trees that we've done. We'll start by sketching e curved top shape. So I'm doing a cedars Christmas tree and they kind of resemble little like they're They're tall, cone shaped type of trees. I think the cypress trees air also in that same family. So if you can pictured those, uh, and starting starting nights trees from mango, they're very similar. Does there that types of trees I'm talking about. So I'm drawing out my first shape. It's like a little cone, um, rounded and, um, going to leave. I'm leaving some space in between here when I add the second shape, because I'm going to create a little ribbon that goes around it. So don't be afraid to make this part a little like it's bulging out because we want to show that the trees being wrapped in on like a ribbon. So to give that effect, we wanted to this shape to bulge out just a little bit. It's almost like a rounded rectangle type of shape, and then one more at the bottom right here. Then, of course, make that bottom bottom line, like curb like this. And I'm going to add going to add, like, a little the shadow on the right hand side with a darker green color that makes that and blend that into the rest of the sheep. It's smooth transition like this. Okay, so wiping off my brush, I'm gonna grab some some of this brown and ochre color so that I can sketched the little tree trunk like this, and I'm going to add again a little highlight, or rather, a shadow on the right hand side. So it gives our sketch more dimension. Then, uh, want to make sure these air fairly dry. So looks like the's around the lines I can get in there. You might wanna let it dry for a little bit just to make sure that your ribbon lines aren't bleeding into the rest of the tree. So I'm just carefully I'm using my smallest water brush, adding in that Reuben and I'm going to both my brush out a little highlight to the ribbon. So it goes along with the highlight of this side of the tree like this 5. Tree 15: Felt + Stitching Effect: for a next tree, We're going to be illustrating a tree that looks like it was made out of felt or some piece of fabric. So I'm going to do that. Um, I'm going to use some purple and pink. Want to mix it together? I'm trying and I'm going to trade. Just a little different color palette from the traditional green is I just wanna play around. So it's a very simple shape. You know, start with the rectangle. It's gonna be a very simple, simple shape for the tree. And they were going to add some fun embellishments to it to start with the rectangle, then continue that now, but building out another shape below it a little larger. I feel that. And so you're welcome to try a different color ballot. But I just wanted Teoh. I try that pink and purple and then one more below that, even bigger like this. And I'm gonna make thes these bottom lines a little darker because I want to be able to tell that thes air separate shapes, you know, kind of sewn together. So no show you how photo finish off this kitsch and then allow it to dry before you proceed to the next step. All right, so my sketches dry. You can either wait for it to dry or use a hair dryer, which I'm a little impatient. So I did use that and actually forgot ad a small little trunk at the bottom. I'm going to quickly add that in with this light orange color, and it's think of it is like erecting rectangular shape with around the bottom. Okay, so, well, thought dries. I can start applying like little Little seems on Teoh our fabric tree. So I'm using this POSCO white pen and I really like it because it's opaque. Um, and e just gotta shake it up and then you have some nice, nice opaque wines. Just make sure sometimes you have to shake it a few a few times to get it going to get the ink fooling. So I'm just like adding these because they're not dots not dotted lines, but little lines that go along each of these shapes and you'll notice that when we finish it, it'll look like it was sewn by hand, so it gives it another handmade type of warm feel quality, like a tree quote 6. Tree 16: With Individual Branches + Red Ornaments: for this next tree. I'm using Green and the very smallest of my water rushes, and it's basically just going to do a lot of branches, and these branches will make up the tree. So I'm going to start at the top by sketching one line and a little lions or needles standing out of it. Then I'm going to start building, building this tree branch by branch. I noticed, like I'm starting with this one, and then kind of the 2nd 1 follows. If I was that little bit lower and then 1/3 1 is a little lower than the 1st 1 just so that they can kind of branch out like a tree does. So I'm not using a lot of water, mostly pigment. Now I got a little bit in here, and I'm just heading and sketching these tiny lines. Oops, that one's a little too thick, but it'll be okay. Let's see another one. This way. Do smaller one here, Another one this way. Okay. And maybe one more over here and another one here so we have our tree and then going to add a little trunk again at the bottom. It's going to be blue rectangular. She and you can leave the tree like this looking super minimalist, or allow it to dry and then add some ornaments, which because my I didn't use a lot of water and mostly just water color pigment. It's already pretty dry, so I'm safe. You may want to make sure that it's completely dry because otherwise it will bleed, some grabbing some red color. And I'm just going to add some red ornaments right on top of these branches. And I'm leaving like a little highlight and painted highlights so that it's just easier to spot those since we're sketching on top of these branches. - I think I'm happy with these, so you're welcome to out a few more go over your lines, but I think it's a cool effect, even when you can see the branches behind them, because it looks like they're transparent ornaments. 7. Tree 17: Abstract Lines: for this next tree illustration. Again, it's going to be fairly simple, and it's very geometrical made out of lines. And I'm going to use very shades of green as well. A. Some blues here. So see, you got my cerulean blue, this turquoise green. So we're going to start with this big triangle shape and then I'm going to start just drawing lines inside of it. You're welcome to use a ruler or sketched the lines in pencil first and then go over them with paint. But I'm just Oops. Let me see if I can erase that. So sometimes this will happen, some grabbing like a clean brush. I'm going to lift that off with a little, basically wiping it off. Yeah, so it works. So that's a cool little trick, Teoh. Wipe off any mistakes you may may have. All right, So I'm just sketching these lines, you know, if I see like, it's see these lines intersecting, and I'm going to use that to add another line. So it's very, very minimalist and very modern looking. I think Yes , so you can just keep adding these lines. There's no right or wrong way of doing them so I'm gonna add Go in some blue. I think the different, uh, color variations in the lion's meek make the super interesting so you can play around even with a different color scheme. So these air really cool colors. But you could try, And with warm colors like yellows, oranges and reds and pinks, you can connect them to the intersecting points were make up your own kind of directions of where you want these to go, so it creates like a webby textbook cool, cool looking tree. 8. Tree 18: Merry and Bright Lettering: with this next Christmas tree, we're going to incorporate lettering on top of it. So it's we're going to start with a very simple, standard kind of shape of the tree. No gut. You have your pointy angles in your first year, pointed top. Then mother lying from beneath it, more pointy angles and extending that shape and feel free to refer back to the beauty of guide. Where how these is line drawing so you can always treats them just to make it. I find it. You know, it's a lot more fun to start using the water color as opposed Teoh trying to get those lines perfectly well drawn. So you're welcome to use shapes that I provided and trace them. So filling in this shape with green looking are a little tree, happy little holiday tree. And yes, that was a nod to Barbra's came going to add a little drunk here, the bottom, and I'm making sure that it's not touching the green, because I know green Pete is still not dry and it will bleed into each other, and I don't want that to happen. Removing some paint here. Just add a little highlight and then I'm going to let it dry before I proceed to the littering littering part of it. All right, So once my shape is dry, I'm going to start adding buttering and you can add, you know, any message that you want. I'm just gonna go for a simple one that says merry and bright, and I'm starting. I'm using a pencil because, uh, you know, in case I want to just the spacing, a little bit of the letters. I can erase that before committing to it with a pen. So starting out, my Mary and and And I'm just gonna go over these the down stroke of my letters because I want to give them a little bit more thickness, so they're more interesting, So looks kind of like calligraphy. I think the technical term for this is fake calligraphy. So I just wanted make this a little wider. Okay, So and the last step would be to wait for your ink to dry and then use a in a research, in which case I'm using a kneaded eraser. Teoh, erase those pencil marks and your tree is ready to go 9. Tree 19: Cupcake Style: So this next tree is going to be super fun and cute. It's actually going to resemble a little cupcake. So we'll get started by getting some okra or light brown color to do the base of the cupcake. And the way you do that, you sketch, you know, two lines kind of going towards each other towards a point and then, uh, rounded a little bit of a curved bottom and then at the top, it's going to be zigzag line. So that's the cupcake wrapper. Then fill that in those shape and we live in with your color, man. I'm adding just like little grabbing a brown color in adding and these creases. All right, we have the base. And then for the top, I'm going to mix in some yellow and orange, Mr Kind of give it a little little cupcake base here. And then Now we're going Teoh draw are Christmas Tree cupcake So amusing A light green color here and I'm going to start by. Do you like a wavy line? It's like a backwards s. You know, if you were to make a s shaped curve and then one of the bottom and then connect that. So also, I'm going to leave. I'm going to draw some circles and leave them blank, because I These will be my Christmas tree ornaments. Um, I want them to really pop. So going to make him in red, But leave them white for now. Fell in the shape with the color. Okay, All right. So next again, we're going to be using, like, we're gonna be doing ribbons on this. I'm going to leave. Going to leave some blank space here and do the next shape, and it's going to be similar, You know, it's curvy, a curvy line. Men goes psycho. You'll get it this way. Could be It's like an s shape curve again and similarly to the one of the bottom going Teoh , leave some weight white space for the ornament later. And finally another one. Another little tiny shape at the top. So you see how it resembles a cupcake. But also, it's a little Christmas tree. What you thought was could be like a fun little take on it. I'm sure there's Christmas cupcake trees out there somewhere. If not, whoever as a great baker needs to make that happen because I think that would be delicious and super festive, so you can add a little bit more of your dark green here on the right hand side just to add it. Give it a little bit of shading and and dimension again. What? Wipe that off in in blend blended into the rest of the shape. So it's smooth blended transition. All right, so finally, we're going to add the ornaments. So I'm using just a red color here and filling. And those this wasn't dry. Important thing to remember is to make sure you're first layer is dry before you add in the ornaments, because otherwise it will bleed. So let's see if I can just Abit. 10. Tree 20: Cactus Style: since we entered the territory of unusual holiday trees. I want to do a cactus one, especially living in Texas, where it doesn't snow a lot. And there's a lot of heat, usually during the summer, but and the winter, I mean, lots of character around here. Dallas. So I thought it would be super appropriate. And also like a fun take on your typical Christmas tree. So we're going to start with the base of the cactus, which will be our planter. So you start. But with by sketching the pot and that you notice it's kind of like e almost like erecting new shape, whiter, the top more nearer the bottom and then drove up. And with color, you can use, uh, you know, weaken. Switch up the color to a pink, but whatever you want, your pull inter pot color to be going, uh, shadow here on the right hand side and one below below. This other shape the top shape on the planter, and you can add some highlights by from moving some of the color and wiping it off on your towel. All right, so I'm pretty happy with this little planter for the cactus I am going to be doing a prickly pear cactus I'm going to start with around its shape, almost like an oval coming out of the planter feeling that actually might make it a little bit longer. The top here we g o. So it's kind of like a balloon inside of your planter pots. Next, I'm going to be adding the little prickly pear here's and these again will resemble these oval shapes, and you can stack them on top. Or, you know, do you help many, however many you want. I'm just adding a few few ones here, maybe one more here and then with a darker green, I'm going to go in and add some shadows, and also on this means shape. So what? That off. And then you can blend the color into the rest of shapes, so notice that he's to the kind of blended into each other's. I'm going to go in carefully with some dark green and at those those shading lines again, and they basically follow the curb of shape. Okay, all right. So before we proceed to the next part, make sure that you let your skin for this next part we're going to be using these jelly roll pens and there from, like, there Moonlight Line, which are a moral peak. So they're really fun to add little embellishments onto a sketch and already started with one. And actually, my camera had a little moment and did record it. But it's okay, cause I'll show you how to do it with this red one or pink color. So the widow to add these little lines little garlands onto your cactus is you just basically start with curved line. That kind of, you know, makes it look like it's wrapping around a cactus and you can go over it a few times and then I'm gonna add another one over here, and then the little the little details at the bottom there basically are like little teardrops. And you just add those along these curved lines uh, a little bit of design here, so I'm gonna make a snowflake by just basically making some intersecting lines and then a little smaller line stemming from the longer ones. No, a few more. This is a simple little snowflake design, and then I'm going to add some more. Some more decor elements. I'm doing like a zigzag lying with some dots. And why not add some dots to rest up the pot? And there you have it. One little bonus almond that we could also add to this cactus is other news and forms of little dots so going to start here. 11. Tree 21: Fiddle Leaf Style: our next trees going to be another fun take on a typical Christmas tree. It's going to be a little leaf plant with E. Let little Christmas lights ornaments on top, so I'm going to start by sketching the pot of the plant. I'm using a bright pink here. This is opera pink from Daniel Smith. I really love this color, and it's so vibrant. It's a very simple shape for the pot. Nothing too fancy. What, that off and going to sketch. Um, I'm using some okra and light brown color to sketch the trunk of the plants. I'm gonna do online here, and we're going to leave some room because I'm going to fill the space with the leaf and anything that's that's enough to show to show the truck our next will get to the leaves, some grabbing some green. Here. I'm just going to do a variety of shades, so I'm going to start with a lighter green and the way to sketch a little leaf leave is Teoh. Do you? Kind of like a start would like an oval shape, but then make the leaves a little bit waving not to 80 but just so essentially see that it's kind of like an oval with some wobbly lines. Fill that in and we'll add the little leaf lions leader going to grab a dark green and start adding in those leaf veins lines. And these just go, you know, kind of a random, as long as they just kind of follow the the direction of the leave. And send this since this one is burned, going to just make it come out to the one since you can only see, like the one side of it, this one blood a little bit. So I'm going to go over it is to make it stand out a little bit more. Are some pretty happy with this? I'm going Teoh let this dry, and in between, these leaves were going to be adding the Christmas lights. So it's seat. I'm grabbing some Payne's gray or, you know, like a light. I like black color just just so that it resembles like a gray string of lights before we add delights and gonna add it here may be peaking a little bit through here. I really got maybe curving up into the leaf. Yeah, just a simple little curve line art. Next, I'm going to start adding, uh, lightbulbs. So these will be in, like on over shape, pointy but overall shape like this. So they're almost like if you think of a standard kind of green leaf on a tree, that's that's this shape of that life. We use this pasta penne in a little bit to add the highlights and making pop a little more . But before I do that, I just wanna correct this leaf a little bit more, since I I noticed that it blood and you wanted to stand out. - So I'm actually removing some of this green disease. These lines came out Teoh to be too sick for what I like it to be. So I'm going. Teoh erased them a little bit and let it dry and then redo that line hurt. Maybe that came a little too dark to see. Yeah, I'm going to redo that oneness. Well, it's no taking out the little details on for light bulbs. Hear, hear on. And also, since our planter pot is dry, we can add some fun, little flourishes and decorations to make it more first. And that was still not dry enough. Let's see. Can I can still correct it. That's what I love about water colors. It's so easy to fix anything that you don't like, unlike prolix or other media. I mean, of course you can paint over stuff, but I just feel like water colors are super user friendly. Eric, so pretty happy with this. Here's our foot a leaf Christmas tree. 12. Tree 22: Minimalist Style with Ornaments: for this next holiday tree. I want to dio So I know we've all we've done all of these on a blank background, but I want to do a little wash. So I'm grabbing my civilian blue or any any lie blue color will do just adding, like lots of water here. Now that my background is all dry, I can proceed with my illustration. So I'm going Teoh, grab this dark and brown chocolatey color and I'm going to sketch another plant your pot for this version of our Christmas tree. So I'm going to extend, extend this a little bit, give it like a little opening and fill that in with water color, then adds shading to the right hand side and along the edges like this. I'm gonna whip that off, Actually, give it a little bit of highlight here. It's next. I'm gonna, uh, grab this okra color or the light brown that you have on as long as it's a lighter shade than the pot that you just sketched. It'll work fine. So I'm just sketching little branches of Okay. Think I'm happy with these branches? No. Going to add some pink ornaments again. These will just be circles. That's a little bit too dark. So I'm gonna wipe that off in. I lived off some of this color, which actually adds a really nice highlight. All right, so I'm going to do blue one, a blue ornament. We're here. 13. Tree 23: Christmas Sweater Style: or next tree. I wanted to do a sweater pattern Christmas tree. So before we get into that, I wanted to just kind of show you what I mean by that by doing some sample simple exercises . So if you think about a sweater and typically the pattern that you see is composed of little little shapes like most likely there little squares like that. So you can notice that if you look really closely, these little squares can come up in and make out, you know, a giant design of some swords, but on a zoomed in level, they're essentially made up of little square. So I think this is a very something like this is a pretty common little pattern of design that you can see on. Uh, let's see, another one is like this. Or maybe just maybe, something like Make this so to practice for that, you know, feel free to to as many as you want of these, and I'm just going Teoh freehand them with the water brush, go directly into painting. But you're welcome Teoh to sketch these out and pencil first, uh, if you want a pre plan and get an idea of what, exactly? Oh, how your trees going to be laid out? I just grabbed. I just schooled sweater patterns on on Google, and I just got different inspiration for different kinds of patterns and designs from there . So you're welcome to do the same. All right, let's get started with our sweater sweater pattern tree. So I'm going to do mine and blue picking a blue color here and going to start at the top. But see, it's a little too light, a little too watery. I want to be able to control the's squares a little more. So that's why having too much water isn't going to help me. So these doesn't don't These don't have to be No, absolutely perfect. It just gives, like, the general idea of this fun little pattern going to mix it up and do like a little a little long Elon gated rectangle shape. Here. - You see how I am? I'm increasing the with of these as I'm progressing down the sketch because they're going to form a Christmas tree. And, um, let's see, I'm gonna do one more one more, uh, thin bar across just to kind of close this sketch. Make it grounded. Okay, so there you have it. A pattern. A sweater pattern, Christmas tree 14. Tree 24: Simple Wreath: and for next tree. I'm actually going to be doing a Christmas tree. Read eso. It's going to be composed of two branches coming together of too late Christmas tree branches. So I'm going to start by roughly just sketching out the branches of the reef. So doing, you know, to Kurds to curved shapes like that, uh, that are facing each other. And then I'm going to start adding the little pine needles and the way to do that. You just add little tiny lines along You're mean curves. Teoh seem on the other side like this. So actually, I'm going to add a little bit more volume to these and the way to do that. You just extend into the little lines that you already have. I just want this reads to be really full and luxurious. That's why adding some lines here you do. This one is well on this side, and I'm using my smallest ah water burst tip just because it's easier to control these tiny little lines. But if you're if you read this on a bigger piece of paper, if it's much larger in scale, you can use a larger brush for that as well. I see. Going to and none. See it. This little line in the middle, Maybe. Actually, you take standees just a little bit more. Okay, so we have our branches ready? No. I'm going to paint a little little ribbon in the middle, some growing pink color and starting out with, like, a almost like a square but square shape. But we rounded edges and then two large triangles, also with rounded edges, one on each side and fill that and then we're going to add little ribbons. The Parnham's thes are like two little curved lines like that, and they come and then that there's two smaller lines that come inside of them. Do you symbolize the ribbon? The ribbon shape on here in one on the other side? All right, so I think we're done. My just go back in and add a little bit more another layer of water color onto these branches just so that they're more vibrant 15. Class Project Info: for your class project. I'd like you to pick 3 to 4 different types of Christmas trees and sketch them out. Upload your work for everyone else to admire and let me know if you have any questions. Stay tuned for part two of this cloth that will follow in a few days. In it will dive into Christmas trees that are a little bit more detailed, but still a lot of fun. See you there.