Art Techniques: Trees In Pencil

In our lives we have always just aimlessly drawn trees. But could you believe there is actually a wrong and right way to do it? While reading in my book 30 Minute Art Sketching by Alwyn Crashaw, I came across an interesting section on how to actually properly draw trees. So i decided to take on the challenge and try it for myself.

In my attempt to properly draw trees I followed the steps and hints listed, "1. Don't curve the bottom of the trunk like a tree in a child's drawing... 2. A tree trunk is round like a cylinder...practice by drawing your trunks with ellipses. 3. Because the trunk is round, draw shadows on the trunk going around the tree, not straight across" (Crashaw 58).  I took these steps and hint and hit the ground running. At first it was weird to break the habit of drawing a trunk straight, it felt awkward due to the fact that i have always drawn a rounded bottom. But it did feel normal to take the extra step of actually drawing out the tree with a cylinder, due to the fact that I learned how to do that last year. But the final step of shadowing was a struggle. When you look at a tree and look at the bark you see it go up and down, so it was hard to break the mental image of the bark and not draw it like that.

This impacted my view on simple art. It gave me the insight that the simpler side of art even has technique and a certain flow to it.

what other simpler art forms do you think are actually more complex?