A Beginner’s Guide to Drawing Trees: Pine, Palm, & More

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Leaf your friends in awe with these easy yet detailed sketch guides

Co-authored by Kelly Medford and Finn Kobler

Last Updated: November 13, 2024 Fact Checked

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Basic Tree

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Flat-Top Tree

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Pine Tree

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Palm Tree

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Q&A

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Things You'll Need

Drawing a good tree is a major milestone for all beginner artists. Once those seeds have been planted, you can create lots of natural landscapes with ease. However, each tree has its own unique layout and personality, so in this article, we’ll walk you through 4 of the most common saplings you’ll see sketched. We’ll go over the root outlines, offer expert advice on coloring/shading, and even give some tips on how to easily add depth and texture. Follow along and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Basic Tree

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1
Use a pencil to create the base of your tree. Just like a real tree, a tree drawing starts with the trunk. Start by lightly sketching 2 parallel lines that curve toward each other ever-so-slightly in the middle. Start your lines in the center of your sketching paper, so you can easily add leaves, branches, and ground to the top and bottom. ^{[1]
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- Always draw with a pencil first so you can erase any mistakes you make before coloring and adding texture.
2
Draw the branches at the top of the tree’s base. Draw 2 long, thin, v-shaped lines that extend from the top points of your tree’s base. Then, draw a few smaller, equally-thin lines that extend from your branch lines to represent the smaller branches. ^{[2]
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- Each tree has its own way of branching. If you want to draw a particular kind of tree, look at some real trees for reference. Pay attention to how the branches grow from the base. Drawing what you see is a great way to improve your artistic skills!
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3
Draw puffs over the branch lines to make the leaves. If we look at a bushy tree from afar, we see these trees usually have their leaves in 1 big, fluffy mass. Create the leafy top of your tree by drawing a series of connected, u-shaped half-circles over the unconnected branch lines. Draw about 8 half-circles in 1 direction from the bottom up. Then, enclose this shape with about 5 more connected half-circles from the top-down. When you’re finished, the puff above the branches should look like a cartoon cloud.
- For a more realistic-looking tree, draw 2 cloud-like puffs: 1 on the right side and 1 on the left. Make 1 puff smaller than the other.
- It’s okay if your u-shapes are different sizes. Real life trees have leaves of different sizes, too!
- You can also add some swirls within the masses of leaves to create more texture and depth.
4
Color over the leaves in various shades of green. Using various green pens or colored pencils, begin shading in the puffy masses of leaves. For a more realistic tree, color the top part of the leaves in light green and the bottom curves in darker green, since the leaves of a tree look darker the closer you get to its trunk.
- If you want to do some more advanced coloring, look at a real tree to see how the light and shadows shift from one side to another.
Natural tree bark has multiple textures and impressions on the trunk. To add texture to your drawing, sketch some spirals and curved lines between the two base lines of your tree. ^{[3]
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6
Color the trunk of the tree brown. Once you’ve added texture to the bark, begin shading the base of the tree in brown or tan pen or colored pencil. For more realistic looking roots, extend your shading a little below the base lines of the tree. ^{[4]
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- To make the texture of the bark really pop, trace over the spirals and lines in a darker shade of brown or black. This will contrast nicely with the lighter brown you use to color the rest of the base.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Flat-Top Tree

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1
Use a pencil to draw the trunk of your tree. Lightly draw 2 parallel lines that curve at the base. Bring the lines somewhat close together in the middle. Then, have them extend further out at the bottom. When you’re done, you should have lines that resemble something like the bottom half of an hourglass. ^{[5]
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- Umbrella trees tend to have thinner trunks, so don’t extend the bottom of your base lines too far outward.
2
Draw branches near the sides of the trunk. Create some small, thin lines that extend out the sides of the tree’s trunk. Keep these lines smaller than the lines of the trunk itself and closer to the top of the tree’s base. ^{[6]
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- For added texture, draw overlapping lines to resemble overlapping branches. ^{[7]
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- Don’t worry about your lines being perfectly straight. Jagged lines will add texture to the branches.
3
Draw masses of leaves that grow from the branches. To create leaves for an umbrella tree, draw a puffy, cloud-like shape that rests on every set of 2 or 3 branches. Then, add the cuts and curves of the leaves by drawing small, squiggly lines in the top 3rd of each puff. ^{[8]
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- Draw your squiggly lines with the curves in the same direction as the puffs
To resemble the woody texture of a tree trunk, add some smaller straight and curved lines near the edges of the tree. Lines can be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. The choice is yours! ^{[9]
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5
Trace with a pen and erase unnecessary lines. Once you’re satisfied with the overall outline of your tree, go over your pencil sketches in brown and green pens or markers. (Avoid using black to trace your outline, unless you want the tree to look more cartoony.) Wipe away any mistakes or awkward lines with an eraser.
- Trace the base and branches of your tree with brown and the leaves of your tree with green.
- Put a sheet of layout paper over your sketch for a cleaner tracing. ^{[10]
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6
Color your umbrella tree green and brown. Once you’ve created the outlines for your trunk and leaves, shade them in with brown and green respectively. If you want, you can even darken the ground near your tree to give it a realistic shadow effect and sense of depth. ^{[11]
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- Darken the ground and tree on the side opposite the sun to give it a realistic shadow effect and sense of depth.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Pine Tree

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1
Create a triangle-like layer near the top of your paper. Unlike other tree drawings, which start with the base, the easiest way to sketch a pine tree is from the top-down. With a pencil in hand, begin by sketching a small, slightly curved triangle with multiple jagged, slightly rounded edges at the bottom. ^{[12]
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- Sketching your first layer at the top of the paper will ensure you have enough space for the other rows of the pine.
- If you’re unsure where to draw your first layer, create reference lines by intersecting a vertical and horizontal line in the center of your page and using these lines as reference points.
Sprouting from the bottom of your top layer’s jagged edges, draw a slightly wider layer with similar curved edges at its base. When you’re done, both layers should be connected and look almost identical. The only difference is the top layer should have a pointy tip.
Draw each layer slightly wider than the last, sprouting out of the bottom of the layer above it. All your layers should connect and the overall design of the layers will be the exact same. However, to make the tree look more realistic, draw the edges of each layer slightly differently. You could make them more or less round, different sizes, or anything in between. ^{[13]
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4
Draw the trunk at the bottom of the tree. Below the bottom layer of your pine, draw 2 parallel vertical lines that extend from the layer’s middle. Then, connect these 2 lines with a horizontal line. ^{[14]
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- For added texture, curve the horizontal line ever-so-slightly and add some curves to the base of the tree.
5
Color your pine tree green and brown. Once you’re satisfied with the overall look of your pine tree, begin shading the sketches of your leaves in green and the trunk in brown. Pine trees tend to have darker, bristlier leaves so you might want to use a richer shade of green and color the layers one line at a time. ^{[15]
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- For added detail, trace the bottom edges of each layer in a black or very dark green (and the rest of the leaves in a brighter green) to make it seem like the sun is casting a shadow.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Palm Tree

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1
Use a pencil to draw 2 narrow vertical lines for the base of your tree. In the middle of your paper, draw 2 parallel lines that extend to about the top third of the page. Keep the distance between these lines thin, with the space between them getting even more narrow toward the top. ^{[16]
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- Since palm trees are often in tropical locations, you can draw a semi-circle below your tree trunk to resemble a sand dune.
Begin planning where you’ll put your palm leaves by drawing a few guiding lines above the tree trunk. Create about 6 curved strokes that extend outward from the center of your tree’s base. ^{[17]
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Palm trees tend to have thick, jagged lines that separate the layers of their bark. Once you’ve gotten a rough outline of the tree’s leaves, begin creating these divides by drawing horizontal lines across the base of your tree. Separate each line by about 0.25 inches (0.64 cm), depending on the size of your paper. ^{[18]
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4
Create the crowns of your palm leaves with v-shapes. Once you’ve added texture to your tree’s bark, incorporate the same level of detail into its leaves. Draw jagged, v-like lines under the outline for each of its palm leaves. ^{[19]
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- For more depth, draw some jagged lines over the main lines of other leaves to make it seem like they’re overlapping.
Once you’re pleased with the overall outline of your tree, begin tracing over the base in brown and the central line of each leaf in dark green. Use a dark brown pen or pencil to outline the dividing lines of the palm tree’s trunk. ^{[20]
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6
Color the rest of the tree in light brown and green. Since palm trees are in warmer, sunnier climates, they tend to have lighter shades. Color the base of your tree (between the dividing lines) in a light brown or tan and the jagged edges of each palm leaf in a lemon or lime green. ^{[21]
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- If you added a sand dune, you can color this in yellow or orange (or whatever combination of the two most closely resembles real sand).

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I draw a fall tree?

Community Answer

First, follow one of the ways above up to the coloring stage. Then, draw uneven circles in the leaves to symbolize the missing ones. Color the rest of the leaves red, orange, and yellow.

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How do I draw a cherry blossom?

Community Answer

Add small pink flowers to your tree, and instead of drawing clusters of leaves, draw a few leaves separately.

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Question

How do I draw a tree in the moonlight?

Community Answer

You can use the light of the sun to put shadows on an already dark tree, then color the background a dark blue or gray.

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Things You'll Need

Paper
Light sketch pencil
Green, brown and black colored pencils or pens
Layout paper (optional)

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A Beginner’s Guide to Drawing Trees: Pine, Palm, & More

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Basic Tree

Flat-Top Tree

Pine Tree

Palm Tree

Community Q&A

Tips

Things You'll Need

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References

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