Every year I love to teach different grades various things they need to know about drawing trees. I've seen many children draw a vertical rectangle with tiny twigs sticking out of the top, so I decided long ago to help them really 'see' how a realistic trunk turns into medium sized branches, and finally into tiny twigs. (My voice changes from deep to high as I go through the steps ;)
***This can be adapted to grade levels from 1st grade on up, depending on your content standards you can see which grade level it fits in best for. Some first graders have a hard time with the branching off part, most 2nd graders understand and are able to achieve a realistic look. This year I did it with 6th grade, and they used metallic colored pencils on black paper (metallic was important for the artist we studied).
One of my all time favorite artists, Gustav Klimt, is an example of some of the fine art trees we look at. I also like to show many examples of real trees, and if you have access to flickr, an inspiring is to search through everyones uploads. Or search for groups as well - there are many groups to look through to find images you like. Here are 2 examples:
The main thing I try to get them to see is that the large trunk branches out in a "V" shape, and I use a volunteer to show that our bodies kind of look like a trunk, and if you hold your arms out those are like the branches of a tree, and the fingers are like the twigs. I point out where the "V's" are.
The places where the branches grow out are "U's" instead of "V's", but it's the same concept. There are many directions you could go in... talk about texture and look at real bark or do leaf rubbings, warm colors when the leaves change, and scientifically why that happens, products made from trees and ecological concerns, age, size and location of different species, and how trees can be symbols for ideas in one's artwork. Big themes: growth, seeds, renewal, strength, and much more.
student examples to come...
It was a bit tricky to take pictures of these black backgrounds, but the students really loved how the metallic pencils 'shimmered' like all of the gold tones in Klimts' work. Sparkly gel pens would have been even better~
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