Tree Process

Been awhile since I've done a progress pic so have the tree from my last post! I suck hard at trees but I found a tutorial that really helped me so here's my interpretation of it. It's definitely stylized but it's a good start for goobers like me that struggle with trees.

1) Basic trunk shape using a single color. Tapered the branches by erasing the edges.

2) Painted the bark. This was done on the same layer as the base trunk layer. Didn't really color the branches since they'll be mostly covered. For this I used a hard, lightly textured rock brush.

• This does need to be said for some peeps but use references! Nothing wrong with winging it but it does really help to know what something looks like in actuality if you want to be accurate!

3) Added moss as a new layer on top of the trunk and the leaves as a new layer. The moss was made with the same previous brush, just dotted around for a spread out texture. The leaves were made by making a large blob then erasing holes and chunks around the edges. From there I redrew some of the leaves on the edges again. Do the same on the inside of the blob.

• It takes a bit of practice to get the blob right and is personally the hardest part for me so don't be discouraged if it turns out booty lol

4) Clip a new layer on top of the leaves. This will be the primary light layer. This is made using the same blob technique as before, just be sure to leave plenty of room to see the darker layer underneath.

5) On the same light layer, use a brush that can blend to smooth out the bottom portions of the leaves (note the tops of the blobs are untouched). Then redraw more leaves on the smoothed out portions.

6) New layer, this is for both high lights and reflective lights (you can separate these layers of course, I just didn't). On the top of the blobs, draw out more leaves, this time a little more clustered to catch light from the sun or whatever light source you're using. Note I did not highlight the lowermost blobs since they would catch less light. I went with an orange color since it looked good and the light is from sunlight.

• For the reflective light, this is light that is reflected and bounced off nearby objects. The lower portion of the image is green and blue so I picked a red-purple reflection to match with the the red leaves as I didn't want the reflections to be too strong. You can go with something more matchy to the reflected object of course. Note the purple leaves dotting the lower portions of the base leaf layer.
• This ^ part does require some knowledge on color theory and whatnot which I will try to cover in another tutorial. The reflective colors can be skipped though if it's too confusing - this is more or less for aesthetic than anything necessary.

7) Finally just a lil glow on a new layer on top of the highlights. I lightly smudged a bit of yellow on the centers of the highlights for a bit of oomph on the shine. I used a luminosity layer for this or the equivalent addition/glow in other programs.