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With its varied texture and limitless possibilities, tree bark is always fun to draw with pen and ink. Though it looks intimidating in the beginning, with simple strokes and techniques, pen is ideal medium to draw bark. Grab a good gel pen and follow along to do this pleasing pen and ink drawing. Step 1: Draw OutlineUse interesting shape and zagged edges to draw the outline as shown below. Step 2: Draw Bark PiecesDraw individual bark pieces as shown below with bigger towards the centre and smaller near the edges. Use zagged line and keep their distribution irregular. Step 3: Initial TextureUse dots and ticks as shown below to initially texture the pieces. Click on image to see details. Step 4: Darken One Side MoreTo bring out the form (curvature) of bark pieces, there has to be change in level of tone (darkness) across a piece. Light doesn't fall uniformly on a curved object with side away from Sun more darker than side towards the Sun. A simple technique is to make one edge of every bark piece darker to bring out the form of each bark piece. Use more of ticks and dots to darken left edge of every bark piece. Notice how the pieces below have more form compared to step 3 drawing. This is the basic process. Continue in this manner to texture the bark. Following are some more illustrations of adding more tone on one edge to bring out the form. Step 5: Add More CrevicesFollowing is how the drawing looks by using simple dots and ticks to texture bark pieces and darkening one side more. It already looks finished and you may decide to stop here. Further tone can be added using ticks and dots along the edges to give more impression of deeper grooves as I have done below. The contrast of more darker grooves and lighter areas makes the drawing more visually appealing. I have darkened the bark even further below with with deep crevices. There are no rules here but make sure that there is no feel of 'straightness' in your texturing. In other words, the edges and darker areas should all feel irregular. Keep your hand moving from one stop to another to achieve this. In the final drawing below, I added further grooves and crevices to give it a feel of old bark. There is no limit to such variations that can be done. This completes this post. With just dots and ticks, you can also draw the bark as done here. The possibilities are endless by using different overall bark shape, individual bark shapes and texturing of grooves and crevices. Give it a try. Hope you liked the post and if so, do let me know. You can also check out my FREE pen and ink drawing tutorials and pen and ink drawing workbooks to get started drawing pen and ink landscapes. Happy Drawing, Rahul Older Step by Step Pen and Ink Drawings Subscribe

Week 2: Practice Scribble and Loop Stroke Last week we looked at how parallel lines are used to create tones in P&I drawing. This week we will look at scribble and loop strokes and how they can be used to create tree foliage. This is a very fun stroke that can be used to create pleasing trees as shown below. Scribble and Loop Stroke: These strokes are used to create tree foliage, bush, background foliage etc. In a scribble stroke, you ‘scribble’ and create feeling of small interconnected loops as shown below. In a loop stroke, each ‘loop’ is created separately by lifting the pen between strokes and because of this scribble is much faster than doing loop stroke but loop stroke gives a more open airy feel. Make sure the orientation of the scribble and loop is random and in different sizes to give it a feel of foliage. As with parallel lines, we also need to create tonal variations when using these strokes to bring out the volume of the foliage. This is done by adding more strokes where darker tone is desired. You can use smaller loops and scribble to add tone easily. Practice this stroke extensively as it is usually part of any landscapes with trees and bush. Following are some example of trees done using this stroke. First, a uniform tone of foliage is added. Next, add some dark using the stroke to bring out depth and volume. Download the outline of trees here that you can use to practice scribble stroke. Practice this stroke and create simple pleasing trees using it this week. This is part of my weekly posts to learn drawing simple landscapes in Pen and Ink. You can visit the course at pendrawings.me/course. Have fun, Rahul

Hi, I have created over 20 mini landscapes that can be used to practice drawing with pen if you have never done it before. They are really fun to do and can be completed in little time. I also provide 'templates' with faint outline of the drawings that can be printed and used as a starting point. Fully illustrated step by step tutorials are also available to help you with your attempt. As a pen and ink artist, my aim is to help people discover the joy of doing simple drawings with pen as a creative and relaxing hobby. I invite you to try some of them today. Any thoughts on the content and suggestion for improvement is most welcome. You can access them here Enjoy Rahul www.pendrawings.me