Marah Maitale Art

Videos · Sketchbook Drawings

Shading a Tree with Roots in Pencil

6 min · real-time drawing, no talking · watch on YouTube

Tree drawing in my sketchbook: an old tree trunk with big twisting roots, shaded step by step with a mechanical pencil and blending stumps, from the bark texture to the dark ground shadow. Sped-up pencil drawing with calm music, no talking.

Graphite pencil sketchbook drawing of an old tree trunk with deep bark grooves and large twisting roots spreading over the ground, by Marah Maitale Art
Shading a Tree with Roots in Pencil — Marah Maitale Art

An old tree, drawn from the bottom of the trunk: deep grooves run down the bark, and huge roots twist and spread over the ground like fingers. Behind it the forest fades into soft, misty grey, so the trunk stands out in front.

The drawing is done with nothing more than a 0.7 mm mechanical pencil, a kneaded eraser and blending stumps. First the bark gets its texture with many fine lines, then the trunk lines are made darker, and finally the roots get their volume with a deep shadow on the ground underneath.

The video is sped up, so you see the whole tree appear in about six minutes, with calm music and no talking. Like pencil landscapes? Watch the floating island in graphite and charcoal or the landscape in a glass ball, or browse more sketchbook drawings.

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