How to draw realistic-looking backgrounds for manga Plants chapter

If you use the same method for color drawings it looks incredibly shoddy, so this is a technique for black and white only.

1) Draw the rough shape of the trunk using rectangles and triangles.

View from above

Picture the branches growing out in three directions or so

2) Draw rough clumps of leaves around the trunk.

Note: at this time, if you make the clumps of leaves bend down ⤵ gently as they go towards the tips of the branches, it will look super realistic.

around here

Even though the leaves are light taken one by one, when they form a mass their weight becomes apparent.

3) Try drawing the rough outline of the clumps of leaves.

The shaded parts are the clumps of leaves that come towards us.

View from above

4) Try drawing the trunk. If you draw it using "limp" lines it looks like the real thing.

Wrong

Right

You know when you try to draw a straight line freehand, but you can't? Like that.

5) Once you've decided the sun's position, consider how the light hits the tree and fix the position of the shadows.

6) Paint the shadows over. If you scatter some small shadows around while you're at it, it's good.

7) Try giving a touch of bark on the parts of the trunk which are in shade.

Magnified view

Draw several weak lines

Try drawing in some horizontal lines here and there

by the way

If you draw some tree's hollow (?) style things like this, it might look even more like the real thing!

If you modulate the strength of the lines by using thicker ones and thinner ones, it's even better.

8) Finally, paste the tones and it's done!★

Personally, I like the mesh pattern, because it looks like the leaves have been drawn in detail!

Mesh pattern

Sandy pattern

By practical experience, this way of drawing trees is the one that fits with any author's drawings without looking out of place. If you want to give it an even more dramatic touch, you should make it more detailed, if it's more of a lolipuni or feel-good type, you should make it simpler. Dehehe!

Warning