How to Draw Spring Landscapes - Pen and Ink Drawings by Rahul Jain

Spring is coming in my neck of woods and what better way to celebrate its arrival than to capture it on paper with simple pleasing drawings of new spring growth. In this post, I show how spring landscapes can be easily drawn with 3 drawings. Grab a pen and paper and join in the fun. Use the template provided at the end to try these drawings.

Step 1: Draw Outline

In the first drawing, tall twigs are used as the central elements. Start by drawing their outline as shown below.

Step 2: Texture Using 2 Tone Technique

When the size of trunks, branches, or tall twigs in this case, is too small, proper bark stroke can’t be used to texture it. In this case, simply darken one end in an irregular manner to give form/volume to the twigs. At bigger size we use 3 tones (dark, middle and light) or more to texture, but at smaller size 2 tones (light and dark) as shown below are used. This is discussed in detail here and here.

Click on the drawing to see use of 2 tone technique is detail.

One twigs in front are drawn and textured, other twigs can be added in between to give it volume.

Step 3: Add Spring Foliage

After the outline, foliage is added to bring out the feel of spring. Adding foliage is discussed in detail in foliage tutorial and I would highly recommend you go through it to understand core aspects of it. In summary, keep following 2 things in mind.

There should be no feel of ‘straightness’ in depiction of foliage. Use irregular tapered shapes as discussed in the foliage tutorial.
Vary the density of foliage (again irregularly) to give it volume.

These steps are shown below. Click on the drawing to see them in detail.

Add foliage at the end stems. To indicate spring, keep it light and airy.

Add more stroke near the end of stem as this is where foliage is most dense. Tonal difference this creates also indicates depth to the foliage.

Adjust the foliage density and distribution to your liking. Here I have also added few strokes between stems to give more feel of spring growth.

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Step 4: Create Backdrop

A backdrop usually needs to be indicated in a landscape where our eyes can rest. A simple and very effective way is to use angular parallel lines as shown below. If you are not comfortable with drawing parallel lines, then other options are discussed later.

Step 5: Finish

Other elements can be added to increase visual interest as shown below. Notice also that I have added a darker tone of foliage to left side to give some variation in foliage tone. This dark areas act as focal points and makes the drawing interesting and also gives foliage volume as discussed earlier.

This completes drawing of this spring landscape. As you can imagine, limitless variations on this can be done by changing size and density of both twigs and foliage. We next look at landscapes with use of more elements to increase visual interest.

Drawing 2:

Here is another drawing that follows the same steps to create spring feel but uses pine trees and water to make it more interesting. Once you learn to draw individual elements of nature using my free tutorials, you will be able to combine different elements in this manner and create such a drawing from your imagination.

Steps to draw it are shown below. Click to see in detail.

Start by drawing outline of twigs/trees in front.

Add more behind to give it good feeling of volume.

Texture them using bark stroke and 2 tone technique as discussed before.

More trees and twigs etc. can be added per your interest.

Indicate spring foliage using dots and ticks as discussed before.

Adjust the foliage density and vary its tone to your liking.

Add Pine/Coniferous trees to complement the spring growth. Their darker tone complements nicely with lighter tone in spring growth. They are added at different distances to give perception of depth.

Ground cover is added next. Always give some indication of ground cover at the base of a tree, even if few grass stroke as it makes the tree grounded. I have kept the ground light here to avoid it interfering with the trees.

Finally a river is indicated in the front. Start by drawing such ripples.

Spring Landscapes — Add more ripple stroke to indicate reflection. The reflection doesn't have to be exact but its overall shape should match the shape of area of trees to make it plausible.

More water stroke is added to further bring out the reflection. This completest this drawing.

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Drawing 3:

A great way to add interest in a landscape drawing is to draw in layers. Start with a small foreground element behind which you can add other progressively bigger elements to create ‘visual layers’. Our visual perception travels these layers and enjoy the process resulting in what we call ‘visual appeal’. In the drawing below, I have used small foreground bush, taller spring trees behind it and pine trees in the background to give it layers of depth and visual interest. Closer foreground trees are used as well to give more perception of depth. A backdrop of mountain and Sky gives it a finishing touch.

Steps for drawing this landscape are shown below. Click to see it in detail.

Start by drawing such twigs for the bush.

Add spring foliage to the twigs using dots and twigs. Next trees behind the bush are added. Start by drawing their outline as shown.

Add spring foliage to the trees. Add more to give a nice feel with depth.

Foreground trees can be added as well to give more sense of depth.

Add Pine/Coniferous trees in the background and middle ground. Their dark tone complements nicely with the lighter tone of spring trees and provides good contrast.

Ground cover is added next. I have used contour lines here to give indication of inclined ground.

Finish by adding other elements as appropriate. Here I indicate a looming mountain and sky.

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This completes this tutorial on drawing spring landscapes where we looked at 3 drawings to draw spring landscapes step by step. Use the template to attempt these drawings. There is nothing better than sitting outside capturing the beauty of emerging spring with pen on paper. Try them today.

Hope you liked this post and if so, pl. let me know. Also feel free to share this with others and in your social media to promote this wonderful activity. Feel free to reach out to me for any help or suggestions.

Happy Drawing,

Rahul

Step by Step Drawings