Treemendous Preclass

Lesson 1 is open today, June 6. Each day another of the lessons will be released!

Welcome to the preclass lesson! Supplies are pretty basic – markers, and paper! You’ll also want access to a printer, as each lesson’s sketches are provided – or create your own sketches by printing the photo references provided in each lesson.

Before we start…a little housekeeping

I retain the copyright to the content you are learning in class. That means…

1. Do not sell or give away the concepts from my classes – you may not re-teach my instruction contained or created within these lessons.
2. Do not post a video tutorial or step by step photo tutorial of your own redraw of class content.
3. Do not repost any handouts you receive in class.

However…I love to see students making strides and taking this teaching and personalizing it with your own skills.

1. DO make your own designs and develop your own style! I love that!
2. DO gift your creations made with these techniques, of course!

At the bottom of each lesson you’ll see some ways to share your homework and ask questions, so that’ll be handy for you.

Video: Supplies and getting started

Supplies

You’ll need markers for this course, either Copics or Ohuhu – or the equivalent colors in another brand. In this course you’ll see various techniques that differ between the two brands shown, and some of those tips could apply to others as well.

Copic colors:  G43, G21, Y04, YG00, YG11, Y00, YG41, YG03, YG07, YG25, YG17, YG61, G29, B41, G46, G99, YG09, YG67, YG45, G14, YG23, C1, C2, C3, C5, C7, C9, 0, E77, E74, E31, E49, E44, E70, 0

Ohuhu colors (all in the 320 set): G170, G260, Y030, Y080, GY7,  GY172,  G270,  G220,  G110,  GY4,  G120,  G020,  B220,  G190, GY2, GY1, G300, G5, G6, GY43, G470, G120, Y030,  E380, E300, Y13, E400, E210, E430, CG2, CG5, CG070, CG020, CGII09, 0

Paper: Use whatever you like to color on best – hopefully something you can run through a printer that prints in alcohol-marker-friendly ink. If your printer doesn’t do that, you can print it then take it to a copyshop along with the paper you want to create the art on – and just copy it. Most photocopiers are alcohol-marker-safe.

If you are looking for a good white pen – I highly recommend getting a Copic Acrea pen. They stay white even on top of strong colors! You can get them on Amazon but honestly – the price at Blick is usually half. (So find other goodies you need so you can make shipping seem better, usually they have free shipping over a threshhold!)

Reference materials

In each lesson ahead you’ll find links for that project, similar to these….download whichever you would like for your sketchbook. (versions with and without lines are included for those whose handwriting doesn’t tilt down the page!)

1. Color swatch and Tree Anatomy
   1. Copic AND Ohuhu with lines PDF
   2. Copic AND Ohuhu without lines PDF
   3. Copic with lines PDF
   4. Copic without lines PDF
   5. Ohuhu with lines PDF
   6. Ohuhu without lines PDF
2. Leaf Anatomy
   1. with lines PDF
   2. without lines PDF

Extra videos

These were on YouTube – and will be helpful for you!

Color chart 

You might want to try out this chart with the colors for this class; download the blank one here.

In summer of 2025, this crowdsourcing project is active – download the photo of the leaves HERE and the black and white drawing HERE…and whether it’s 2025 or not, you can still try out your own green combinations!