Playful tree drawing exercise for busy moms

Explore a playful tree drawing exercise for busy moms. Embrace hatching techniques for stress relief and creative mindfulness.

As moms, we usually have a tight schedule to ensure everything gets done and everyone is happy at the end of the day. It can help to take a few moments for yourself during a busy day. Today, let’s explore an art exercise that’s fun and therapeutic.

Let’s get playful and draw a simple form without outlines. Drawing without outlines can be so freeing. It allows your art to be more expressive and less constrained, giving a sense of playfulness to the process. There’s no right or wrong way – just your way, which makes the experience fun and free.

Hatching is a drawing technique that involves drawing closely set parallel lines. It’s used to create texture and shading. Imagine drawing lots of small, straight strokes close together. In this exercise, we’ll use this technique to sketch a simple tree.

Have fun with this playful tree drawing exercise! Please let me know if you’ve tried this one; I would love to see it.

You can find a small video of this exercise on my Instagram @thecreativecooldown

Supplies used:

Bristol paper (BeCreativeShop), brush pen (Faber-Castell), fine liner 0.5 (Copic), fine liner 0.3 (Winsor & Newton).

Alternative supply suggestions:

You can use any material for this exercise, such as colored pencils, crayons, or a pencil. 

Instructions for this playful drawing:

Step 1 – Draw your leaves

Before you start, slowly breathe in and out a few times to clear your head. Then, bring yourself to the present, away from all the day-to-day stress.

We will draw a simple tree without outlines. First, visualize where the leaves of your tree would be. Instead of drawing the outlines, start filling in this area with hatches, which are short, parallel strokes. Vary the direction of your lines to mimic the randomness of leaves. This method feels freer and more playful than traditional outline drawing.

Step 2 – Add color

If you like, you can use multiple colors to hatch your leaves. Just enjoy the repetitive motion of your strokes and forget everything else for a moment. Have fun playing with your lines.

Step 3 – Draw the trunk of your tree

Now, it’s time to draw your trunk. Use horizontal, curved, or vertical lines. There is no right or wrong; just pick the direction that feels right to you. The density of your lines can create the illusion of bark – more dense where it’s shadowed and less where the light hits.

Step back and look at your tree as a whole. You can add more hatches in areas you want to appear fuller or darker. The beauty of this technique is in its flexibility and the unique texture it creates.

Drawing a tree with hatching is more than just an artistic activity; it can be your moment of me-time. This exercise is ideal for moms looking to explore their creativity in a relaxing, low-pressure way.

Will you give this exercise a try? Let me know in the comments below.