Painting a daisugi tree

In this tutorial, we show you how to paint a traditional daisugi tree. Daisugi is a Japanese pruning technique from Kyoto, where cedar shoots are carefully guided to grow straight up from the base of the tree.

What you need View steps

What you need

Sakura Koi Water Colors Sketch Box (48 colours with refillable water brush)
Sakura Sumo Grip mechanical pencil 0.7 mm
Sakura Pigma Sensei pen number 3 in black
Sakura Pigma Graphic pen number 3 with chisel nib in black
Sakura Pigma Micron PN in blue black
Sakura Gelly Roll gel pen in white
Van Gogh water colour brush series 191, number 10
Rembrandt water colour paper, 100% cotton
Eraser
Water

Step 1

Your background

Start by colouring in your background. Use three different shades of blue from the Koi Water Colors Sketch Box and let it dry completely.

Step 2

The outline of the tree

Sketch the outline of the tree using the Sumo Grip mechanical pencil. You can choose to erase these lines later on in the process if you wish.

Step 2 - Painting daisugi trees in watercolour

Step 3

Time for some details.

Accentuate the base of the cedar tree with darker lines using the Pigma Sensei and Pigma Graphic. Let your imagination run wild and make the lines as complicated as you like!

Step 4

Add your linework.

Draw the slender new branches that grow on top of the base of the tree with the Pigma Micron PN in blue black. This pen is perfect to draw fine, flowing lines to portray the fragility of the branches.

Step 4 - Painting daisugi trees in watercolour

Step 5

The ink lines

Before switching to watercolours, make sure the ink of the Pigma pens has dried completely. Once dry, the ink lines will be water resistant and stand out beautifully under your water colours.

Step 6

Add some colour!

Colour in the tree using as many shades of the Koi Water Colors Sketch Box as you like! We decided to go for brown, blue and green for the base and add ochre and red to the branches. Of course, you can use any colour you feel suit your work best.

Step 6 - Painting daisugi trees in watercolour

Step 7

Finishing touches

Add some finishing touches to your work using the white Gelly Roll pen. The opaque white lines will add an instant highlight to your branches and provide some contrast from the darker background.

This completes your daisugi tree! We hope you enjoyed this step-by-step plan. If you make your own version, remember to share it with us using #RoyalTalens!

The daisugi technique

This ancient tradition allows beautiful, straight logs to be harvested from the tree without having to cut it down at the base, which makes it a very sustainable forestry technique. The harvested logs are often used to build traditional tea houses.

The daisugi technique gives forests a mysterious, outer-worldly look that we want to help you portray in this step-by-step plan. The finished artwork’s colours and style are inspired by Japanese woodblock prints called ukiyo-e. These prints are characterised by their large, bold-coloured areas and a notable absence of shading and perspective. The pigments used in these prints were often blue, brown and orange, but we decided to also add green for the forestry.

Painting a daisugi tree

What you need

Step 1

Your background

Step 2

The outline of the tree

Step 3

Time for some details.

Step 4

Add your linework.

Step 5

The ink lines

Step 6

Add some colour!

Step 7

Finishing touches

The daisugi technique

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Painting a daisugi tree

What you need

Step 1

Your background

Step 2

The outline of the tree

Step 3

Time for some details.

Step 4

Add your linework.

Step 5

The ink lines

Step 6

Add some colour!

Step 7

Finishing touches

The daisugi technique

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