- 1). Dip the fine round brush into your bark color (black or brown) and paint a jagged line on your paper or canvas.
- 2). Add branches coming of the main body of the sakura. Make them of many sizes and lengths and try to have them go in different directions. Make branches that come off the secondary branches as well. Do not worry about making the tree look realistic or "round" for now, focus on where the branches are going.
- 3). Flesh out the tree. Add knobby forms where each branch meets the trunk. Make these knobs size appropriate; the ones that meet the main body should be largest while the ones on the smallest limbs should be the smallest. You should also thicken each branch to an appropriate width. The first line you painted is the trunk of the tree, while the first offshoots are branches, each smaller or secondary branch and limb should also be thickened as necessary. If you are a more advanced painter, try using a light brown shade to add dimension and the illusion of roundness to your sakura. Fortunately this is not necessary, since sakura also look good in 2D.
- 4). Wait for the body of the tree to dry, then dip your flat brush into your chosen petal color.
- 5). Take your brush and dab paint near, around and on the limbs and branches of your sakura. Depending on how you dab, twist and angle your brush, you can give your blossoms different shapes and degrees of realism. For beginners, try dabbing the brush roughly onto the canvas to get a line of blossoms. Twist the brush as you touch the paper to make a rounded blossom. Hold the brush at a 45 degree angle and jerk back as you touch the paper to achieve a diamond shaped petal. Use a mix of these techniques to get a varied look. Try adding dimension by using a variety of shades (your chosen color mixed with a tiny amount of white, to lighten, or black, to darken) to create shadows or dappled, sunlit effects.
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