Daniel Cruit: Trees

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Trees

I really love trees. This is only strange because I rarely draw them, myself.

Trees, more than any other inanimate object it seems to me, possess a great amount of character. This is shown through age (gnarly, grizzly and scarred), through posture (leaning, hunching, gesticulating...), etc. It is of little wonder why so many cultures have chosen trees as their preferred personification in all kinds of myths and lore (besides animals, of course). Trees can be helpful guides, or dangerous obstacles. Hell, they even look like people sometimes. What really interests me, though, are the myriad depictions of trees throughout history by artists. Millions have seized this incredible opportunity to infuse an inanimate object with character and personality.

Here are a few examples of characterizations of trees that I think are particularly intriguing...