Easy Watercolor Trees with Tombow Dual Brush Pens

Create stunning easy watercolor trees without a paintbrush. These are perfect for seasonal cards, prints, or even in your bullet journal.

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I am fascinated by watercolor. It’s soft and has movement and layers. That being said, I’m really not very good at watercolor. While I continue to practice, using videos on Skillshare (get your free 2-month trial here), I’m not 100% confident in my watercolor skills.

So, alternatively, I’ve taken a liking to using my Tombow Dual Brush Pens to create watercolor effects without a brush or actual watercolor paints.

In this tutorial, I’m going to guide you, step-by-step through how to create beautiful and easy watercolor trees with Tombow Dual Brush Pens and cotton balls.

Most of the supplies you will need, you likely already have in your home. Rather than using a paintbrush, we will be using cotton balls. For our ‘palette’, we will be using a plastic sandwich bag. And you can use whatever kind of paper you want.

What You’ll Need for this Project:

• Paper, sketchbook, or journal
• Cotton balls
• Spray Bottle with water
• Plastic Sandwich Bag
• Tombow Dual Brush Pens

How to Create Easy Watercolor Trees with Tombow Dual Brush Pens

Step 1

Select the colors you want to use. I’m using a fall palette including 925-Scarlet, 055-Process Yellow, 933-Orange, 847-Crimson, 912-Pale Cherry, and 969-Chocolate. If you need a reference, you can find the Dual Brush Pen color chart on Tombow’s website.

Once you have your colors, begin to color swatches on one side of your plastic sandwich bag with each color. Make each swatch about 2″x2″ to start.

Step 2

Next, pick up your spray bottle. Hold it 10-12″ above your plastic bag. Spritz the bag just one time. You don’t want too much water or the color will be too muted and won’t show up.

Now, pick up a cotton ball. Dab one end of the cotton ball onto your plastic bag a few times, picking up different colors. Your cotton ball should not be very wet, just damp with a heavy saturation of color.

Step 3

Next, begin blotting your cotton ball onto your paper. The watercolor blotches are the leaves. So, you can play around with your placement for different varieties of trees.

Do just one layer, even if your color isn’t very saturated. If needed, add more color to your plastic bag. You might not need to spritz again depending on how much water was still on your bag.

Once your first layer is dry, add a second layer to add depth and dimension. Continue doing this until you are happy with the saturation and contrast of your tree.

Step 4

The last step after allowing your watercolor leaves to dry is to add your trunk and branches. For this, I used Tombow Dual Brush Pen 969-Chocolate.

Use the brush pen side to create a thicker trunk. Then, flip the pen over and use the bullet nib to draw in any branches.

Now, you have a beautiful and easy watercolor tree to use on cards, in your paintings, or even in your bullet journal. Feel free to play around with different styles and different colors for a seasonal look.

What Will You Create?

I cannot wait to hear how you use this easy watercolor tutorial to add soft and seasonal trees to your artwork.

Want to show off and have a chance at being featured on my Instagram Story? Upload your photo to Instagram and tag me @the.petite.planner. I am always thrilled to see what you are up to artistically.

And if you enjoyed this tutorial, please share it with your friends on Facebook and Pinterest.