How we study flat images and add Design

[Anthony]

Hiya Folks,

I got K's permission to share this.

We are fortunate to have the Gmelina which is similar to the Trident Maple, save the Gmelina
is a tall vining shrub to about 30 '.
Bark cracks and leaves do appear with a trident shape.

Anyhow looking at this Trident Maple from Bonsai Today - 93 - page 32 , specimen is 17.5 " tall.

Take good tracing paper, and using a 9B pencil, so soft it does not mark the page.
Re-draw for simplification, and addition of negative space and a generalized shape for the
leaf mounds.

The idea here was to lighten up the branchlets and give more of an idea of a tree.

Using the lowest branch as an example of how dense the branch should be to get
a tree like effect.
Good Day
Anthony

First the Japanese image



Note a branch was removed
Also in the last image - the branchlets were thinned out

 

[Adair M]

Anthony,

A couple of comments:

I see K removed the lowest left branch from the drawing. It's on the inside of the curve, so, yeah, that makes sense. Although, it being there in the Japanese tree, "breaking the rules", lends a natural feel to the tree. But, it's not mandatory to keep it.

If that branch is removed, the one higher needs to come forward more to supply depth to the left side. It also appeared to provide depth to the rear.

K's image shows no foliage in front of the trunk. While the trunk should always be exposed, it's also good to keep bits of it hidden here and there! Adds to the mystery and allure...

And finally, K's image shows "negative space" between the trunk and where the foliage pads on the branches begin. Supposedly, John Naka said, "So the birds can fly through". Be careful there!

You need secondary branches coming off the primary branches close to the trunk. For the long term viability of the bonsai. No matter what we do, over time branches get longer and longer. To keep the bonsai small, eventually the tree will have to get cut back. The primary branch gets cut back to a secondary branch, and the secondary branch trained to become the primary, and tertiary branches trained as a new secondary, and so on.

If you look at the actual tree, you see it has lots of interior branches. These are golden!

Sometimes the horticulture aspects of bonsai is more important than the "art" of bonsai. That's part of the challenge... Bonsai change over time. The images we create are not static. They're dynamic. Sometimes we keep a branch because we're going to need it in the future.

 

[Anthony]

Sifu,

thanks a million for taking the time to look and comment.

Remember we related this information to the Gmelina - a shrub.

My fault, I should also have said hedge. Which means the Gmelina will resprout anywhere.
So the plant changes all of the rules to regrowth.
Anything too thick can be removed, and it will resprout anywhere.

Our best example is over 30 years old and still resprouts as it wishes [ Gmelina that is ]

Interesting a case of you say natural and we would say unnatural.

As to the way the domes are illustrated, as outlines, it's a shortcut way to illustrate the tree as if
it were a black and white image [ a silhouette ]
http://www.clipartkid.com/images/34...lipart-panda-free-clipart-fivlOH-clipart.jpeg

Our Gmelina which you may seen already.
With the design.
Good Day
Anthony






The design and note a thumbnail that shows an eye viewing the shrub from front to back

 

[Anthony]

Bump
forgot about this