Easy Little DIY Cel Shaded Cartoon Tree

First in my December series on little fun DIY Tree crafts.

I have been seeing a Christmas tree meme circulating for at least ten years now, and I am finally going to give it a try on a smaller scale. Someone asked her boyfriend to make her a “cartoon” Christmas tree, but instead of decorating a tree with cartoon characters and images, he literally made a cel shaded cartoon tree. It is wonderful, too.

Here’s the one I saved on Pinterest a while back, and its been a meme for some time:

Pretty nifty. There is even a cel shaded tiki in the corner I want to try…but that’s something for a later time.

I always run across this image, and think about making one, but size and space is a little restrictive for a lot of us. Instead. I will make a couple of little “table top” size trees using only paint and leftover cardboard. Now, if you want to tackle a full size one, and have the cardboard to do, go ahead. It will be spectacular. For now, let’s start with a simple tree template.

Draw two elongated triangles. Make a slit down the top half of one, and up this bottom half of the other. This is your standard beginner-level paper tree design that has been around forever. That will be the starting point for whatever you do, and you can use it to make several trees.

Trace the pattern, as big as you want on a piece of cardboard. Before cutting it out, add a little body to it. Draw some curvy, curly branches, straight edges. Think about the cartoon style you want. A modern realistic video game? Anime? Old School Disney? Cartoons come in all styles, so your tree can be any of those as well.

Cut out the trees and put them together to see if they stand correctly. Sometimes you might have to adjust the bottom of the tree or the length of the slots. Do this before painting.

Once the shape is established, use plain craft or acrylic paint to color in the tree how you want. I am making a version with bright colors, and one that looks more like old black-and-white newspaper print. This is the easy part, because you can just cover the tree with one or two colors.

Now, to give it a cartoon look you need to “cel shade” it. This is the process of using outlines to make realistic things look like drawings. I like to pick up those paint pens to do this, but felt tip markers also work well. Add bold black lines around the edge. Next, add just a few details to look like a big cartoon drawing. For my newspaper version, I added some dot patterns in sections like old comic art. Still very easy.

There they are! Little incredibly easy cartoon trees for your holiday fun!

This is such an easy DIY, you can make several little templates ahead of time. This a great home-for-the-holidays afternoon activity for kids. When friends or family come over, set them out on the table for everyone to make while talking or enjoying hot holiday beverages.

Who knows what silly, crazy ideas may come up?