i built this tree last week using jans classic wire technique, and i was satisfied with the look up until i started adding roots to flesh it out. i sprinkled dried mint leaves for leaves on top of the roots.i have yet to weather the trunk. i tried to simulate an oak, but i dont know..... something seems wrong with it. i cant put my finger on it. can anyone give me some ideas? thanks!

That looks awesome! I think its great. What are you going to use it for?

i like it! i would get a thick wash of the same color of your trunk and wash the wood roots that look like got overspray when u painted the leaves. Also a dark wash would be nice to bring out that nice texture. About the armature...on the next tree i would prefer you to make some branches bend down and have the first big branches abit staggered on the trunk rather than starting all at the same level. Other than that in.
Ian

It certainly looks 'oak-ish'. Maybe the trunk could have been a little thicker. Maybe it's a little too symetrical looking.

It's a great tree, but I agree with Biggles. It should maybe be a little thicker, especially towards the bottom. Oaks spread out a lot where they meet the ground. What do you intend to do with the tree?

It's definately the thickness of the trunk. In comparison with some of the branches, the trunk has a bit too little "body".

The tree looks good as it is and can definately be used in a diorama, but if you insist on trying to improve it, I would adjust only the trunk and it should look spot on.

Good luck !!

Hmmm, I think the tree is off to a great start!, I started looking around for Oak Tree photos in order to answer your question better. I don't know what to tell ya, I found this picture that describes in my mind the perfect oak tree, the only thing that I can see in comparision to yours is maybe you need some branchs that are lower and out farther? Check this photo out, (hope the link works)
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://woodmagic.forprod.vt.edu/Kids/woodid/img/ToakL.jpg&imgrefurl=http://woodmagic.forprod.vt.edu/Kids/woodid/RedOak.htm&h=255&w=285&sz=17&tbnid=-iP6sh631YEJ:&tbnh=98&tbnw=110&prev=/images%3Fq%3Doak%2Btree%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D&oi=imagesr&start=2

See, the branches start lower to the ground. This is true in real life because I have to mow the lawn under one of these things. I have to duck and avoid the branches, a real pain in the ass

Hope it helps. Oh, by the way, I've never made a tree before, I seriously admire what you've done so far.

you definitely need to thicken the trunk out at the bottom, but other than that - what a fantastic looking tree, the foliage looks excellent.

Any tips or hints for us on it's construction?

Agreed with Danny , if u check the leaves size and compare to the trunk u ll see u need a wider trunk. If u dont wanna mess this around u can cover with some epoxy putty give some more depth and on its way to dry u can sculpt some texture. Will become perfect

Justin I think it looks great, aside from the trunk issue which is fixable.
How about putting a pic up with a fig. so we can see scale reference.
Good wood, Cheyenne

What I noticed was that the leaves and small root sections are all on 'top'. The second picture makes it look like the main 'wire' branches are shelves for the rest.
I would add a bit of 'hang' to some of the branches to 'fill in' the bottom view.

thank you so much for all these great replies! it gives me a lot to think about and improve. i plan to use it in a dio i have just finished the basic groundwork for. ill post some pics of that soon. i'll definitely thicken the trunk, thats what it was that was bothering me. thanks for the pic easyoff, and bigjon, i basically followed the article here on the site in the features section in dioramas about making trees with wire to a t. costas wrote a great feature about tree building as well, you should check that one out too. thanks again!

Justin

I think the tree looks cool. The trunk looks like it should be abit thicker. Other than that it looks pretty realistic.

Keep on modelling

Brian

hey yeah I checked it out after I'd seen your great results with the method !

You'll notice most things you ask get this kind of fantastic response round here!!!

Looking out my window at a few trees I think that the bottom branches are spread too wide for the height and the thickness of the trunk. Of course I'll have to add that my trees are trimmed every three or four years and don't get out of control like a wild tree.

I think it looks great... the real question is what do you think of it? Millions of trees in the world and they don't all look the same. I would use it as is.

Looks like the one in my back yard, D*m thing drops sticks all over the yard