When rendering a landscape, you don’t always have the luxury of time. Sometimes broad strokes are not only necessary, but actively improve the overall effectiveness of your work.

Getting too “pretty” and focusing on individual details can cost the entire illustration quality when time is limited. Furthermore, the client may read too much into a specific element and dislike the entire result. At that point, you’ve invested lots of time into a plan that isn’t going to happen.

When you can produce multiple drawings of lesser detail but broad appeal, they can act as sticking points for your client. They can identify individual elements from multiple drawings that appeal to their unique vision of the landscape, and eventually a final plan begins to emerge.

Striving for perfection can sometimes be fruitful. True improvement, however, comes only from repetition and practice. Which of these trees appeal to you?