Creating an illustrated family tree

An illustrated family tree is a great way of adding interest to a family story, and helping the readers to understand who’s who. Here’s how to go about drawing one!

1. Think about who you want to include in the family tree. Who are the most important characters in the story you want to tell? What era do you want to cover?

2. Draw a rough draft of the tree, spreading it out over the page, and giving the important characters the most space. You may need to add some other members of the family in so that it will all join together, or leave some out. It may take a few drafts to get it all looking balanced on the page. Remember this isn’t a formal family tree, so your lines can be curvy rather than dead straight. You could even draw the whole thing as an actual tree with a trunk and branches, or roots growing under the ground!

3. Think about images that will represent each person. I was telling a story about crimes in the family, so I used pictures that symbolised each of the crimes, whether it was the item that was stolen or the weapon that was used to commit the crime.

4. If you’re not very good at drawing, look online for images. Print them out at the size you want them, and trace them onto the tree. You can either put them next to the names, or make them large enough to write the names inside them.

5. Finally, go over the whole tree and the drawings in pen. You can use calligraphy or brush lettering for the names. You can make the names of the important characters in the story larger or bolder if you like.

6. If there’s space, you can add a family crest or a scroll with the family name.

7. A good final touch would be to add colour to your illustrated family tree. You could add a colourwash over the whole background, or just add colour to the drawings.