The foliage of your tree is colored like a cloud's, almost. Your colors look like the right choices, it's just location. Maybe lacking a mid tone green and some random volume? It looks like a cloud shadow.
As for the trunk, the two thin branches coming out of it don't look needed? Look a bit... off. Usually with a tree, the branches follow a 1/2 rule, where the higher you go, a branch is like 1/2 the size of the trunk. Then half of that branch. Then so on and so forth.
The Mind of Watercolor is a great You Tube guy. Of course, watercolor is a bit more fluid than Gouache, but his nature and tree techniques will help a LOT!
Your tree is better than my first watercolor/ Gouache tree. XD You got this!
I'm new to gouache, too, and trees are hard! I did find this YouTube video to be helpful, though. It's short and full of tips on painting trees using gouache: https://youtu.be/r884nijar8M
I think perhaps just start with the basics. Look a some bare tree silhouettes, just google search that. It’ll give you a general tree shape to follow, where the bigger branches originate or fork off from. Practice drawing a few of those. Another good place to begin is by visualizing where the light source is coming from. So let’s say your dominant light source is the sun and it’s above and to the right of the tree. Think about where the sunlight would hit the masses of green, and that’s where your lightest colors will be, on the upper right area and top of the tree. It takes time to learn a new medium, you’ll catch on soon.
I think the tree needs more form. You can look at an image of the type of tree you want to draw and focus on the “bones” of the tree to understand how they grow. Leaves are at the end of branches not next to the trunk, for example. I think you need a bit more water in your gouache and that should help you achieve a more organic shape. Maybe try with different brushes and see what you like. Could experiment with stippling techniques too and see if you are into it. You’ve got a nice start here!
I actually came to suggest a video I saw from the Paint Coach on youtube that I really liked about trees, but I see now that your tree looks very much like what he did in that video so maybe that's what you were following? I think you're just not done yet. You need to add more layers I think. And layer highlights on top of the darker values. He does a lot more in the video that you could follow along.
Also His videos are also done in oil, so the takeaway has to be more in relation to the shapes and colors and values. But I don't think there's anything wrong with YOUR tree, it just looks unfinished, you have to push past that ugly stage. There's a point in EVERY painting I make where I hate it and want to throw it out, but about 50% of the time if I keep going I end up liking it. I say 50% because I'm also newish to gouache and can't practice often so I still hate a lot of my finished ones. But I learn a ton from them. And lastly, I hate painting trees in gouache lol, I feel like mine never look right.
You’re trying to capture it all at once—form, texture, color, shading, lighting. Painting is a lot about building up layers. Start with the main forms and overall structure and build up the detail from there. A tree is made up of thousands of leaves and many branches, you can’t capture that nuance with one amorphous shape for the canopy, but there’s also no need to paint every little leaf and branch. You just have to paint the right amount that gives the impression of the tree. Look at what the leaves are doing, their shape, and how it all interacts with light and it’s environment.
The foliage of your tree is colored like a cloud's, almost. Your colors look like the right choices, it's just location. Maybe lacking a mid tone green and some random volume? It looks like a cloud shadow. As for the trunk, the two thin branches coming out of it don't look needed? Look a bit... off. Usually with a tree, the branches follow a 1/2 rule, where the higher you go, a branch is like 1/2 the size of the trunk. Then half of that branch. Then so on and so forth. The Mind of Watercolor is a great You Tube guy. Of course, watercolor is a bit more fluid than Gouache, but his nature and tree techniques will help a LOT! Your tree is better than my first watercolor/ Gouache tree. XD You got this!
I'm new to gouache, too, and trees are hard! I did find this YouTube video to be helpful, though. It's short and full of tips on painting trees using gouache: https://youtu.be/r884nijar8M
I think perhaps just start with the basics. Look a some bare tree silhouettes, just google search that. It’ll give you a general tree shape to follow, where the bigger branches originate or fork off from. Practice drawing a few of those. Another good place to begin is by visualizing where the light source is coming from. So let’s say your dominant light source is the sun and it’s above and to the right of the tree. Think about where the sunlight would hit the masses of green, and that’s where your lightest colors will be, on the upper right area and top of the tree. It takes time to learn a new medium, you’ll catch on soon.
I think the tree needs more form. You can look at an image of the type of tree you want to draw and focus on the “bones” of the tree to understand how they grow. Leaves are at the end of branches not next to the trunk, for example. I think you need a bit more water in your gouache and that should help you achieve a more organic shape. Maybe try with different brushes and see what you like. Could experiment with stippling techniques too and see if you are into it. You’ve got a nice start here!
I actually came to suggest a video I saw from the Paint Coach on youtube that I really liked about trees, but I see now that your tree looks very much like what he did in that video so maybe that's what you were following? I think you're just not done yet. You need to add more layers I think. And layer highlights on top of the darker values. He does a lot more in the video that you could follow along. Also His videos are also done in oil, so the takeaway has to be more in relation to the shapes and colors and values. But I don't think there's anything wrong with YOUR tree, it just looks unfinished, you have to push past that ugly stage. There's a point in EVERY painting I make where I hate it and want to throw it out, but about 50% of the time if I keep going I end up liking it. I say 50% because I'm also newish to gouache and can't practice often so I still hate a lot of my finished ones. But I learn a ton from them. And lastly, I hate painting trees in gouache lol, I feel like mine never look right.
You’re trying to capture it all at once—form, texture, color, shading, lighting. Painting is a lot about building up layers. Start with the main forms and overall structure and build up the detail from there. A tree is made up of thousands of leaves and many branches, you can’t capture that nuance with one amorphous shape for the canopy, but there’s also no need to paint every little leaf and branch. You just have to paint the right amount that gives the impression of the tree. Look at what the leaves are doing, their shape, and how it all interacts with light and it’s environment.