In this episode I am exploring and extending a video tutorial which originally created by Lightning Boy Studio on creating ”Ghibli Studio” NPR style tree render in Blender Eevee:

Lightning Boy Studio explains a lot of interesting techniques in making the stylized tree, I noted:
– NPR Shaders and Directional Lights
– Modifiers ”Data Transfer” Normal Shading Trick
– Instancing from Collection

In my method, I am using SVerchok and Animation Nodes to basically generate base mesh and scatter details and making instance of the bush. You can do similar thing with particle instancing, however I think with SV and AN nodes, we can streamline the creation process even further. Especially with SVerchok, you can also generate metaballs, etc.

Hopefully this can be useful for you. Thanks to Lightning Boy Studio for your tutorial, and also thanks to Ghibli Studio for the beautiful water color background anime inspirations!

NOTE:
I have also mentioned inspiring works by McLeLun Lee in similar fashion, he is a fantastic artist from Malaysia with experience making beautiful anime background. Take a look at his works inspired by Ghibli Studio and also Makoto Shinkai. Check out his sky, cloud artworks.