How to use tracing to improve your drawing skills

I need to learn how to draw pine trees for a painting and a logo I'm working on. The fastest way is to find some good reference material (I found images of pine trees online) and trace them. I learned from tracing that the way to draw a pine tree with spiky needles is to draw them with many quick outward lines. Sequoias can take a small circle treatment, and others work well with what I call a caffinated jitter. The next time you need to learn how to draw something fast, try tracing your subject until you develop confidence in how to approach that subject and muscle memory to carry it out. Give it a try!