Activity

Thanks so much!! Yes, I LOVE his books! I found them last year and this year decided I wanted my illustrations to be a little more polished and realistic so found this website. They are a great pair and the nature journal is a fun low-stakes way for me to practice.

Hi Cc, There is some nice smooth toning on this! Good job! I’m feeling the cylinder. I also like that you are adding some texture and experimenting with embossing. But be careful when you are adding texture to an object, that the lines follow the curve of that object. This helps define the shape.

Good start on these! Especially the green apple. You have chosen a good base color. And are showing an understanding of light on form. You’ve got the highlight and the start of the shadows. I feel it as a sphere. Now comes the fun of bringing in the colored pencils! Think about the core shadow and the reflective light as you do. Be careful of a t…[Read more]

Hi Beverly, I really like your compositions. You lead my eye around the page. I’m drawn to all the leaves in their various stages: fluffy spring green, variegated, and dying. One thing I might have done is bring that brown leaf in front of the red beet slightly farther to the right to break up the large dark red shape. Also, I’m curious as to your…[Read more]

Hi Cassandra, Another fun page! Keep them coming! They make me smile! Such beautiful observations. And so skillfully rendered and composed It makes me want to go out and sketch. Have you read any of John Muir Laws books? He goes in great detail about keeping a nature journal. This is a page he would really love!

Hi Fanny, Ahh, the challenge of the white and/or light tinted flower! Using toned paper is a good choice. I think the gray as a grisaille works for the white flowers but I would add some more colors as you work out the shading. On the yellow tinted flowers, I would have chosen a slightly warmer grisaille. I also would like to see some darker darks…[Read more]

Hi folks,
Hoping to get some tips on this gourd, it’s really fun and I am using some dry brush technique in the green area. Because it’s so light in color wondering how to render shape as shown in photo.

Great page Cassandra!!! A wonderful record of the month to look back on and compare to! So much more interesting to have the fun visual record to accompany the text! I can just visualize the slime trail of that slug!

You are off to a good start Elizabeth! The secondary veins are too pronounced in color and width. I can hardly see those veins (especially on the left side) in the photo. You can also see in the photo that there is some highlight along the left edge and the darkest area on the left side of the leaf is along the main vein. I would also slightly…[Read more]

The top leaf is beautiful Elizabeth! The bottom leaf could use more dark toning along the left side of the main vein as you did on the leaf above. I think it would also benefit from adding the highlights to the right side that I see in the photo. Maybe the leaf did not start out cupping up as it appears in the photo. If that is the nature of the…[Read more]

Really nice toning Elizabeth! I see the faint pattern cross marks on your drawing, but what stands out to me are the polka dots. The grid of the acorn cap is very evident on the actual subject, but I don’t see it on your drawing.

Great Maureen! Those crinkly leaves are so good!

Beautiful apple Cassandra! The colors, the skin details and the well area are so well done!!!! There are a couple of areas I would revisit. First is the highlight – it needs to come down a little and also be a little bigger. Apples usually have a nice shiny skin and the highlight helps convey that. Also be careful not to outline your subject. I…[Read more]