Category: Botanical Illustration
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10 Questions Every Artist Should Ask While Drawing
Whether you’re just getting started with botanical drawing or you’re a seasoned illustrator, make sure you are set for success and ask yourself these 10 questions to produce realistic botanical illustrations. Beginner Artists, Don’t Miss! Everything you need to know to get started on your botanical art journey is as easy as 1-2-3! … Continued
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The Basics of Color Theory: A Guide for Botanical Artists
Learn more about the fascinating world of color theory! Scroll through this post for some free tips to help you achieve realistic colors in your botanical illustrations. Before we begin, we need to have a shared basic vocabulary for describing color. Visualizing a color using these definitions can make it easier to … Continued
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The Magic of Light
Highlights, Shadows, and Continuous Toning Learn to Create the Illusion of 3D Form Creating a detailed, three-dimensional plant painting feels like magic to me. I stumbled through the process of uncovering the lesser-known “secrets” behind these botanical drawings. But light source shouldn’t be a mystery to solve! It’s just a visualization exercise that becomes … Continued
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Creating Compositions: Holiday Cards
Using the art skills learned throughout our course, The Practice of Botanical Drawing, create a finished composition suitable for printing on holiday or harvest greeting cards to send to your friends and family. To create a finished seasonal drawing, focus on complex compositions and seasonal color combinations. If you want guidance through every step … Continued
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Unraveling Roots: A Step-by-Step Botanical Guide
Easy Techniques to Bring Realistic Roots to Life in Your Art Roots are more than just the part of a plant that holds it in place; they tell a unique story of growth and connection to the earth. While the roots of a plant might look like a tangled mess beneath the surface, … Continued
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Apples: Realistic Botanical Drawings in 8 Steps
Apples are as satisfying to draw as they are to eat! Curl up with your hot mug of apple cider, and create an apple portrait to warm your heart year-round! Learn techniques combining colored pencil and watercolor to render a realistic fruit (that will make a delightful snack when you’re done!). Practice creating beautiful … Continued
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How to Tell if your Botanical Drawing is Finished: 8 Tips to Art Evaluation
How to Tell if your Botanical Drawing is Finished: 8 Tips for Art Evaluation When we look at our own work, our first thoughts are often critical, focusing on how we could make it better… So how do you know when your work is complete? Every artist should ask these questions while drawing … Continued
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The Art of Erasing
When and How to Use Essential Erasers Note: This is NOT an affiliated post. We mention specific products that our instructors like to use for the Draw Botanical Technique, and we encourage you to use what you have. Good news about making “mistakes” in art… You can always “fix” them! As Bob Ross says, “mistakes” … Continued
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Understanding Flowers
If you’ve ever been fascinated by a flower, this post is for YOU! Check out some of the helpful drawing tips taught in our course, The Practice of Botanical Drawing! A flower is the reproductive part of a plant. Its primary purpose? To attract! How do these alluring seed-bearing wonders do it? Let’s examine … Continued
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Texture: The Key to Realistic Botanical Art
Transform Your Botanical Art with Texture Ever wonder how to make your botanical drawings leap off the page? The secret lies in texture. By infusing your forms with texture, you can transform a basic sphere into a ripe orange, a geometric cylinder into a weathered branch, and a cup shape into a delicately petaled tulip … Continued
