Category: Online Courses
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Understanding Flowers
Check out some of the helpful drawing tips taught in our course, The Practice of Botanical Drawing! A flower is the reproductive part or seed-bearing portion of a plant. The main function of a flower is attraction. The enticing form, color, smell and the promise of sweet nectar makes resistance difficult for any pollinator or … Continued
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Practicing Composition
Check out some of our helpful drawing tips regarding composition that we teach in our course, The Practice of Botanical Drawing! How do you plan compositions? Wendy sometimes lays the actual elements directly on the page! Another useful technique is to sketch the elements on tracing paper, cut them out, and play with different arrangements … Continued
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Practicing Roots
Check out some of our helpful drawing tips regarding roots that we teach in our course, The Practice of Botanical Drawing! Drawing roots is an important component of botanical drawing. Roots may seem complicated, but when you analyze their characteristics, drawing them becomes a simpler step-by-step process. The patterns in roots are similar to those … Continued
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Practice Sketching Seasons: Winter
The Practice of Botanical Drawing started as a year-long Challenge, prompting students to track a tree or woody shrub of their choice through all its stages for a year. The final product becomes a “Sketchbook of the Seasons,” with color and tonal drawings, herbarium components, and journal documentation from one or two trees and or … Continued
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Practicing Color Theory
You’ve heard primary colors are Red, Yellow, and Blue and secondary colors are Orange, Violet, and Green, but have you heard of tertiary colors? Tertiary colors are the colors that exist between the primary and secondary colors. For example, Yellow Orange is the tertiary color between primary Yellow and secondary Orange. Instead of the … Continued
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Practicing Leaves
Check out some of our helpful drawing tips regarding leaves that we teach in our course, The Practice of Botanical Drawing! Monocots & Dicots The difference between Monocots & Dicots is found in their cotyledons (first leaves). Monocots have one cotyledon, while Dicots have two! Monocot leaves (Monocotyledons) have parallel veining, which means they … Continued
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Practicing Perspective
Check out some of our helpful drawing tips regarding perspective that we teach in our course, The Practice of Botanical Drawing! Choosing a View Look at a flower from various views and draw some practice rough sketches to choose a view that you will draw. It is good practice to measure and draw three … Continued
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Practicing Light Source
Check out some of our helpful tips regarding light source that we teach in our course, The Practice of Botanical Drawing! Ideal Light Source Setup Light should hit your subject at about a 45 degree angle from the upper left. Use a box to block out other light sources in the room. Notice where … Continued
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How to Draw a Realistic Three-Dimensional Rose
Have you always wanted to draw and paint a rose? I love to look at old botanical illustrations and chintz fabrics of cabbage roses. They are quite enchanting, in part, due to the use of dramatic light and shadow. Check out Pierre Joseph Redoute to see the most beautiful and famous botanical paintings of roses. … Continued
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Teaching Botanical Illustration - How and Why I began
Nature is a perfectionist when it comes to the arrangement of form and color. Let nature guide you and you will always find the process of drawing educational and exciting. I studied art in college at the Rhode Island School of Design and became a professional textile designer. I never studied teaching, though many art … Continued
