Tag: Tips
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Composition Quick Guide
Pleasing compositions rarely happen by accident. We arrange the components until we are satisfied. How do you know you’ve found your final arrangement? It may feel like a gut instinct, like you’re not sure exactly why, but something about it just looks “right.” Here is a free composition quick guide to help you create … Continued
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4 Steps to Start Your Seasonal Sketchbook: Winter
In winter, the exposed twigs and branches on a tree offer important information about a tree’s structure and identifying characteristics. Leaf arrangement and leaf scars are studied easily on these exposed branches, and often dormant buds, dried bracts, seed pods, nuts, dried berries, and capsules are present too. Observing these details can help you understand … Continued
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4 Tricks to Fool the Eye: Trompe L'oeil
Have you ever seen a drawing so realistic that it fools you into believing it’s a three-dimensional object? “Trompe L’oeil” is a French term meaning “Fool the Eye”. Learn (from Wendy!) how to incorporate these fun techniques on kraft paper and tell a story by choosing related or symbolic elements to draw. Lesson … Continued
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5 Warm-Up Exercises to Stretch your Drawing Muscles
5 Warm-Up Exercises to Stretch your Drawing Muscles What do artists and athletes have in common? They both use their bodies as instruments to perform enjoyable activities. To keep their instruments in tip-top shape, they often stretch their muscles before they begin. Botanical drawing can take a loooong time, and you may not … Continued
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Set For Success
Set For Success The Power of Preparation When you cook dinner in your kitchen, how do you prepare? You probably clean the countertop, retrieve ingredients, gather utensils, maybe pre-heat the oven. Just as you prepare your kitchen before you jump into the art of cooking, you must prepare your drawing space before you jump into … Continued
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The Practice of Botanical Drawing: Ideas for Expanding Lessons
The Practice of Botanical Drawing Lessons are a guide to build on. Expand each lesson with new and different subjects! Watch this video to get advice from Wendy. We know that masters aren’t made overnight, and that consistent practice is the key to success. Think of my books as a template. I show you … Continued
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Perspective & Measuring: Illusions Revealed
What is the “secret” to realistic botanical illustrations? Accurate measuring from your unique viewpoint! As something tilts away from us, its physical form does not change, but our perception of it does. Botanical illustrations convey depth through the illusion we create based on our perception of the subject. If you were doing a technical drawing, … Continued
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Nature Journaling is Love
Your nature journal is a love letter to the universe. Plants turn sunlight into sugar and magically create the air we breathe. We could literally not exist without them! They deserve our gratitude and love. To show someone that we love them, we give our focused attention. We spend intentional time together, laughing, crying, … Continued
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How YOU CAN Monetize Your Botanical Art
If you love botanical art (like I do!) and want to make money doing what you love, then this is the post for YOU! Keep reading for tips on commercial products, product photography, and how to sell and ship your own products. Create Original Botanical Artwork Nature is full of wild inspiration! Start … Continued
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Practicing Peaches
I love to pick my subject fresh from the tree because it gives me the chance to connect with the plant and its habitat. Experiencing the intimate parts of the plant help me to plan interesting and informative compositions that can tell a “story” about a particular plant. Let’s try this now with a peach! … Continued
