The Joy of Botanical Drawing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Drawing and Painting Flowers, Leaves, Fruit, and More

by Wendy Hollender

A gorgeous, easy-to-follow, and inspiring guide to stunningly realistic botanical drawing that covers everything you need to draw our natural world.Achieve amazingly realistic and vibrant botanical illustrations, from flowers so dazzling you feel as if you might be able to smell them, to tomatoes that look as if they've just been picked from the garden. Wendy Hollender is known for her vivid, detailed, and inspiring illustrations and in The Joy of Botanical Drawing, she helps you take your art to the next level by sharing her perfected techniques through short lessons that start simple, then build on the basics with easy-to-use and clear step-by-step illustrations. Using colored pencils and watercolor pencils, Hollender shows you how to accomplish scientifically accurate botanical portraits of a spiraling pine cone, a spiky chestnut, a fuchsia-tined radish, a graceful morning glory, and many more.From colorful leaves to delicate petals to textured bark and slender stems, The Joy of Botanical Drawing will give you the skills to complete lifelike drawings while also enjoying nature and the mindfulness of a regular drawing practice.

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction, Reference

167 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2020

Reviews

[Pixie Unger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! I originally borrowed it from the library, but I liked it enough to buy my own copy. It didn't have too long of a list of supplies (although I skipped the watercolour pencils it suggested) and the step by step was *achievable.*

If you read this kind of book, you know what I mean. Sometimes it goes:
-draw the circles to indicate the shape
- rough in the outline
- finished drawing with 107 layers of colour

This was not that. I'm on my second read through and I am happy with all of the exercises I have tried so far.

Absolutely would recommend.

[Mary Schaefbauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glorious.

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Joy of Botanical Drawing is the perfect blend of how to draw and relaxing meditative practice. My only experience with drawing is from an introductory art class in high school, so my knowledge is close to zero. But with this book I have a better idea of how to approach everything, and the recommendations for different supplies was wonderful. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful, and I look forward to practicing (I know with practice I'll get better). Perfect if you want to learn to draw or want to find a creative meditative outlet.

[Ria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recieved this book as a gift from someone. I never really thought about botanical drawing, but for someone who likes to draw in detail, this book is good start to trying a hand.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of info packed into this book

I learned a lot from this book, most importantly how to mix water color with colored pencil and using water color pencils for a wash. The section on color theory was also enlightening. However, that being said, it could use some editing. There are a number of mistakes throughout the book.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book for Botanical Artists

This book is beautifully done with clear and precise instructions on how to render the beauty of nature surrounding us. Taking time to notice the details and then capturing them in watercolor pencils, can’t wait to be come confident with Wendy’s techniques.

[Hana "Nara" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this book because I was looking for a guide to draw leaves (yes, leaves are challenging for me) and I love the guides inside!
If you work with water-colour pencils and prefer warm tones, Wendy Hollender is probably the best mentor out there!

[Carolyn Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very impressed

This is just the book I have been searching for. I have wanted to learn botanical drawing and couldn't find a book that really showed how and now I'm on my way.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like the other books i reviewed in this category, I Wanted a great book on line drawing floral and had a lot of fun going through this on my iPad in procreate. Im sure I'll go back to it again when the mood strikes to do this kind of drawing

[John Majerle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to accurately illustrate botanicals.

[Arianna Boettger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.

Informative with beautiful drawings. Don’t let the amazing talent hinder you from trying the techniques in the book. This book has earned a permanent spot on my shelf!