Botanical Illustration from Life: A visual guide to observing, drawing and painting plants

by Isik Guner

Learn how to draw and paint flowers and plants—and explore the natural world around you!—in this step-by-step guide to botanical drawing and watercolor painting.

In this detailed and accessible botanical drawing guide, award-winning botanical artist, Işık Güner, shares her experiences of looking at wild species from around the world, how she does her research, and how she composes her illustrations from live specimens. In 6 sections, she guides you on your own journey so you can learn

• Discover different approaches ad techniques to botanical illustration.
• Search for, observe, select, and preserve plant subjects.
• Learn to draw from life, achieve different perspectives, and more!
• Get watercolor painting instruction, with insights on color mixing and techniques.
• Open your eyes to the beauty of a vast range of plant species.
• Find your own style, solve problems, and get inspiration from other artists!

Straddling the scientific and art worlds, Isik’s illustrations raise awareness of the valuable knowledge scientists have been researching and discovering for many years—and provide a wonderful inspiration for budding botanical artists.

Observe, draw, paint, explore, and master this wonderful art under Işık's careful guidance. Being inspired by the nature around you is the first step to becoming a botanical artist.

Genres: Art

208 pages, paperback

Published November 5, 2019

Reviews

[Brenda Greene]

Goodness Ilsik is meticulous. I followed a beginner's tutorial and it helped me get all of the angles and proportional details right. An analytical approach to drawing beautifully illustrated, which gave me quite a few "oh I get it now" moments. I didn't realise just how patient I had to be and how much thought goes into every line. The only tiny niggle I had was the lack of examples on what reference photos should look like (mine were useless) and how to incorporate your own style and different subjects once the basics were mastered. I'm sure Ilsik has more expressive styles apart from paint, so a few photos of that would be good. A book worth buying and not just for drawing plants.

[Elizabeth De Cicco]

I love this book. I am trying to do all of the tutorials and learning what I need to improve. Isik's technique is traditional and her explanations are very helpful. I have been doing botanical illustrations for years with a heavy, direct painting approach I learned from oil painting classes. This book is helping me learn to paint more transparently and slowly build up layers.

[Melissa Bishop]

Beautiful photography. A bit advanced for where I am in my art journey but still useful.

[Joanne Toft]

Great book if you are learning to draw and paint for detail in plants.