Botanical Sketchbooking: A Meditative Approach

Botanical Sketchbooking: A Meditative Approach

“This is the end of my Domestika course. I hope I have inspired you to create some botanical illustrations in a very intuitive way. I also hope that during the process of botanical observation you found peace, serenity and wellness. I will review the different phases that you may follow to develop your final project: a unique creative botanical sketchbook. Explore the geometry and structure of plants. To draw a plant you need to understand it. The understanding comes from observation and comparison with what you already know. To accurately draw one species, it is necessary to highlight the specificities that make this plant immediately identifiable. You drew some basic diagrams of the plant architecture.

Then, improve your line technique, drawing with black fineliner for the contour drawing without any previous construction, leaf by leaf. Create your very own green chart without actually using any green pigment, mixing cobalt blue, ochre, green gold, indigo… This chart will help you to get the closest colors of the plant you are observing. Next, apply the line technique and color chart we previously studied to a detailed observation drawing of a succulent. Disconnect from your busy schedule to contemplate your model, to create a moment just for you, free of any commitment. This is what I call meditative drawing. Take your time, breath quietly and draw! You used bright colors for flowers, pushing the colors and the characteristics futher to focus on the singularity of the species, somewhere between caricature and realism. Go for bright shiny colors using watercolor, color pencils, color fineliners and a pinch of Gelly Roll. We explored a different technique to draw a cactus, capturing its shape first then the sharpness of its thorns. Create a botanical composition turning around the same flower and drawing it from different angles. Waiting a few days between your first drawing and your last one, you may witness the decay of your flower. Using this composition, create a pattern that you can print on fabric or wallpaper. I hope that you enjoyed the course and that you will keep creating some botanical illustrations playing with fineliners and watercolor. I can't wait to see your botanical sketchbook! I am impatient to discover which plant or flower inspired you and how you transformed your sketchbook into your personal space of creative investigations. I will do my best to review your projects and to give you some personal feedback, but please be patient, I might travel or work for commissions. You can also post images of your progress on Instagram using the hashtag #LapinDomestika. Remember that we will meet in the forum, where you will find inspiration and feedback from other students and where once a week, I will be answering all the questions you may have. Drawing is my way to understand my surroundings and interact with the world, this is my language. I hope you find your language too and that you have enjoyed the course. I encourage you to find your own style, your own voice and share it in the forum. And don't forget that the process is much more important than the final drawing. You will improve very quickly with regular practice. Keep sketching and relax! ”

Partial transcription of the video

“This is the end of my Domestika course. I hope I have inspired you to create botanical illustrations in a very intuitive way. I also hope that during the process of botanical observation, you found peace, serenity, and wellness. During this course, you have unleashed your creativity put your fineliners and watercolor to work, and created a unique botanical sketchbook. In order to achieve your final project, you first learned line techniques, to capture the geometry and structure of a plant. Then, drawing leaf by leaf, You discover your own path during this meditating process. Remember that ...”

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Course summary for: Botanical Sketchbooking: A Meditative Approach

• Level: Beginner
• 98% positive reviews (1394)
• 68791 students
• 4 units
• 24 lessons (5h 28m)
• 5 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Software

  Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  Botanical Illustration, Drawing, Sketchbook, Sketching, Traditional illustration, Watercolor Painting