Naturalist Journaling with Watercolor
A course by Berta LlonchVisual Artist and Illustrator
A course by Berta Llonch, Visual Artist and Illustrator
Learn to illustrate insects and plants in watercolor and collect them in your own journal
Discover the joys of painting in a style that gives you total freedom and fluidity, drawing inspiration from everything around you. For visual artist and illustrator Berta Llonch, watercolor is the technique that truly allows her to be experimental, while nature is a never-ending source of ideas. She particularly loves painting insects because of their beautiful array of colors.
In this course, she teaches you how to create a naturalist journal made up of your own watercolor designs. She accompanies you in the study and analysis of your chosen insects and plants and helps you to artistically represent all the information on each page. If you want to learn more with Berta, check out her other course: Marine Universe Illustration in Watercolor.
What will you learn in this online course?
22 lessons & 25 downloads
Materials
2 minutes, 38 seconds
Wings and little bodies, antennae and legs: grasshoppers 1
19 minutes, 22 seconds
Wings and little bodies, antennae and legs: grasshoppers 2
19 minutes, 40 seconds
Wings and little bodies, antennae and legs: stick insect 1
14 minutes, 37 seconds
Wings and little bodies, antennae and legs: stick insect 2
15 minutes, 53 seconds
Flowers and plants: single flower
12 minutes, 21 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start by getting to know Berta Llonch a little better. She tells you how she fell in love with painting when she was little and how she ended up dedicating her career to this wonderful artform. She talks about books and artists that have influenced her and the driving forces behind her own creations.
Take a more detailed look at the material you need for the course. Then Berta goes on to teach you some great places to look for your own reference images for custom-building your diary and shows you some of her go-to places for taking pictures and igniting her inspiration.
Learn to paint different insects step-by-step, working with transparency and volume. Illustrate some flowers and look at the different ways of utilizing watercolors to achieve a wide variety of effects.
Now you've got to this point, get stuck into designing one of the pages of your journal. Berta guides you through the process of researching and illustrating a butterfly. Create a composition that vividly reflects everything you consider important about your protagonist.
Look at a simple way to bind the pages you've worked on so far to make a notebook. Finish up by creating the front cover and use drawings and your own typography to give your project a more personal touch.
What is this course's project?
Make a journal with drawings of plants and insects by employing different techniques.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone who wants to experiment with watercolor techniques and wants to learn to create their own notebook full of naturalist drawings.
Requirements and materials
No prior knowledge is necessary to take this course.
In terms of materials, you need watercolors, brushes of varying sizes, 100% cotton paper, masking tape, acrylics, a hairdryer, a board, glue, gray cardboard, silk paper, a pencil, and very fine black markers (0.05 to 0.1).
Reviews
- 29 days ago
A very nice and inspiring course – I recommend it! :-)
- 1 month ago
Increíble taller, lo estoy disfrutando muchísimo. Mil gracias!!!
- 2 months ago
Berta Llonck explains and demonstrates very well how to proceed. It’s a helpful and enjoyable course.
- 4 months ago
Gostei bastante do curso, em particular a composição das páginas e a parte da encadernação do diário.
- 8 months ago
Excelente la forma de enseñar, el paso a paso y la propuesta de proyectos a emplear
She's taken part in various group exhibitions in venues such as the drawing and illustration museum Museo ABC in Madrid, Wabi-Sabi gallery in Seville, and Madrid's EG gallery. She's also curated and taken part in creative projects such as the mural for the San Severiano church in Cádiz, US artist Sol Lewitt's mural, which is part of a permanent exhibition at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, and the publication of the illustrated album Mopi.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Presentation
- Influences
- U2
Materials and study of the parts of an insect
- Materials
- Where to find photos
- U3
Insects and flowers
- Wings and little bodies, antennae and legs: grasshoppers 1
- Wings and little bodies, antennae and legs: grasshoppers 2
- Wings and little bodies, antennae and legs: stick insect 1
- Wings and little bodies, antennae and legs: stick insect 2
- Flowers and plants: single flower
- Flowers and Plants: Pumpkin Flower 1
- Flowers and Plants: Pumpkin Blossom 2
- U4
Pages for our diary
- Butterfly Papilio polymnestor 1
- Butterfly Papilio polymnestor 2
- Plant Environment 1
- Plant environment 2
- Plant environment 3
- Plant environment 4
- Plant environment 5
- Last details
- U5
Binding
- Binding 1
- Binding 2
- Creating our cover
- FP
Final project
- Naturalist Journaling with Watercolor
What to expect from a Domestika course
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FAQs
A watercolor nature journal is a notebook where you illustrate and document insects, plants, and natural scenes by combining observation with creativity. It’s used to record discoveries, practice artistic techniques, and connect with nature in a personal and expressive way.
No professional experience is needed, but basic drawing or watercolor skills are recommended since the course is aimed at an intermediate level and explores detailed techniques and complex compositions.
To start, you’ll need watercolor paper (preferably cotton), brushes of various sizes, watercolor paints, pencil, eraser, glue for bookbinding, tissue paper, gold acrylic paint, and basic cutting and drying tools.
You’ll learn wet-on-wet, dry brush, glazing, color mixing, creating transparencies, scratching for details, and controlling volume and texture in insects and plants.
You’ll learn how to observe references, sketch, apply layers of color, create transparencies, and add fine details to wings, legs, flowers, and leaves, achieving realism and expressiveness in each illustration.
The course teaches you how to fold, align, and glue pages, reinforce the spine, add tissue paper inserts, and use traditional techniques to bind and decorate the cover of your nature journal.
Yes, you’ll learn how to find, select, and use your own photos or stock images to research and create precise, original illustrations of insects and plants.