Illustration Techniques for Contemporary Botanical Art

Illustration Techniques for Contemporary Botanical Art

“Hey, you have reached the end of my course! Well done and I hope you've enjoyed learning about how to use mixed media to portray emotional landscapes with botanical elements. I've really enjoyed this journey. I hope you have too and were able to learn a great deal! For me, it was important to convey how an emotional relationship with your surroundings can be mirrored in your illustration. This in turn can and should result in an emotional attachment to your work, of course. Therefore, the goal here surpasses just illustrating nicely with mixed media, it is about how the practice evokes your inner world. It's now time to work on your project. This could mean finishing the illustration you started by completing the course tasks or making a brand new project! Either way, I strongly suggest you take the time to gather inspiration and make a unique project of your own. Make sure to keep track of your progress with different pictures of each step. It'd be great if you could also explain the choices you've made along the way and tell us if you have any doubts. This will help me guide you better if you need advice. To recap, here are the five main steps to create your project: The Motif To begin with, carefully choose the things you want to portray in your work. Use the techniques I showed you to find the right aspect of your objects. The images you take with your phone can serve as a great reference tool. The Sketchbook Experiment with different media in your sketchbook. I taught you about colors, textures, techniques, and composition—all of which are important when creating a project with mixed media. The Composition Prepare the composition for the A3 piece. Prepare your workplace. Then, attach the piece to the table with tape and glue. The next step is to sketch the final composition of the painting. The Ink and Watercolor Stage Time to put all those practice exercises to work! Use inks, watercolor, pencils, and finally gouache to create the beautiful illustration. When it's all dry and ready, de-mask your piece.

Documentation Finally, scan, digitize, and edit your piece in Photoshop. This way, you can archive and present your piece online. I'm super excited to see what beautiful things you have created! Upload your project in the forum by clicking on the link "Create Your Project" and talk to your fellow students about the creative process. What are the emotional aspects that you have implemented in your work? I will also be there to give feedback and answer your questions. Thanks again for taking part in this course and I will see you in the forum. Bye! ”

Partial transcription of the video

“ Final Project Hi, we've reached the end of my course. Thank you for staying. It was a great pleasure to share all my tricks and knowledge with you. The point of this course was basically to give you some tools to experiment and to analyze nature in a way that it's coming from you, from your intimate perception. I would also like to tell you that things don't have to be strict and there is no rule, there is no right or wrong. My approach here is not to teach pure botanical illustration. It's more about experimenting and going through media and also let the media guide you to the final resu...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Illustration Techniques for Contemporary Botanical Art

• Level: Beginner
• 100% positive reviews (24)
• 853 students
• 4 units
• 18 lessons (4h 25m)
• 4 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Areas

  Botanical Illustration, Fine Arts, Gouache Painting, Traditional illustration, Watercolor Painting