Expressive Floral Painting with Acrylic Paint
A course by Sonal Nathwani, Painter
Explore drawing and painting techniques to boost your illustration skills, creating botanical compositions with colored pencils, acrylics and crayons.
“Infinitely inspired by nature, I hope my signature abstract florals embrace the power of color, a free spirit, and the beauty of imperfection.”
Inspiration comes in many shapes, colors, and sizes. Painter Sonal Nathwani finds it sprinkled throughout nature, from a glistening meadow to a blossoming flower. You can see her passion for the natural world in her work for clients like Anthropologie, Target, SAMSUNG, and Marks & Spencer.
In this online course, learn how to compose floral illustrations using pencils, crayons, and acrylic colors. Discover creative techniques to capture the beauty of nature and conquer the blank page. Are you ready to unleash your artistic potential?
What will you learn in this online course?
14 lessons & 19 downloads
What's included in this course?
Meet Sonal Nathwani, a renowned artist, and your teacher for this course. She shares the creative journey that led her to become a painter, as well as her influences and sources of inspiration.
Get an overview of the materials you need, before starting on some illustration exercises. Sonal shows you some important concepts about composition and color theory.
After gathering ideas for inspiration, start drawing flowers and leaves–first with a graphite pencil and then with charcoal. With your primary sketch complete, add layers and depth with crayons and colored pencils.
Sonal then shows you how to tackle the background and sketch some basic lines with pencil. Learn to define the color selections and the main floral shapes with acrylic paints, and outline the details with crayons.
Once you’ve added the final touches, and your artwork is complete, Sonal shares her tips on how to promote your work on social media, as well as how to preserve it carefully.
- 98% positive reviews (177)
- 6,862 students
- 14 lessons (1h 40m)
- 19 additional resources (8 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English, Spanish (Latam), French, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish · Romanian · Indonesian
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Create a floral painting across two pages of your sketchbook
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone interested in improving their illustration techniques, from absolute beginners to experienced artists who want to develop a looser style of painting.
Requirements and materials
No previous experience required.
To take this course, you need a sketchbook, pencil, charcoal, colored pencils, acrylic paints, crayons, brushes, and real flowers.
Reviews
Sonal Nathwani
A course by Sonal Nathwani
Born in Malawi, Africa to Indian parents, Sonal Nathwani grew up in England and now lives with her family in Vienna, Austria. She’s drawn and painted for as long as she can remember, with only a short pause while she studied finance at university. Her love of art was rekindled by an opportunity to study at the renowned Charles H. Cecil studios in Florence, Italy. This pivotal experience ultimately led her to leave a career in finance to pursue her passion for painting.
She now spends her time painting and creating art for various markets and companies including Minted, Artfully Walls, Hallmark, Marks & Spencer, Anthropologie, Samsung, as well as for private collections worldwide. She also enjoys teaching small groups in her studio. In the past, she’s collaborated with florists and led floral painting workshops in Italy and the USA.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Introducing Sketchbook Florals
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Materials
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The Importance of Keeping Sketchbooks
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Color
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Composition
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U3
Bringing the Flowers to the Paper
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Drawing Flowers and Leaves in Pencil
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Drawing with Charcoal
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Crayons on a Colored Background
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U4
Developing the Project
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Preparing the Background Color
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Pencil Sketching the Composition
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Choosing the Colors
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Painting the Flowers and Leaves with Acrylics
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Adding Details with Crayons and Colored Pencils
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FP
Final project
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Botanical Illustration of Floral Acrylic Paintings
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Yes, this course is designed for beginners and guides you step-by-step through floral painting techniques using acrylics and mixed media.
You’ll need acrylic paints, sketchbook paper, graphite and colored pencils, crayons, brushes, and optionally water-soluble crayons and ink pens.
You’ll learn to sketch flowers, mix acrylic colors, create layered floral paintings, use expressive brushstrokes, and combine pencils, crayons, and digital tools for dynamic botanical art.
Absolutely! The course covers basic acrylic techniques and builds foundational skills for those new to painting.
Yes, you’ll explore both realistic botanical drawing and expressive, abstract approaches to floral painting.
Yes, the course teaches techniques for painting colorful backgrounds and integrating them into your floral compositions.
You’ll learn color theory, how to mix primary and secondary colors, create pastels, neutrals, and achieve a harmonious palette for floral painting.
The course is very poor. Not enough information is given about the materials. Where can I buy the sketchbooks with colored sheets. On white, the course has no effect. Disappointing.
Great course!! Beautiful flowers!!
İlham verici bir kurs , çok sevdim
good!!
I really enjoyed this course. Sonal was a very good teacher, clear and understandable instructions. It is a course I will come back to in the future.