My Top 5 Favourite Instructional Art Books for Natural Science and Botanical Art

[@bitmaskable]

I have Isik Guner's "Botanical illustration from life: A visual guide to observing, drawing and painting plants", and it's a wonderfully illustrated guide to all aspects of botanical illustration, including how to collect plants, mixing paints, drawing delicate plant structures, etc. It contains many examples of her work broken down step by step, which are all gorgeous.

[@MelJennette]

I appreciate the video, but it would have been more helpful to do an actual flip through of the books. I can barely tell if they are what I am looking for. :-/

[@pibarrante6901]

Billy Showell's A-Z of flowers is a great book for beginning.. it provides instruction..but also provides outlines of each flower and the color recipes she used to complete the image. Anna Mason's Watercolor World provides you with 4 projects that increase in complexity ..and introduces her style of almost pointillism in wc. I like Botanical Illustration Course with the Eden Project as it has plenty of organized exercises which are used to illustrate various techniques..such as addition of graphite w wc.

[@cherylgiles9658]

Thank you.i am learning botanical watercolor for pleasure. This is exactly what I needed for reference materials.

[@satanadomine9743]

Great review. Thankyou very much!

[@gnostie]

Gurney's Color and Light is off the charts imo.

[@SuzanneLegault]

Great book review. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

[@mrshumancar]

I have the first book! I want to be an illustrator for arachnids, so I'm so happy to find your channel!

[@karenhart7169]

These are great suggestions! My favorite art book is Pat Weaver's Watercolor Simplified.

[@jennheibloem7469]

I use over and over the following 2 books- The Watercolourists Essential Notebook by Gordon Mackenzie and Watercolour Techniques with Pen and Ink by Claudia Nice, I liked your video and I enjoy your channel- Im an Australian beginner botanical artist

[@larryglatt2548]

Excellent information, thank you. Practice, practice, and practice. Test before doing,

[@begbrook123]

Thanks for this . I found it very helpful as a beginner in botanical drawing looking for some basic guides and resources.

[@jacqulynhilyard1561]

Great information and well presented; cheers from a new subscriber!

[@piefjep9508]

Thank you for this video. Great timing! I've been looking online for books that might be worth purchasing. Like you I prefer beautiful pictures over text. Nowadays there is so much valuable info online, so I'm not sure a book will be worth buying. I'll have a look at the Gurney light book. It's something I didn't look for because it's not botanical. He's a great artist and teacher.

[@LeeAngold]

I find that books/courses fill a different need than most online content. You can search online for specific techniques and information if you know what you're looking for, but as a beginner (or even experienced artist), you don't necessarily know what all the things you should search for are - for example, I know that my lighting and composition could use some work, but I wouldn't even think of some of the effects that James Gurney discusses in Colour and Light. A book or course isn't just a more experienced artist teaching you techniques that you know you need to work on, it's also a way for them to tell you which things you need to learn. The curriculum is just as important as the individual lessons.

[@piefjep9508]

@@LeeAngold Yes, I guess you are right. This kind of books are not available in the library or bookstore here, so buying one online is always a gamble. Thank you for your advise! Oh, and I love your amazing art!

[@bebseo3343]

Hello, I am Korean! I wanted to find a plant-related art book, but I was having a hard time because I didn't have much information. Thanks to your video, I got a lot of help. Thank you very much!! T_T♡

[@ShintoBroadcasting]

Hello Lee, Thank you for sharing! I am nowhere near your level when it comes to making art. Some of the books in yr top 5 are on my wishlist. I have both of the JML books you mention (as regards to birds, I saw a video of his recently in which he explains that he has changed his approach of drawing birds - instead of starting with the ovals he starts with the contour line indicating the flow from the head to the back. I am very much looking forward to the first book of Kateri Ewing: See Better Draw Better, which is out this week. Kateri is not a science illustrator but her realistic bird drawings and watercolor paintings are wonderful. And she is a wonderful teacher. And I have the 2 books by Anna Mason from the Uk. i recentlycame upon the channel of Aaron Blaise, tons of information on animal drawing. Where did you get your training in scientific illustration? Are there any online courses you could recommend?

[@LeeAngold]

Yes, I saw that gesture line video. I think it is very helpful because it guides you to placing the shapes of the bird correctly relative to each other. I'll have to check out Kateri Ewing's book! I don't have formal training in scientific illustration. I have an unrelated degree in civil engineering, and have taken a number of workshops and standalone courses. I'm still too scarred from my last round with academia, but maybe someday...

[@cherylgiles9658]

Karin de Bruijn I love Ana Masons books. I gave them as gifts and plan to my friend who is a watercolorist. Now that I am venturing into watercolor I want them for myself.

[@joycekowbelharvey4816]

Very helpful thank you.

[@StephenMarkTurner]

For nostalgia, back in the day I had and liked a few of those oversized Walter T Foster instruction books (I may still have the tree one). Not for botanical style of course, but anything by Stephen Quiller. I purchased a composition book 'The Simple Secret' which looks very good although I have not dived in. It is not about L and S shapes that sort of composition stuff, more in general about avoiding too exact a symmetry or repeat or whatever (varying the size, value, direction, edges, contrasts...).

[@c.elainekelly-petersen3043]

thank you👍💕😁

[@mariusmarius4832]

You are very lovely. Enough said.

[@tayranno2840]

You have a cute smile.

[@cherylgiles9658]

Heidi Willis on Udemy has a workshop for beginners in painting botanicals. Any reviews from this channel on offer? Thinking about taking but unsure.

[@LeeAngold]

I haven't tried Udemy at all, but Heidi Willis is an amazing artist. From what I've seen of her videos and online interactions she's also a great teacher!

[@vanessaboman8143]

I am learning through udemy at the moment, I found it a good starter.

[@pibarrante6901]

I took 2 of her magnolia classes. They were $15/or so each. They were worth THAT but not much more. Magnolias are easy to paint.. good place to start. But what i learned there, i found on youtube ..louise demassi.

[@thejoydecision724]

The Laws Guide is available in kindle edition. Do you think it would translate reasonably well into a kindle version (probably to be read on iPad)? And just as importantly I assume you would still get credit for affiliate link?

[@LeeAngold]

I don’t use a kindle but there are probably informative reviews for the kindle edition on Amazon. I get affiliate credit for any sales I refer after someone clicks on my link, even if they up buying something completely unrelated!

[@deviancorseir3607]

Why are you on the verge of crying lmao

[@analeigholdeworlde4178]

Thanks so much!