Product Description

This bestselling botanical illustration title new in paperback. Devised by experienced teacher and award-winning artist Rosie Martin, this course is based on the botanical illustration course taught at the highly acclaimed Eden Project in Cornwall.Packed with practical information for illustrators of all abilities, this accessible guide uses simple instructions, easy-to-follow exercises and stunning illustrations throughout.A wide range of subjects is covered, from beautiful orchids and irises to more complex forms, such as pineapples and artichokes - including chapters on drawing white flowers and illustrating roots.This course guides the reader through basic drawing techniques, such as pencil drawing and tones and shadows, to the more advanced skills required for botanical illustration, from dissection and bisection to creating detail, texture and perspective. (word count c. 35,000 words)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12705 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

About the Author
Rosie Martin holds a Gold Medal from the RHS for her botanical watercolour painting, is a member of the Society of Botanical Artists and teaches a variety of art-based subjects, including botanical illustration, at home in the UK and abroad. Many of her students have gone on to win RHS medals in botanical art. Meriel Thurstan joined the Eden Project at its creation; she helped to create the Eden's Friends organization and produced its very first magazine. Meriel organizes the extremely successful annual Eden diploma course in botanical illustration. Her own botanical paintings hang in England, France and Australia and have become a popular highlight of each issue of Eden's Friends magazine. They both live in Cornwall. Reference title Botanical Illustration with the Eden Project hardback (9780713490053)

Customer Reviews

Absolutely superb
No wonder this book was voted Practical Art Book of The Year in 2007, it is a book to grace any artist's shelf and has become a firm favourite with me. There is a very good reason for this, I love to paint but I do not consider myself to be good at drawing. I have therefore, always opted for 'impressions' of flowers. I have tried many drawing course books, only to fail at almost every step. The big difference is that this book really works and at last I am proud at my drawing efforts.
This book is for all levels of botanical illustrators and it is full of practical information that is easy to apply to your own projects. Advice given includes how to set up a studio, mixing colour and composition. The steps are easy to follow - come on, if I can do it, you can. All the basics of drawing are here. Starting with pencil, this book takes you through the stages from basic skills to advanced techniques to complete works in colour. The finished illustrations in this book are exquisite and throughout the book is well-presented and easy to use.
If there is one book that can inspire you to illustrate, this is it. Worth every penny.

Excellent Learning Material
I have had several bouts at using course books to learn technique and have found most to be difficult and not very helpful. The artist always seems to go from point a to point b- from the drawing of the subject, with some comments about colour use to the final painting without adding the in between stages. This book, is just the oppostite. It is not a book of "demonstrations" to teach you how to paint by using someone elses method. What it does is give you guidelines, advice and inspiration, while giving lessons and tips on how to improve ones drawing in order to produce an outcome suitable to that persons stage of development. You learn to approach things in the right way to produce a good piece of work and to put forth your own creative abilitities. There is no step by step guidelines on colour or compostion but instead you are given advice on how to best approach these subjects through observation and time spent on the pursuit of becoming a competent botanical artist. As a result, you develop your own style and take the time to explore things such as compostion and paint colours making you in the end a much more knowledgeable, confident and competent artist. A book well worth the cost and thoroughly recommended by anyone wanting to have a go at drawing plants and flowers.

Help at your finger tips
A lovely book to keep beside you as you work on your painting, especially for those like me lacking in imagination, self confidence and courage to take a chance!