This page is about the education, advice and aids relating to the illustration of plants to scientific standards.
​
It includes reference to:
  • Books about botany and botanical illustration from a scientific perspective
  • Scientific Botanical Illustration: Summary of Tips and Techniques - ​Basic instruction on what to do and what not to do when illustrating plants to scientific standards. Base on a variety of sources including:
    • Margaret Flockton Award guidelines
    • Walter Hood Fitch's Instruction for Botanical Drawing
    • Lucy Smith
    • Stella Ross Craig
  • ​Practical tips and techniques for botanical illustration
    • dissection and the study of form and structure of plants
    • drawing aids which promote accuracy in measurement and rendering in scientific illustration
    • media for rendering botanical illustrations - covering pen and ink and graphite
    • botanical aids - relating to the identification and understanding of plants
  • Organisations providing support for scientific illustration
  • Commentary - articles about the history of scientific botanical illustration and the development of contemporary Flora
Picture
Lucy Smith producing scientific botanical illustrations for botanists at Kew Gardens
Scientific botanical illustrations depict a particular plant, showing all the necessary features that distinguish it from other plant species.
Working As A Scientific Botanical Illustrator Part 1: Taking Instructions From A Botanist | Lucy Smith
Banner image: A Magnolia species: flowering stem with labelled floral segments, fruit and seed. Coloured etching by G. D. Ehret, c.1737, after himself.. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY

Books about Botany and Botanical Illustration - from a Scientific Perspective
​

Just tap the image or the title underneath to go straight to relevant page on this website.
Below you will find links to the two pages I've created which list the books I think you will find very helpful.
​While I hope you find the content on this page useful, it's very much the case that there are certain books which can be very helpful to all those wishing to understand more about botany and a scientific approach to botanical illustration.  
These have been written by practising botanists, scientific illustrators and botanical illustrators working regularly with botanists.

Thoughts on the scientific illustration of plants
​

Every time we draw a plant we are making judgements about what we are depicting. With botanical knowledge, we are able to highlight the most important features of a plant, get rid of any detail that is not important, and reconstruct a specimen. You have a responsibility when you are working for the scientists on specimens because you need to show the absolute truth. Accuracy of scale is very, very important, everything is measured and we make sure that the colour is true to life.
Lucy Smith, botanical illustrator at Kew Gardens
Anyone wanting experience in these matters must encounter the plants as shoots newly emerged from the earth, plants in their prime and plants in their decline. For someone who has come across the shoot alone cannot know the mature plants, nor if he has seen only the ripened plants can he recognise the young shoot at all
​From the preface of Dioscorides' 'Materia Medica' 
Quoted in the preface to Medieval Herbals the Illustratative Tradition by Minta Collins
Botanical Illustration is a genre of art that endeavours to faithfully depict and represent the form, colour and detail of a plant, identifiable to species or cultivar level. As a technical discipline, botanical illustration emphasizes the depiction of accurate information, documenting the anatomical and functional aspect of a plant throughout its life cycle. The best botanical illustration successfully combines scientific accuracy with visual appeal. It must portray a plant with the precision and level of detail for it to be recognised and distinguished from another species. ​
RHS Botanical Illustration | Exhibitor Factsheet 2020
Scientific illustrations are critical for differentiating species
Guild of Natural Science Illustrators
The main goal of botanical illustration is not art, but scientific accuracy. It must portray a plant with the precision and level of detail for it to be recognized and distinguished from another species.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Scientific illustration of plants is an important aspect of the larger realm of botanical art, defined by its purpose as an aid to the study and classification of plants.
American Society of Botanical Artists
This is a video by the Smithsonian Institute, featuring Alice Tangerini talking about her work as a scientific botanical illustrator.

Scientific Botanical illustration
​SUMMARY of TIPS and TECHNIQUES
​

What to do
​

  • if working for a botanist, find out exactly what needs to be shown ​in a highly detailed black and white drawing in pen and ink
  • record what specimens should be used/portrayed
  • BEFORE you start:
    • identify the size of image required, particularly if this needs to be larger and then reduced for reproduction
    • decide what scale to draw (if not 1:1) 
  • portray plant morphology and character accurately 
  • include all those aspects required for correct identification (you may well need help from a botanist - do not be afraid to ask!)
  • draw on mylar (or equivalent polyester film/plastic sheet) as this eliminates problems in relation to the background
  • Use one medium only as this is easiest to reproduce for scientific journals
  • render tone and texture in such a way that it can be reproduced accurately
  • place different aspects of the subject within the four lines of the picture plane in such a way as to create a pleasing image in aesthetic terms and one where emphasis relates to importance in relation to the portrayal of the plant
  • place dissections carefully within the image. Think about their order and relative impact in different placements
  • use scale bars to inform. This then allows the size of an aspect of the plant to be compared to a precise unit of measurement. It also means no information is lost of a reproduction of the image is larger or smaller than the original.
  • use handwriting rather than mechanical lettering on a hand drawn image; you may need to develop skills in consistent hand lettering
  • make lettering large enough to read easily (e.g. when reduced for reproduction) and small enough for it to be unobtrusive. Think "small and neat". Practice lettering and find a style which is consistent with the scientific nature of the illustration.
  • Make your signature consistent across all the illustrations you produce
  • if you include the date the convention is day/month/year.

Pointers on what NOT to do
​

  • Fail to consider requirements in relation to reproduction
  • Fail to listen to and/or grasp what the client / botanist and/or publication needs the illustration to do
  • Omit characteristics which are critical for correct identification and/or fail to include enough botanical detail to describe the subject accurately
  • Include too much botanical detail so that the image is swamped and difficult to read
  • Do NOT use pencil for illustrations intended for publication. Pen and ink is preferable as it reproduces better. 
  • Do NOT include too much dark tone which may not reproduce well
  • Do NOT render detail too fine or too light so it is incapable of reproduction
  • Do NOT obscure features or details due to drawing technique or lack of expertise or unfamiliarity with the plant
  • Avoid line work which is uneven
  • Avoid styles of shading which are inconsistent
  • Avoid the use of lines or dots to cover a space. Render the plant and just the plant.
  • Avoid the use of multipliers (e.g. x3) to describe scale. A reproduction may be larger or smaller than the original image which then renders the scale (and the drawing) inaccurate.
  • Eliminate flourishes from lettering - they are distracting and add nothing to the content
  • Do NOT use mechanical lettering for labels. Such use is inappropriate on a hand drawn image
  • Do NOT include a large signature - it should always be small, neat and never ever distract from the illustration

Margaret Flockton Award
​

The Margaret Flockton Award is devoted to the promotion of scientific botanical illustration as opposed to botanical art. ​
A serious botanical drawing is a scientific statement and precision and accuracy are essential.
Judges comments on submissions for the Margaret Flockton Award
​The organisers provide guidelines and feedback for those entering the competition on the website.

A Guide to Botanical Illustration - for the Margaret Flockton Award for excellence in scientific botanical illustration.
The Guide expands on the criteria for excellent botanical illustration. Also study the Judges comments about the reasons why illustrations failed to win awards.
​
...the evaluation of entries is based on the following criteria:

  • 1) accurate interpretation and portrayal of plant characters and diagnostic features noted in the botanical description
  • 2) technical merit
  • 3) reproducibility
  • 4) composition
  • 5) artistic merit
Picture
Winner of the Margaret Flockton Award 2017: Palms of New Guinea Illustration - of sp. nov Calamus pintaudii by Lucy T Smith (for botanist Bill Baker at Kew Gardens)

Walter Hood Fitch's Instructions for Botanical Drawing - A Synopsis
​

a knowledge of botany, however slight, is of great use in enabling the artist to avoid the errors which are occasionally perpetrated in respectable drawings and publications
Walter Hood Fitch
Walter Hood Fitch wrote eight articles for The Gardeners' Chronicle in 1869. The article remind me of Ruskin's Elements of Drawing in the sense that there are nuggests of wisdom cloaked in an awful lot of words.

What follows are my words summarising the instructions for botanical drawing provided by Walter Hood Fitch.

​I've also included references to websites where you can read the original. I've not followed the order of his comments and have tried to highlights clear sub-sets eg on shading.

All quotations below are by Walter Hood Fitch
Picture
Drawing of Gymnogramme trifoliata (1862) by Walter Hood Fitch
REFERENCE:
What is a strictly botanical drawing?​​
A strictly botanical drawing generally represents but one or two individual plants and they must be equally correctly drawn and coloured
Botanical Drawing - Part 2

Recommended art materials
  • use a smooth paper - allows finer lines and smoother washes of colour
  • an H pencil - use for delicate colours such as white flowers
  • an F pencil use for leaves
Dried specimens vs direct observation
  • avoid indicating a drawing was done from a dried specimen
  • sketching living plants is "merely a species of copying"
  • creating a drawing from a dried specimen is the ultimate test of ability to create a botanical drawing
Backgrounds
  • strictly botanical drawings seldom have a background
Shading
  • shading in 'strictly botanical' drawings should be just enough to give a form to the parts
  • if drawing on a white background, only shade enough to give a suggestion of form
  • if including a background, all shades require to be proportionally deeper than if you were drawing on white paper
  • lines of shading should follow the direction of veins and never be made in the direction of the mid-rib
  • shading should be faint if shading with a black or brown pencil and no colour is to be added
  • in general, do not attempt to use shading to supply colour
  • dark-coloured fruits or stems may be tinted and shaded deeper to good effect
Translucency
  • transparency of lowers may be slightly rendered
  • do not attempt to render any translucency in leaves
Picture
Giant Waterlily, Victoria amazonica - by Walter Hood Fitch (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Drawing stems 
  • never use a ruler
  • practice drawing parallel lines e.g. sketch grasses
  • draw a faint outline of the full length of leafy stems or branches at the correct thickness
  • mark how the leaves spring from the stem
  • note the shape of the stem - whether square, round, winged
Drawing Leaves
  • Draw the lower leaves first if leaves are more or less erect to the stem
  • Draw the upper leaves first if leaves are reflexed (i.e. bent backward or downward)
  • Serrated leaves - draw the serrations before you draw the veins​
  • Lobed leaves - faintly indicate the lobes then draw the ribs and veins first
  • Digitate leaves - indicate the petiole and midribs first to make positioning the leaflets easier
  • Large pinnate leaves - faintly sketch the rachis and the points where the leaflets spring, put in the midribs first, define the leaflets last​
Picture
Vertical Leaves = Illustration of Galanthus elwesii by WH Fitch in Curtis Botanical Magazine 1875. Plate 6166
Leaves have been subjected to more bad treatment by the draughtsman than perhaps any other portion of the vegetable kingdom; they have been represented, or rather misrepresented in all kinds of impossible positions.  Numerous are the tortures to which they have been subjected:  dislocated or broken ribs, curious twists, painful to behold - even their wretched veins have not escaped; and all these errors in perspective arise from inattention to the simple fact, that in a curved leaf, showing the under side, the midrib should be continuous, and the veins should spring from the midrib.   
Botanical Drawing - Part 3

Leaves in perspective
  • avoid errors of perspective - do not twist or contort the leaf
  • the mid-rib should be continuous in a curved leaf showing its under side
  • veins should spring from the mid-rib
  • treat a leaf as if it is skeletonised (make studies of skeletal leaves)
  • use a paint outline to represent the leaf in perspective
  • alter leaves as if they were skeletonised (ie continue the outline so you can see the whole leaf)
  • note the angle between veins and the mid-rib and the distances between veins
  • for scientific purposes, draw a leaf as if cut across to demonstrate its thickness
Picture
Banksia nobilis (Golden Dryandra) by Walter Hood Fitch (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Hairs and spines
  • render hairs which are obvious on a plant
  • note the general form (e.g. glandular or stellate) and angle of hairs
Picture
Victoria Regia : or, Illustrations of the Royal water-lily, in a series of figures chiefly made from specimens flowering at Syon and at Kew by Walter Fitch; with descriptions by Sir W.J. Hooker.
Botanical Drawing - Part 4

Drawing Flowers
  • ​most common error - not placing the flower correctly on the stem or peduncle. To avoid the error - lightly sketch the stem coming through the flower to aid the correct placement of divisions or petals
  • another common fault - making all the flowers face in the same direction; for scientific purposes we need to see a front and a side view
  • another fault - commonly made when drawing from dried specimens - is making uniformity of aspect unnatural e.g. representing all or most of  the flowers in a panicle or mass, with one particular division of the corolla directed towards the spectator
  • show the flower in a variety of positions
  • when drawing side views the tube of a flower needs to correspond to its throat or eye; draw a faint outline of the tube into the flower
Picture
The Daffodil - drawing a faint outline of the tub into the flower
Botanical Drawing - Part 5

Composite flowers - like the daisy
  • first faintly define them, then subdivide by lines radiating from the centre, as a guide for the direction of the outer florets. (otherwise the florets will twist or curve to one side or the other)
  • Scientific drawings: mark the number of florets and number of teeth at the tips; note the direction of the florets and whether spreading or relaxed
  • four-petaled flowers eg wallflower: draw a square or circle around the petals then divide into four parts
  • Pendulous flowers eg Fuchsia: note the curve formed by the peduncle or stalk. Indicate the flower stalk by a faint line through the flower to achieve the correct axis
  • how to fit a corolla onto its tube: see Fig Gii
Picture
composite flowers
Picture
The Corolla and the tube
Sketching living plants is merely a species of copying, but dried specimens test the artist s ability to the uttermost; and by drawings made from them would I be judged as a correct draughtsman.
Botanical Drawing - Part 6

The Drawing of Orchids
  • ​there are no flowers more varied in size, form, and colour, than those of Orchids 
  • impossible to lay down any rules for sketching these protean plants
  • ​if the structure is not correctly rendered in a drawing it is worse than useless, as no colouring will redeem it 
  • the parts of the flower consist of a germen, or ovary, surmounted by three sepals, two petals, a lip, and a column 
  • Orchid flowers are very irregular in the relative size of their parts, and especially the lip. The best way is to measure one part by another.
  • ​if a front view of a large flower be given, a perpendicular line should be made, or imagined, through the centre, and also transverse ones, as guides for the pose of the petals, etc. 
  • How to test the relative size of a front and side view: 
    • there is a liability to make the side views too large
    • be guided by the front flowers in his drawing
  • To correctly illustrate the junction of the flower-stalk and column, carry the outline of the germen and flower-stalk through to the back 
Owing to the great variation in form pre- sented by some species, if the artist render correctly any specimen put in his hands, he is liable to have his veracity called into question, and, if any abnormal growth come in his way, he had better not be rash enough to represent what may be regarded as impossible by some authority who has made Orchids his speciality. It might tend to upset some favourite theory, or possibly to destroy a pet genus―an act of wanton impertinence which no artist endowed with a proper respect for the dicta of men of science would ever wilfully be guilty of! 
Botanical Drawing - Part 7

Dissections TO BE CONTINUED
Botanical Drawing - Part 8

Shading of Plants
  • strictly botanical drawings seldom have a background; only shade as much as necessary to give a sense of form to parts
  • if the drawing is not to going to be coloured, only use faint shading; do not shade to suggest colour
  • dark coloured fruits or stems made be tinted and shaded deeper to good effect
  • pencil shading lines should always follow the direction of the veins of a lead and should never follow the direction of the midrib
  • do not attempt to render the translucency of leaves
shading of leaves petals and stem
The shading of leaves, petals and stem

Stella Ross-Craig on botanical illustration
​

Stella Ross-Craig (1906 - 2006) - described by Wilfred Blunt as ‘unrivalled’ in her field.
  • 1929 - began work at the Royal Botanic Garden Kew as a botanical illustrator in 1929
  • 1949-1970: chief artist on Curtis's Botanical Magazine from 1949 until 1970.
  • 1973: completed her initiative to draw all flowering plants growing naturally in the British Isles in pen and ink. Drawings of British Plants covers 1,306 plates in eight volumes plus an index.  The drawings for each species cover one page.
  • 1995: had her first botanical art exhibition.
  • 1999 - received the Kew Award medal.
  • 2001-2. - A small selection of her drawings were exhibited at Inverleith House by RBGE
  • 2003 - 55 of the originals for Drawings of British Plants were exhibited at Kew Gardens Gallery
  • 2006 - died age 99. ​
‘When making a watercolour painting of a living specimen, I first study the plant from all angles—as a sculptor might study a head when making a portrait—to grasp its character . . . 
The sketch completed, I work up the "portrait" in detail, beginning with the fugitive parts such as quickly opening buds. Plants that change or wither rapidly present a very difficult problem to which there is only one answer—speed; and speed depends upon the immediate perception of the essential characteristics of the plant, a thorough knowledge of colours and colour-mixing, and a perfect co-ordination of hand and eye.
​Drawing from dried specimens has both advantages and disadvantages. The artist gains of course, in not having to work at high pressure for a short period; but on the other hand there is difficulty in creating the illusion of three dimensions. This can only be overcome by a thorough knowledge of botany and perspective.
Stella Ross-Craig - in a letter seen by Wilfrid Blunt
LEARNING POINTS:
​
The importance of:
  • viewing a plant in the round
  • identification of essential charactertistics
  • being able to draw quickly
  • perfect co-ordination of hand and eye
  • depth of knowledge in terms of colours and colour-mixing
  • focusing first on what is likely to change quickly
  • understanding of botany and perspective to convert 2D to 3D

Lucy T. Smith on scientific botanical illustration
​


​Presentation prepared and delivered by Lucy Smith, freelance botanical artist
at 'The Making of Modern Botany' Conference at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. 30 June 2017.
DOWNLOAD a FREE copy of the presentation via Lucy Smith "Joseph Hooker and his Artist Walter Hood Fitch: the continuing tradition of botanist and artist collaboration". Joseph Hooker bicentenary conference, RBG Kew. from Virginia Mills
ABSTRACT: For over forty years, botanical artist Walter Hood Fitch worked for both William and Joseph Hooker as chief illustrator for Kew publications. His collaboration with Joseph Hooker began before Joseph Hooker even worked at Kew – illustrating his journals and publications while he travelled - and continued under Joseph Hooker’s editorship of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine and Icones Plantarum. The legacy of Fitch’s close collaboration with the Hookers is an outstanding contribution to botanical art. Today, botanical artists continue to produce illustrations for Kew’s publications, all of which are added to a vast archive of artworks that stretches back to Fitch’s contributions and beyond. In this talk I will show how botanical artists continue to work with Kew’s botanists for science and horticulture, and how Fitch’s work still inspires us.
REFERENCE:
Lucy Smith shares about her work as a scientific botanical illustrator who works for the botanists at Kew Gardens on a regular basis.
Below are two articles from a new series about real life as a professional scientific botanical illustrator on her website.
Working as a Scientific Botanical Illustrator
Other articles about Lucy and her work include:You can follow her work on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/palmsmithy/​
LEARNING POINTS:
  • type of publication determines:
    • size of illustration (find this out out first!)
    • level of detail required
  • scientific botanical illustrations resize plants for illustration - depending on the size of the plants e.g. Lucy illustrates Palms and usually sizes illustrations to be one-third to one-half smaller than the original size of the plant features
  • communication is critical to a good end result
  • essential to meet botanist and understand their brief and record what is required
  • find out about any relevant conventions for illustrating particular plants
  • handle herbarium specimens VERY carefully - many are irreplaceable
  • create sketchbook pages for preliminary drawings and notes
  • always look at the large parts of a plant first to work out how to fit them within the required format
  • work out compositions by laying dried specimens on a sheet of paper of the right format
  • use proportional dividers - set to the right ratio - for accurate measuring of reduced size prior to drawing
  • draw lightly on paper using a 2H pencil
  • work from placement to design to detail
  • draw the leaflets, inflorescence and infructescence
Other Publications
​
As you scan Tangerini drawings online you’ll notice that they are mostly black and white with little shadow. They follow illustrative styles dating back hundreds of years. Stems and some leaves are shown with parallel lines to indicate venation (veins). Hairy plants are drawn with stipples or small dots and specks. The light source is customarily from the upper left-hand corner of the drawing sheet.
Botanical Illustrator Alice Tangerini 
Understanding the Flowering Plants: A Practical Guide for Botanical Illustrators
by Anne Bebbington
​This NEW book covers:
  • What is a flowering plant - and what are the major groups in the plant kingdom
  • the proper approach to botanical study
  • tools and techniques - including how to use photography and scanners
  • the structure and living processes of a flowering plant
  • the structure, arrangement and attachment of leaves
  • root features and systems
  • lifespans and reproductive life - including asexual reproduction
  • how to examine a flower - including floral formulae
  • the genetics and pollination involved in sexual reproduction
  • fruits and seeds and their dispersal
  • the structure and germination of seeds
  • features of winter twigs and bud structures​

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd Publication date: 23 Oct. 2014
RECOMMENDED
Average Customer Rating out of 5 stars:
  • in UK: 5.0 based on 7 customer reviews
  • in USA: 5.0 based on 2 customer reviews​​

BUY THIS BOOK​​

MEDIA for Rendering Scientific Botanical Illustrations
​

Rendering in Pen and Ink
​

Most scientific botanical illustrators use pen and ink for their botanical illustrations.

Pencil is often used first to get the drawing right, with the pen and ink being used to strengthen the line and make it clearer when it is reproduced or displayed. The who are very experienced in the use of pen - and have planned and plotted their composition - can start to draw using pen alone.

Pens you can use include:
  • a technical drawing pen
  • disposable permanent ink pens
  • dip pens

The techniques which need to be mastered include:
  • line - used in a very precise way.
  • varying the weight of line
  • hatching - to create tone
  • Hatching on a diagonal
  • contour hatching
  • stipple (lots of dots) to render tone
  • dots and dashes
See also Botanical Illustration Tips: Pen and Ink
This covers:
  • Why is pen and ink used for botanical illustration
  • Pen and ink techniques
  • The size of a pen and ink drawing
  • The surface of a pen and ink drawing
REFERENCE:
This is a video by Rogério Lupo - Ilustração Científica - about his process of rendering pen nib and ink botanical illustrations. 
My method for rendering scientific botanical illustrations is still quite handcrafted, remaining away from digital systems, which are welcome though when it's time to scan the drawing and add scales, captions etc. But that's how I can work better on the composition, and after all this is still handier and faster than what I would get using some software. Suggestion: watch it in a good wide monitor, full screen in order to see details. Rogério Lupo 

Rendering in graphite

“you must focus on structure, and through your pencil bring it back to life, straightening out folded stems and leaves, bringing back curves and twists, adding a source of light to enliven the surface.”
Alice Tangerini comments on drawing from dried plant material
Graphite pencil can be used for:
  • roughing out illustrations on tracing paper
  • producing quick studies in the field
  • drawing detailed aspects of a plant accompanying a painted study
  • detailed renderings of plants in their own right

Graphite usually relies on shading to achieve tonal depth and for that reason might not be chosen for scientific illustrations which are going to be reproduced.

Rogerio Lupo's guidebook below provides a lot of information for those interested in rendering in graphite.
See also Video Tips - Pencil Drawing
This page covers
  • basics around use of a graphite pencil (e.g. brands, pencil sharpener)
  • basics of drawing using a pencil (e.g. drawing armatures)
  • botanical drawings using pencil
  • botanical subjects in pencil
REFERENCE:
BELOW is the Graphite for Scientific Illustrations - Supplement to the free Guidebook with English subtitles ​
by Rogerio Lupo, Brazilian winner of the Margaret Flockton Award in 2010 and 2013.  
(kindly reviewed by Bobbi Angell, American Botanical Illustrator).
​
PLUS a video lesson which aims to support the study and practices of the Guidebook: Graphite and its Possibilities Applied to Scientific Illustrations.
Click the above link to go to Slideshare where this document can be downloaded for free

Botanical Illustration - Dissection
​

Dissection can be a little daunting. You have been looking at flowers for a long time, and because you have been drawing and painting them you have a head start on understanding what you see under the scope, but you may have some preconceived ideas that you need to overcome.
Dick Rauh
REFERENCE:

ASBA provides three articles relating to Dissection. They rework the same messages.
Other articles about dissection:
Picture
Plantae Selectae - magnolia dissection

​Botanical illustration - Drawing Tools and Aids
​

There are a number of tools and techniques which assist with:
  • seeing accurately
  • precise measurement
  • conveying measurements on an illustration
  • rendering tone accurately
TECHNICAL AIDS | SCALE, MAGNIFICATION, MEASUREMENT AND SCALE BARS

Measuring is VERY important to botanical illustration. Hence the need to pay attention to scale and how to resize appropriately and draw accurately.
​
identifying a plant is based on all aspects of the plant as exhibited on the exterior and interior.
  • The smaller distinguishing characteristics are often identified through the use of a microscope (or a magnifier/loupe in the field).  
  • Illustrations always include a precise scale bar to indicate the extent of magnification.​​
Biological drawings of newly described or revised species are expected to represent the type specimen with greatest possible accuracy.
Outlining Species: Drawing as a Research Technique in Contemporary Biology
MEASUREMENT

​Plants are usually drawn at a 1:1 scale.
​However:
  • drawing large plants for reproduction may be done smaller - and drawings need to be smaller than life size
  • parts of a plant may need to be magnified to show their structure and form clearly. Drawing small features for reproduction may be done bigger - often 1.5 x the size of the plate so that it reproduces better when printed
Tools you will need include:
  • a ruler
  • dividers
  • a device with smaller measurements for measuring small items precisely. (Rosemay Wise suggests a slide backed by graph paper as a useful tool)
REFERENCE:
​
MAGNIFICATION

There are various routes to seeing more accurately. You can use various technical drawing aids for magnification
  • magnifiying glasses
  • prescription glasses
  • loupes
  • linen testers (see below)
  • microscopes

At the same time it is of paramount importance that you pay attention to maintaining your eye health. If you ruin your eyes you won't be able to draw a thing!
REFERENCE:
SCALE AND SCALE BARS
  • different parts of a plant may need to be drawn at different scales - and these need to be indicated through the use of scale bars / indicators
  • Scale bars must be precise, informative and visible but discrete. They represent one standard unit of measurement and MUST INCLUDE the unit of measurement.  
  • Using the a simple multiple notation (e.g. x3) was a method used in the past BUT is no longer considered good practice. This is because an image may be reproduced at different sizes at different times and the relationship to the original measurement is then lost.  Any change in size on publication (expansion or reduction) renders the use of a simple multiple meaningless.  
Note: Artists I know have had feedback that the use of the multiple notation on an RHS Exhibit contributed to them not receiving a higher grade of medal.
Use of scale bars, whilst not mandatory, is preferred.
Great care should be taken in giving the correct scale of each feature. If possible, avoid using multipliers eg. 'x3' or 'x0.5' to indicate the size of features, as this becomes meaningless if the drawing is used in a publication and printed at a different size; the use of a scale bar is accurate regardless of changes to the size of the image.
A Guide to Scientific Illustration | Margaret Flockton Award
REFERENCE:
  • Scale Bars (pdf) | Dianne Sutherland - about the use of Scale Bars in a botanical illustration
OPTICAL AIDS / MAGNIFICATION
​
To be developed.....
Magnifier: Linen Tester
A Linen Tester was designed so that quality assessors could count the number of threads within a precise measurement of woven cloth. At the top is a strong magnifier and at the bottom is a glass disc with a precise measurement scale.

They're also very useful for botanical inspection and illustration

This Linen Tester is made of metal and folds flat. Reviews indicate it is made of metal and a quality product so the hinge should not wear out. They can last for years. This one provides a magnification of 6.

You can also buy Linen Testers with higher magnification - or in larger sizes but typically with reduced levels of magnification.
TECHNIQUES | LABELLING, LETTERING & SIGNATURES
​
TIPS:
  • Consider where your labels will go when working out the composition - labelling should never be an afterthought and should never be squashed
  • Consider the space available and the number of characters when calculating the 'font' size for the letters
  • Write out the label away from the drawing if you want to see if it will fit
  • Use a stencil if you have not practised hand lettering
  • Signatures:
    • be consistent over time.
    • Think about how you want to sign your drawings
    • Consider the use of initials or the use of a monogram
Signature: The signature should be neat, small and consistent, with the year noted.
​A Guide to Scientific Illustration | Margaret Flockton Award
REFERENCE:
  • Labelling (pages 37-40) in Illustrating in Black and White by Gretal W Dalby-Quenet (Chelsea Physic Florilegium Society)
TECHNIQUES FOR SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION
​
GNSI Techniques Sheets II
The techniques presented in this publication form the basis of 90% of the traditional techniques used for decades by prominent science illustrators. Available by digital download from GNSI for a very reasonable price ($15)

IAPI Tip Cards currently available (Drawing)
  • Grey Tip Cards (Illustration) cover techniques related to developing and completing an illustration
    • Constructing a Scale Bar On one side the instructions are step by step, on the other from first principles.
    • Setting Up and Using a Dissecting Microscope Instructions generalized to be suitable for any make of dissecting microscope, with a few points about drawing from the microscope.
    • Habit Drawings What to show on habit drawings of the whole plant, to complement illustrations of detached shoots, with practical tips.
  • Green Tip Cards (Botanical) include:
    • Naming and Classifying Plants Covers how to write scientific names, of families, genera, species, subspecies, variety, form, hybrids and cultivars.
    • Analytical Illustration of Leaves A checklist of the features to look for: vein pattern, margins, stipules, phyllotaxis, and so on.

​Scientific Illustration - Plastic Pencils - Halftone Illustration with Plastic Pencils on Drafting Film: A Vanishing Art By Alice Tangerini (ASBA Article)

Botanical Illustration - Aids and symbols for identifying plants
​

IAPI Tip Cards currently available (Botanical) 
TipCards are A5 laminated cards containing information worth keeping to hand with the drawing materials, an aide-memoire for the topic concerned. There are three series, on card of different colours. 
  • Green TipCards are on botanical topics. 
  • Yellow TipCards provide concise information about plant families

Home - The Plant List 
The Plant List - A working list for all plant species
Plant Identification & Environmental Literacy | ArtPlantae Today
Which plants can you identify upon first glance? Are they plants from the nursery? From the florist? Are they native plants?

Botanical symbols: a new symbol set for new images | (Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society (via Wiley Online Library - you need access)
Symbols are simple visual elements that have a useful place in concise scientific plant descriptions

Educational support from organisations
​

If you want to know more about scientific botanical illustration, it's worth studying the scope of and support provided by various organisations which focus specifically on the more scientific aspects of botanical illustration.
​
Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration
IAPI encourages the scientific illustration of flowering and non-flowering plants and communication of the diversity and intricacy of plant structures not necessarily visible to the naked eye.

News and Events | IAPI 
Includes details of courses run by IAPI

Facebook - Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration
This page is useful for those want to:
  • ask for advice from botanists and illustrators
  • stay in touch with news from the Institute of Analytical Plant Illustration
  • show their own work
Guild of Natural Science Illustrators
Shapes, anatomy, details, and concepts that cannot be conveyed with words form the essence of this art. Finished work appears in print, exhibits, CD-ROMs, the World Wide Web, video, and wall art.

Study Guides provided by Museums

Smithsonian - Botany Archive
Botanical database includes examples of different botanical illustrations. Searches can be made by plant family, by common name and by media. It enables you to see how other illustrators have chosen to portray a specific plant

Botanical Illustration Study Guide | Victoria and Albert Museum
Listing of books and collections where you can study botanical illustration
The Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration (2nd Edition) 
​edited by Elaine R. S. Hodges
This handbook is commonly regarded as "the bible" within the scientific illustration community. It covers all techniques for rendering in conventional and digital media although the subject matter is not all botanical. 

It is:
  • Sponsored by the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators
  • the people who contribute to it are the top illustrators, scientists, and industry experts
  • edited by one of the founders of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators who has been working in scientific illustration since 1965​
The book is professional and comprehensive - as one might expect from a 'proper' professional handbook which covers 652 pages! 

It covers:
  • studio basics and archival considerations
  • lighting of subject matter
  • rendering techniques (152 pages) in a variety of media including: line and ink, pencil, carbon dust, watercolour and wash, gouache and acrylics, airbrush
  • producing murals, models and dioramas and moving from 2d to 3D
  • using computer graphics for scientific illustration
  • only one of the 13 sections relates to how to illustrate plants - but it is 22 pages long
  • technical matters relating to using a microscope, charts and diagrams, photography and the printing process 
  • the business of scientific illustration - including copyright, contracts and how to operate a freelance business
​This book is expensive - however the price needs to be considered within the context of the fact ​it is a professional manual for people who spend their lives on scientific illustration.
I suggest you consider
  • either reviewing a copy before making a purchase.
  • or buying a second hand copy.​
​​
Hardcover: 656 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Edition: Second
Publication date: May 29, 2003

Average Customer Rating out of 5 stars:
  • in UK: 4.8 based on 5 customer reviews
  • in USA: 5 based on 8 customer reviews​

BUY THIS BOOK​

Botanical Illustration - a Commentary
​

Botanists use botanical illustrations in floras (books that describe all the plants of a particular country or region), in monographs about taxonomic groups, and in journal articles describing newly discovered plant species.
I hear and I forget
I see and I remember 
I do and I understand
Confucius
OLD: The Botanical Atlas by Daniel McAlpine
A Guide to the Practical Study of Plants
Picture
The Daisy and Dandelion - botanical details in text and illustrations
The images include the cover of my personal copy of the Bracken Books 1988 publication which I purchased second hand (hence the two-tone dog-eared cover!) and a double page spread of this large book.
This is a facsimile reproduction of an example of late Victorian scientific literature first published in 1882.

The book is large derived from a set of large wall-diagrams produced by German botanists in the late nineteenth century.  The book is published in two parts covering:
  • the Cryptogams (life forms with hidden reproductive organs which do not reproduce by seeds e.g. bacteria, lichens, mosses, ferns etc). This was essentially the product of German scholarship in Botany in the late 19th century and such plant forms are only fully revealed by microscopes. This aspect of the book is now the most dated due to improvements in technology; and 
  • the Phanerogams - now called Spermatophytes or flowering plants (plants which produce seeds - covering all forms of flowering plants)
It includes instructions for dissection and descriptions of what you can expect to find - some of which are then illustrated
This is a link to the Internet Archive of this book.
​
The Hunt Institute owns seven mostly incomplete sets of instructional wall charts produced in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.)
Various companies have reproduced this book in hardback and paperback - and in varying degrees of quality.

I recommend buying from a reputable seller.

BUY THIS BOOK
The following are articles or other resources which comment on the scope and function of botanical illustration.
The History of Scientific Botanical Illustration

Scientific Illustration in the Eighteenth Century by Brian J Ford, Fellow of Cardiff University, Chairman of the Committee for the History of Biology and Member of Council, Institute of Biology, London.

Better than a thousand words | Bioscience (Oxford Journals) - Botanical artists blend science and aesthetics
Articles published by the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Each of the following relates to the working practices of those involved with the development of a specific Flora
NEXT IN 'BOTANY FOR BOTANICAL ARTISTS': 
The Best Botany Books for Botanical Artists and Illustrators​