This page - and those linked to it - provide tips and techniques
​about a lot of different aspects of developing botanical art. 
Botanical Artists are renowned for sharing their experience and expertise with one another.  
​Many now do so using their websites and blogs or by writing articles for other websites.

Contents - Tips and Techniques​
​

Picture
RHS Botanical Art Show 2015

On this Page

On Linked Pages
​
GENERAL 
  • Conventions of Botanical Art and Illustration - this highlights the differences between Botanical Art and Botanical Illustration
  • Tips for developing botanical art - covering subject matter, botany, knowledge, skills, planning, style
​​
DRAWING
  • Drawing from observation
​​​
MEDIA
  • Tips about working with different art media​ - graphite, coloured pencils, pen and ink​

SUBJECT MATTER
  • ​Working with Plants and Flowers - wild flowers and cultivated

​See also the Botany Section on this site
PHOTOGRAPHY & PRESENTATION
  • For competitions
  • Photographing artwork
  • Framing and hanging artwork
Many of the artists sharing tips in articles and blog posts below also provide tuition in workshops, classes and on courses. (Find out more about Tuition and workshops)

Note: The image at the top of the page is from Ehret's illustration of Ficus 

CONVENTIONS of Botanical Art and Illustration
​

There are a number of conventions associated with botanical art. It's helpful to understand what these are and the reasons for their existence

Botanical Illustration
​

  • Botanically typical and accurate - The specimen chosen for the illustration is typical rather than unusual. The accuracy is derived from very close study of the plant, sometimes over the seasons (see below). 
  • Black and white artwork - typically in pen and ink. This facilitates good quality printing at economical cost in learned journals
  • Depicts distinguishing features - the purpose of a botanical illustration is to help a botanist distinguish between different plants
  • based on herbarium specimens - most illustrations are created from dried specimens of a plant. This is typical for those illustrations produced by illustrators working for botanical gardens if no plant exists in the garden
  • Life sized or drawn to scale - Size is an important aspect of identification. Plants are usually sized and drawn at a 1:1 scale - this involves measurement during initial studies. Smaller distinguishing features may be depicted at a larger scale (see magnification below). Illustrations produced for publication on a defined plate size are typically produced larger and must indicate the relationship between the size of the drawing and the size of the published image.
  • Images for reproduction - MUST always include a scale bar rather than a multiplier
  • Bar scales must be precise, informative and visible but discrete. They represent one standard unit of measurement and must always include the unit of measurement. Otherwise any change in size on publication (expansion or reduction) renders the use of a simple multiple (e.g. x3) meaningless.  (The latter method was used in the past but is no longer considered good practice) 
  • Includes dissections and the use of magnification - 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.
  • when presented in an exhibition or a publication it is always displayed with the botanically correct name (including the Latin). 

Botanical Art
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  • Botanical accuracy is a requirement of all botanical art. However paintings as opposed to illustrations - particularly those of flowers - do not always identify every feature of a plant
  • A white background - typically but not always used for botanical paintings. This helps isolate the subject matter so the focus is on the features of the plant
  • Painted in watercolour - this convention is typical of work produced in the past and is still the dominant media used for botanical art. However other media are now used as well
  • Painted on vellum - vellum is more archival than paper
Hippeastrum vittatum by P.J. Redouté
Hippeastrum vittatum by P.J. Redouté

TIPS for Developing and Exhibiting Botanical Art
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Exhibits of groups of drawings or paintings are assessed first and foremost as botanical illustration. 
RHS Guidelines for exhibiting botanical artwork
Gulnur Eksi GM Feb 2015
Gold Medal winning display of Plants from the Woods and Forests of Chile by Gülnur Ekşi GM (February 2015)
Some tips for developing your botanical art.

These are based on the tips I've picked up from my interviews with artists winning RHS Gold Medals and other prestigious prizes (see links to my articles  in the next section) and reading interviews with leading artists. I've tried to summarise here the lessons they've learned and are happy to share.

Your subject - plants and flowers
  • Be really interested in plants and flowers - It's difficult to succeed in any specialist form of art or illustration unless you have a genuine interest in your subject matter
  • Check out National Collections and Botanic Gardens local to you. Finding quality plants can be a challenge.  Two great sources are Botanic Gardens and National Plant Collections.
  • Think about seasons - a series of paintings of plants and flowers in the same season have impact.
  • Cultivate a good grower. While some artists grow their own subject matter, others get their specimens from a grower. If you're planning a series you need to work out in advance with a grower what they can provide. Time and again, artists have emphasised to me how their grower can make or break a series. You need somebody who is reliable and is keen to support botanical art and understands your requirements.
  • Learn how to keep your subjects fresh - most artists use a fridge to maintain the freshness of their specimens overnight - but you need to work out the right temperature to get the best results! Some artists have a fridge in their studio specifically for looking after specimens/subject matter. On the other hand remember all those artists who only had dead specimens to work from!

Botany
  • Do not neglect to learn about the botany of plants and flowers. If you aspire to the top level this is an essential aspect of developing your artwork. It's crucially important if you want any sort of recognition by the societies such as the RHS or the Linnean Society
  • develop good understanding of the details before you start to paint e.g. buy a botanical microscope; use dissections; learn how to use the macro on your camera


RHS Exhibit - Project management
  • Take your time to work out your RHS project - Working out what plants or species to tackle and then how to approach your project is probably one of the most challenging parts of the process of creating an RHS Exhibit. Don't under-estimate the amount of time needed to think this through prior to making a choice.
  • Plan ahead - If you want to portray a life cycle then you need a complete year to develop your artwork! I vividly remember talking to one RHS Gold Medal winning artist at a botanical art exhibition who was itching to get back to her garden as the long awaited blossom had finally arrived!
Knowledge of this specialist area of art
  • Study the history of botanical art - look at a lot of botanical art! Buy books and visit exhibitions - artists from the past have a lot to teach us. Learn about how other artists have represented a plant or flower
  • Learn what makes botanical illustration different - as a scientific record of a plant​

​Planning your image
  • Start with the parts that will wilt and die first - it may sound obvious, but you must prioritise on the parts of the plant which will die first. Don't forget to do colour studies and do take photographs to check shapes.
  • Work from life and never ever rely on photographs for colour and tone. Colour and tone are always aspects of any illustration or painting which first need to be developed as studies made while observing from life. Photographic reproduction always distorts.
  • Establish a focal point and a way into the image

Skills in drawing and painting
  • Develop skills in careful observational drawing. Being able to observe and recording what you see starts with drawing. Look at junctions, how a plant fills space in 3D etc
  • Learn about your tools and art materials - start your botanical art AFTER you have learned about your pencils, paints and paper and developed skills in their use.
  • Practice, practice, practice - you develop skills in botanical art through drawing and painting plants. There is no substitute for practice.
  • Make sure you use the correct family of greens in your artwork. Don't rely on mixes or colour that you normally use or work from photos. Work from life and observe how light and shade impact on the type of green that is specific to your plant.
​
Developing your own style of botanical art
  • Bring a fresh eye and develop your own style - If you want to do well it's important to create art which people recognise as being yours. Over and above the technical aspects of accuracy and excellent rendering you need to develop a way of representing your specimens in a way which is unique to you. (I know I can walk around exhibitions and instantly tell who produced which artwork without looking at the labels)
"Observation and the three Ps’ Patience, Practice and Perseverance, should be your guiding principles."
Margaret Stevens FSBA author of the Art of Botanical Painting
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 (1906-2006) | from Chapter on 'The Twentieth Century' in " The Art of Botanical Illustration (Blunt)" by Wilfrid Blunt and William Stearn

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES about Plants and Flowers
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Wild Flowers
​

Research information about habitat
  • The MAGIC website is run by DEFRA and provides authoritative geographic information about the natural environment - covering rural, urban, coastal and marine environments across Great Britain. 

​When developing a project related to wild flowers it's essential to do some research and have a plan.Seasonal challenges can be overcome:

Cultivated Plants and Flowers
​

to be developed 

How to paint Flowers and Stems
​
See also Video Tips: Painting Flowers

​
When a flowering stem is to be drawn, and room has to be left for the addition later of leaves and fruit, it may be necessary to consult herbarium specimens to judge the space required.
​
​Stella Ross-Craig (1906-2006) | from 'The Twentieth Century' in " The Art of Botanical Illustration (Blunt)" 

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES about Botanical Art
- drawing, painting, equipment, media etc.

Video Tips
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General Tips
​
Click to see a separate page with Video Tips for botanical art which include:
  • How and When To Finish A Painting: A Checklist for Students By Margaret A. Saul | ASBA - Originally appeared in The Botanical Artist – Volume 12, Issue 3 - this is an excellent summary of pointers that both students and artists should be checking as they move towards completion of their painting. The best advice is to put the art away out of sight for a while. It's a lot easier to see what needs doing when you haven't looked at it for a while.​
  • Trade Secrets - tips from Botanical Artists - The Irish Society of Botanical Artists asked some of their members to send us their favourite botanical art tips. 

Drawing Tips
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Draw from observation
​
  • you will be most accurate if you get your eye is dead level with your subject.
  • Place your subject at eye level - ideally using apparatus which means you can move the subject up or down as your eye focuses on different areas (e.g. use a retort stand (the kind used in laboratories)
  • draw to scale by measuring dimensions and use proportional dividers to scale up or down in size
REFERENCE:
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.
​Margaret Flockton Award - A guide to scientific botanical illustration

Draw from Herbarium Specimens
​

Alice Tangerini is the botanical illustrator at the National Museum of Natural History. This is a summary of her approach to drawing from specimens.
  • consult with the botanists to understand the particular features of the plant which need to be shown clearly
  • make a full-size photocopy of the herbarium specimen - trace its outline
  • draw several pencil sketches on translucent drafting film of the various parts of the plant. 
  • get approval from botanists for pencil sketches
  • consider digitising the sketches for ease of arrangement as a composite image
  • arrange and compose the various sketches in a 15" x 12" format
  • place a transparent film over the sketches and trace outlines and features in ink
Rosemary Wise is the botanical illustrator at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
She published an article about Drawing Plants in Plant Talk (April 1999).  Her tips for drawing herbarium specimens can be summarised as:
  • if tracing from the specimen itself, treat all herbarium specimens with great care; it's possible they cannot be replaced
  • do not dissect any part of the herbarium material without permission; if given permission be sure to reattach the plant material in a packet to the specimen
  • draw the specimen as seen - unless you have other evidence any attempt to reconstruct what it looked like may be misleading
  • she also provides detailed instructions for how to draw a complete leaf on a plate including what to do if it is too big
REFERENCE:
The Guild Handbook of Scientific Illustration, Second 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 book 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.

Consider reviewing a copy before making a purchase.

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​​

Painting Tips
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Botanical Painting with Watercolour 
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Brush Techniques

Design and Composition Tips
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This is a link to:

Colour Tips
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What you need to know about colour
​
Professional artists don't pick colours 'because it looks right'. They need to know the properties of the pigments and dyes used in creating the colour.

Pigment behaviour is much more obvious when it is mixed with water than any other way of applying colour to a support. So the botanical artist MUST know in advance what pigments are in a colour and how it is going to behave - on its own and when mixed.

Pigment permanency is also really challenged when diluted in water. It becomes much more important that colours used are permanent/lightfast and NOT ones which tend to be "fugitive" (i.e. tend to disappear) when diluted and used in thin glazes.
What you need to know:
  • Lightfastness - Is it lightfast? (i.e. Is it permanent? Will your colours fade over time?); what ASTM grade has it achieved?
  • Pigment properties - Is it opaque of transparent? Does it stain? Does it have a tendency to granulate?
Picture
Facsimile of Bauer's Colour Chart - 'digitally cleaned up'
​Getting the Colour Mixes and Glazes Right 
​A series of articles by Carolyn Payzant 
In terms of art supplies I can to tell you there's massive endorsement for Daniel Smith watercolours - particularly the quinacrodines - and the Winsor and Newton Permanent Rose (another quinacrodine PV19) and Winsor & Newton Winsor Violet (Carbozole dioxazine PV23).
Katherine Tyrrell

Support Tips
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 The Best Paper for Botanical Art & Illustration

See the page dedicated to Paper for Botanical Art and Illustration - it covers this topic in much more depth and expands on the tips for working with vellum
It covers: ​
  • Basic paper data - to make the most of paper you need to know how it is made and how it can perform
  • Paper-making and different types of paper - how papers are made and why they perform differently
  • How to test watercolour paper - tests for watercolour paint, coloured pencils and pen and ink
  • Reviews of different papers - all aiming to identify the best paper for botanical art and illustration
  • Different brands of paper identified as suitable for botanical art and illustration (to follow)
Artists provide tips on which watercolour papers and other supports work best for botanical art. Includes samples of how papers affect different techniques used for watercolour painting.
'Fabriano Artistico' (300 lb) is a paper which is consistently recommended by GM winners.
Katherine Tyrrell

Botanical Painting on Vellum 

See the page dedicated to Vellum - it covers this topic in much more depth and expands on the tips for working with vellum
It covers:
  • Vellum and Art
  • What is vellum and the different types of vellum
  • How to paint on vellum including a summary of tips
  • Suppliers of vellum and pumice in the UK and USA
Vellum is a byproduct of animal skins and a very different sort of surface to watercolour paper. There are different types which may or may not be treated. It also requires a particular technique - and you need to know what happens if you use paint water on the paint!

William Cowley is the principal source of vellum in the UK
  • Calfskin product options - this is a useful page highlighting the differences in types of vellum by William Cowley who have been making vellum in the UK since 1870.

The American Society of Botanical Artists has tips from its member artists who paint on vellum
Dianne Sutherland has a number of tips about painting on vellum
Other Artists comment on working on vellum

Pencil Tips
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Graphite Pencil Tips
Click the above link to go to the Slideshare Site where you can download this document for free
Coloured Pencil Tips

Ann Swan provides links to pdf versions of published articles on her website
Sigrid Frensen provides a series of tutorials on her website about using pencils for botanical art
Susan Christopher Coulson has a very detailed article about How to Paint Botanical Arrangements using coloured pencils
​
Coloured Pencils - the medium
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  • Colored Pencil has arrived - an article in the March 2015 edition of the ASBA Journal includes references to favoured brands and media support. ​Originally appeared in The Botanical Artist – Volume 17, Issue 3

Coloured Pencils - the supports

Susan Rubin reviews the suitability of different types of film for artworks in coloured pencil. She recommends Mylar .005 for coloured pencils and Duralar for worn in pen and ink

General Tips from Art Journals
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More tips from other sources which write about botanical art and illustration 

Technical and Presentation Tips
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Display of Artwork

These tips are especially relevant to anybody wanting to display at an RHS show - without a frame
  • create at least one more painting than the six you need for an RHS display - and leave the weakest one at home
  • get the mount board for an RHS display cut well before you need them
  • take a spirit level to get your display aligned properly
  • use wide velcro strips for attached mounted artwork to display boards (make sure the hanging strips can cope with the weight of each exhibit)
  • get business cards and postcards printed in advance
Finishing and fine tuning - reaching that goal - Sarah Morrish looks at the process she adopted for preparing her display at the RHS London Botanical Art Show in February 2016
Photographing Artwork
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Photographing artwork for particular uses
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How to Frame and Hang a Picture

Information about how to hang a painting can be sometimes hard to find.

You can also find more information on this topic on How to frame and hang art

These are my blog posts on the topic.​
​How to avoid frames eating your profit - about options for keeping control of your framing costs
From my article in The Artist Magazine (March 2016)