Botanical Art Video Tips for aspiring botanical artists on how to draw and/or paint trees and leaves
​of different species and in different seasons.  
​
​This page includes Botanical Art Videos of:
Drawing and painting different types of leaves
  • a camellia leaf
  • a Norfolk island Pine (advanced)
  • the leaves of a gum tree
  • ivy
  • a hydrangea leaf
  • autumn leaves
  •  the autumn leaf of a grape vine
  • a holly leaf
Featured artists from the UK include From Australia include: From the USA:
Botanical Art Techniques for:
  • how to mix greens
  • quick tips for painting leaves
  • demo of how to paint on vellum
  • drawing and painting curved leaves
  • How to paint a clean edge on a serrated leaf
How to paint trees and leaves - for botanical artists
- a separate page on this website with more detailed information on this topic
REMEMBER
To view the video click in the centre of the video and it will start playing
To view a larger version of the video - SEE BELOW
EITHER Click the cog wheel (see below - to the left of 'YouTube' ) to see the viewing options
OR Click the YouTube word and it will open in YouTube where it's easier to see the options
OR Click the box icon on the far right to view full screen. (but remember only HD videos play well full screen)
First - to show you what is possible
- here's a video of a speeded up painting process
​
Rosie Sanders GM paints a Camellia leaf.
​
Next a more advanced demonstration

Angela Lober shows us the whole process of producing an image of a plant - in this case the Norfolk Island Pine. 
​
It's a very educational video for all those aspiring to produce significant works of botanical art.

The painting was gifted to the Florilegium collection at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney. ​

How to mix Greens
​

Mixing Greens with Merial Thurstan of the Eden Project.This is a promotional video for their illustration course and I've started it at the point which starts talking about mixing greens and creating a record of the range of greens you can create using just two colours.

Quick tips for painting leaves
​

Julia Trickey GM demonstrates how to use card, traced or acetate leaves in your botanical art.
Julia Trickey demonstrates lots of different techniques and tools to use to paint leaves - all in 60 seconds!
Julia Trickey continues with 60 seconds of tips relating to the colour of leaves and how to change a green colour

Painting leaves on vellum
​

Diana Sutherland provides a demonstration of painting on vellum - with five hours condensed into less than 5 mins.

Drawing and painting different shapes of leaves
​

Drawing and painting curved leaves
​

This first video is by Australian Botanical Artist Helen Fitzgerald GM. In it she demonstrates how the central vein of the leaf is core to the process of drawing curved leaves.

She's drawing and painting gum leaves in the three videos in this section.
In the next video she moves from drawing the leaves to painting the leaves.  The video demonstrates the use of two brushes - one for the paint and one for the water.
Tips on what to avoid
Helen demonstrates some of the errors found in drawings which demonstrate both poor observation and very poor drawing. Using tracing paper, she highlights how any failure to identify and follow through the line of the central vein leads to the creation of leaves which cannot exist in real life. 

Serrations and clean edges, including the repair job
​

Dianne Sutherland provides watercolour painting techniques for
  • How to paint a clean edge on a serrated leaf
  • How to repair a rough one!

DRAWING AND PAINTING DIFFERENT LEAVES
​

How to paint a sycamore leaf
​

This is a full length recording of a demonstration about how to paint a sycamore leaf that Lizzie Harper did for the New England Society of Botanical Artists.

Running time: 1 your 7 minutes 

How to paint the leaves of a gum tree
- how to lay a tea wash and then add detail
​

David Harper is an Australian botanical artist. Below are two short videos showing two stages of painting the leaves of the gum tree. 
  • the first stage is the tea wash
  • the second stage is adding in detail

How to draw and paint Ivy
​

This is coloured pencil artist and tutor Ann Swan demonstrating how to create an ivy leaf in coloured pencils - starting with the veins.
Lizzie Harper is a professional botanical illustrator who offers lots of step by step guides and tips about how to illustrate leaves and plants on her website and blog.

How to paint a Hydrangea Leaf
​

A speeded up demonstration by Karen Kluglein of painting a hydrangea leaf in watercolour 

How to paint Wild Strawberry leaves
​

This is a fairly fast-paced video by Lizzie Harper of her approach to painting the whole of a wild strawberry in watercolour.

​(2 minutes)

How to paint apple leaves
​

Anna Mason focuses on how to paint leaves that won't let the rest of the painting down.

Her technical images derived from the photo she is working from are particularly useful for illustrating how the leaf works.

This is something you can also do if you have photo imaging software and use the filters.

Using masking fluid with Leaves
​

Lisa from Jackson's Art Supplies demonstrates
  • the different types of masking fluid available and
  • how to apply them
  • how to remove them once both fluid and wash are completely dry
She recommends you always use a minimum of 140lb paper and says using paper on a block makes it a lot easier to prevent tearing or wrinkling your paper,

Painting Leaves in Different Seasons
​

How to paint Autumn Leaves
​

Videos by Julia Trickey, Helen Fitzgerald and Karen Kluglein

Julia Trickey GM shares various techniques for painting a fall leaf - from a London Plane Tree - during her presentation for the New England Society of Botanical Artists. These include:
  • what to look for before you begin
  • drawing and transfer
  • masking fluid
  • color mixing
  • initial layers
  • adding detail and veins
  • how to preserve colour.

Running Time: 53 minutes
Julia Trickey GM demonstrates how to paint a vine leaf with a step by step video (speeded up). It includes a close-up of how the details of the leaf were painted.
Helen Fitzgerald GM demonstrates how to paint a eucalyptus leaf including all the ever present imperfections. Helen is an Australian botanical artist who has produced a number of helpful instruction videos for botanical artists which you can see on YouTube.
In this video Helen paints the autumn leaf of a grape vine - including the insect eaten holes!

She emphasises that:
  • the venation pattern needs to be accurate for the leaf
  • the colours need to reflect autumn accurately
  • the use of one brush with paint and one brush with water to enable more efficient and effective manipulation of he wash
Karen Kluglein paints an autumn leaf in watercolour on vellum. Not so much a "how to" as a speeded up demonstration

How to Paint Winter Leaves
​

Anna Mason provides a guide to painting a realistic holly leaf.

How to paint a 3D leaf
​

Anna Mason demonstrates how to create three dimensions using a basil leaf and just one colour, Anna demonstrates how structure, volume and dimensions can be created just using tone and different washes of just one colour

Drawing Trees
​

Most of the videos about drawing and painting leaves on YouTube are intended for landscape painters rather than botanical artists
This is a video made about Sarah Simblet and Sylva - the book she illustrated with drawings of very many trees. These were exhibited by RBGE in Scotland and this video was made at the time

REFERENCE:
MORE VIDEO TIPS
How to paint trees and leaves - for botanical artists
- a separate page on this website with more detailed information on this topic