If you've ever considered moving on from an interest in drawing and painting animals to becoming a Natural Science Illustrator, you may well be interested to view the Online Exhibition of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.
It coincides with their 2022 Virtual Annual Conference which has finished the Core Conference - with workshops to come on 20–21 & 27–28, 2022.
You can view the Online Exhibition here
If you're a wildlife artist and want to raise your profile you should consider entering the Wildlife Artist of the Year Competition - sponsored by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation is association with BBC Wildlife. The deadline for entries is 11.59pm (UK time) on the 31st March 2022.
Last year the DSWF's Wildlife Artist of the Year competition broke records with
This post is about:
No allowance will be made for poor digital images, bad quality photographs or low resolution videos.
Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink by Sarah Morrish is a book by a well educated and very experienced natural history illustrator who writes extremely well - and it shows on every one of its pages making it joy to read.
One of the things which distinguishes this book is it's written by somebody who has
Sarah Morrish has created a very informative book on a topic which is not well covered in art instruction literature. It is packed full of very educational content - nothing is vacuous or vague. The quality of the content is matched by it also being a very well structured and designed book with an excellent range of images. Sarah understands very well how to make a complex topic accessible and easy to digest by students looking to learn about or improve their skills and techniques in pen and ink illustration of the natural world
Her skills in this area have been endorsed by the Natural History Museum London which has commissioned her to produce online learning resources on the theme of natural science illustration for their Introduction to British Natural History Studies Training Course in 2021 - which is a super endorsement of her skills in this area.
Her book also usefully includes image contributions from some very impressive artists and illustrators working in this field from around the world who are both experienced and experts in their respective fields within natural history. I knew some but not all of them and I loved being introduced to artists who were new to me.
Her book is, for me, a very refreshing change from my absolute bête noire i.e. art instruction books written by people who don't know their subject as well as they need to if they want to teach others and/or books where the flow of the content is poor and not well written.
At the beginning two things stood out for me. There's a
Sarah Morrish is a widely-respected artist, illustrator and tutor, with many years of teaching experience. With a working background in ecology and conservation, she aims to raise awareness of the beauty and fragility of nature in all its forms. She is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists, the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and a Fellow of the Linnean Society.
You can find out more about Sarah Morrish - and the other methods she uses to teach natural history and botanical illustration in the links below
As an ecologist, I appreciated the section dealing with legalities and best practice when collecting subject material. This is so important, but could have been glossed over so easily.
Natural History Illustration in Pen & Ink by Sarah Morrish is being published by Crowood Press (one of my favourite art instruction publishers) on 23rd August 2021.
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| Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink by Sarah Morrish |
It's always a pleasure to introduce a new book by a friend.
I've been watching content for this book being developed for some time - and it's great to know that we now have a known publication date and it can now be ordered.
Sarah Morrish is a botanical and natural history artist and illustrator who which combines science and art. She has exhibited extensively and also teaches workshops and online (See her website Illustrating Nature's Details). She also has a BSc Hons Ecology & Conservation Biology and a Certificate in Botanical Illustration from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh.
This is her first book. It won't be her last!
I know how Sarah teaches - she's very thorough and extremely well-organised and communicates extremely clearly - both in writing and online when she's delivering Zoom workshops / demonstrations to artists all over the world.
It provides:
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| The Final Call for Entries |
DSWF Wildlife Artist of the Year is a prestigious annual wildlife art competition. Founded by David Shepherd over 10 years ago, the competition attracts artists from all over the world and showcases some of the finest and most exciting wildlife art whilst at the same time raising vital awareness and funds for the endangered wildlife that DSWF works so hard to protect. Every entry, and proceeds from all sales, supports our work to that fight wildlife crime, protect endangered species, and engage local communities in Africa and Asia.
* An original print is a print either in black or in colour, drawn from one or several plates, conceived and executed entirely by hand by the same artist, regardless of the technique employed, with the exclusion of any and all mechanical, digital or photomechanical processes. Every stage has been completed by hand by the artist.
The judges are looking for not only beautifully executed artworks but also imaginative interpretation, moving away from the purely photographic to interesting compositions with great characterisation, showing imagination, originality and genuine creativity. As well as showing an understanding of the subject, they are looking for a genuine love of paint.and
You can of course get your inspiration from a photograph or drawing, but be sure to make it your own interpretation of that image. Straight copies are not only breaching copyright but are judged to be unimaginative and dull.
not only beautifully executed original artworks but also imaginative interpretation, moving away from the purely photographic to compositions with great characterisation, showing imagination, originality and genuine creativity.
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| Tropical Forests display |
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| The owl in Audubon's Birds of America |
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| Double page spread from Robert Thornton's Temple of Flora |
The Herbarium Apulei was one of the most widely used remedy books of the Middle Ages. Over 60 medieval manuscripts of the text survive.
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| Copy of the Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius (11th century) Dropwort is illustrated on the left and Narcissus poeticus on the right |
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| The Painting by Numbers Display |
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| One of Bauer's annotated sketch for the Flora Graeca |
Bauer made hundreds of pencil sketches of plants and animals when he explored the eastern Mediterranean in 1786-87.
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| Bauer's Colour System - a numerical colour code and pigments in mussel shells |
