Upon first glance, the cover is eye-catching and immediately makes me want to pick it up to look inside. This book is by far one of the best art tutorial books I have ever laid eyes on. The art is beyond beautiful, and the guidance they provide is easy to understand. There are different chapters on shading, how to correctly hold a pencil, how to analyze a flower to draw it proportionately, how to arrange cut flowers, and so much more. Various techniques are provided throughout that allow you to create in a variety of mediums including paint, ink, and pencil.

One of my favorite things though, is that it dives into botanical science. It showcases the basic anatomy of a plant so you can become more acquainted with what you are drawing. By doing so, it let's you understand and connect with the art even more. I have always loved drawing flowers, but this has made me appreciate them so much more than I previously had.

I cannot speak highly enough about this book. Whether you are a seasoned artist or just dipping your toes in, this is a must have! I am counting down the days until I can get my hands on a physical copy!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary eARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this opportunity!

This is not a book for a beginner artist. It was very in-depth and advanced. If you are already an artist, you may like this book. The illustrations were beautiful to look at.

If you like botanicals and art, this book is for you. Or if you just like to browse through beautiful images and dream of being able to recreate them, this book is for you.

Another great book I have had the honor of previewing early. Even if I never get a drawing complete the book I spires me and is just nice to look at.

What can I say about this book, simply; Amazing. I think it is the Bible for the Botanical Illustrator. I must say it is the Bible for any artist who starts in this botanical field.
You have absolutely everything you should know, techniques, materials, different mediums, composition, color theory, just everything.
You would not be disappointed if you include this book in your library.
Thank you Timber Press, for letting me read this ARC.
I love it!
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I tried several times to download this book and I could not open it despite different attempts. This is unfortunate because I was really looking forward to reading and reviewing this book.

A stunning book! A wonderful art text for drawing botanicals of all sorts.

I don’t know what I was expecting but this book is both helpful for honing drawing skills AND would make a beautiful addition to any bookcase.

This was not quite what I was expecting and way more detailed on how to actually draw and shade and look at plants. Not just pictures of nature and drawings like I was imagining. This would be great to have in any art class and library!

This is a beautiful book, with techniques for different types of art suitable from beginner level to advanced. Everything is covered, including graphite, coloured pencil, watercolours, oils, and acryllics.

The artwork is stunning, and shows what can be achieved with each medium. Step-by-step instructions accompany each project, which range from simple drawings for beginners to complicated compositions for more advanced artists.

There are also sections with details on scientific illustrations and field studies, and a comprehensive guide to the materials needed for each medium.

I was given a digital copy to review and loved it, so I can imagine the physical copy will be truly a book to treasure! Highly recommend for anyone who wants to improve their skills.

I tend to look at an artist's work to see if I even want to take their art courses or buy their books. Are their masterpieces beautiful? Is the usage of colour striking? Realistic?

Because of that I can heartily recommend this giant book on botanical illustrations. A quick look at the paintings inside the book shows nothing but gorgeous creations. And look at that long long list of contributors! Award winners, artists who exhibit locally and internationally, people whose paintings are in collections all over the world. Artists who give workshops. People who have painted for a long long time and seem to live and breathe botanical painting.

Really all you need to know if you want to go into botanical illustrating. There are also lots of step-by-step illustrations for you to try out.

The American Society of Botanical Artists have put together an excellent book.

One thing possibly missing which I say about most painting books are videos to go together with those step-by-step. Some things are just better seen than read. At least that's how I feel as a visual learner.

Thank you Netgalley, ASBA and Timber Press for the ARC. This is my honest review.

This is an art book for artists and for plant lovers. Reading it electronically doesn't do it justice and I really want to flip through the pages and get a better feel for the book as a whole. In e-format, the content is certainly appealing and my impression is that the book is a truly comprehensive guide to any kind of botanical art that you might want to try. Techniques are clearly described and very detailed- down to how you should sharpen your pencil to create different kinds of lines.

"Botanical Art Techniques" is an awesome, comprehensive guide to drawing or painting botanical art for anyone from a complete beginner on up. They started with the very basics and progressively worked up to projects suitable for more advanced artists. The different articles were written by different people, but the articles worked well together to teach about botanical art techniques. The authors covered the basics of the different mediums: graphite, pen and ink, colored pencil, watercolor on paper or on vellum, and more briefly on egg tempera, oil, acrylic, gouache, silverpoint, and etching. They also covered the basics specific to botanical art, like working in a studio or outside, how to keep the plant alive while you draw it, and things to consider in composition.

They also gave step-by-step demonstrations for drawing or painting a variety of subjects, like flowers, leaves, fruits and vegetables, roots, branches and stems. There were demonstrations for a cactus, kiwi vine, crab apple branch, slipper orchid, grapes, magnolia flower, and many more. The instructors did a very good job of teaching how to do these things rather than just telling you how to replicate a certain drawing. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn how to make realistic art in a wide variety of mediums, but also specifically to anyone interested in botanical art.

I love, love, love this book!

As a coffee table book to leisurely browse or as a wannabe artist craving details, the author provides gorgeous artwork and guidance on creating masterpieces step-by-step in various media including watercolor, oils, graphite, vellum, egg tempera, and more. Self described as “A Comprehensive Guide” and authored by the “American Society of Botanical Artists”, the beginning matter provides some basic understanding of botany to assist the reader. The book then is segmented into sections on black/white, color, and specialized. What a beautiful book to have in your collection that would be accessed time and again.

Digital copy provided by NetGalley. Thank you!

This is an incredible resource for anyone interested in botanical art. So much information and detailed instruction. A beautiful book that will be an invaluable reference for any artist from beginner to expert.

Will use this book and the painting of flowers as a therapeutic intervention with my students. So beautiful. Thank you for the ideas. These are inner city children who do not necessarily have access to the beauty of nature.

This book is designed for skilled artists working in a range of artistic mediums with an array of tools and supplies at hand.
The botanical techniques are well illustrated, and the book might serve best as a search and find resource for an artist devoted to botanical art.
It is not a how-to text for a nature hobbyist looking to create a simple pleasing work of art.

Wow! With 420 pages of excellence, Botanical Art Techniques is a gorgeous resource for anyone with an interest in creating drawings of plants. The introduction guides the reader in botanical basics, how to work in nature, or collect (when appropriate) cuttings for home study, and how to create a home studio. The sample studios are beautiful without being out of reach for most home hobby-artists.

The process of observing nature over time and relying on close inspection, is a gift during these stuck at home days. The explanation of why photographing nature is inadequate for botanical artwork was interesting and made total sense, but it hadn’t previously occurred to me.

Detailed tutorials are provided for graphite, pen and ink, colored pencils, watercolors and general instruction is provided for other methods. This will appeal to anyone interested in beginning or improving their own botanical art techniques, or to those who love beautiful botanical artwork.

I love this book. Timber Press never fails to publish books I wish to savor and collect. This one is no exception. I can’t wait to buy a print copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Timber Press for this eARC in return for an unbiased review.

Let me begin my review by saying that I am a beginner art student. I only really doodle in my journals and requested this book because I wanted to push myself to learn how to draw better.

I really liked how thorough each concept and technique was explained. I especially appreciated that each medium (e.g. Graphite, Pen and Ink, Colored Pencil, etc.) had a selection of introductory tutorials for us to follow/copy, as we worked at our own pace. And then, once we were done with that, there were more advanced tutorials to work on. And not just one tutorial, but 2 to 4.

I really liked that there were detailed pictures for me to use as reference points and that each concept or technique was illustrated in a clear manner.

I also very much appreciated the tips and tricks the book gave on how to care for flowers/plants.

I am very glad I was granted an Advanced Reader Copy of this book for me to review. This review is entirely my own opinion.

Botanical Art Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide to Watercolor, Graphite, Colored Pencil, Vellum, Pen and Ink, Egg Tempera, Oils, Printmaking, and More by American Society of Botanical Artists
is a gorgeous book. Besides being beautiful it is practical. This is a voluminous text weighing in at over 400 pages.

This textbook is extremely unique in that it combines botanical science with botanical art. The first thing you notice is that the book is broken down into tutorials given by experts. The very first chapter discusses basic botany by PhD in botany. The lessons/tutorials are built upon one another. The initial major lesson is drawing botanicals in black and white and using/developing basic graphite skills. Holding the graphite pencil correctly, line control, line weight and light and shadow are covered here. This is only in the first tutorial! So to say this volume is complete and extremely vast would be an understatement.

The drawings are just pure eye candy which spurs the reader to continue to see what is on the next page. This is not just another art book. This book helps the reader develop a relationship with the subject and grow their knowledge of botany in order to make them a better artist. There is even a section on how to care for your cut flowers and how to arrange them so it enhances your view and understanding of the actual flowers.

The authors also give instructions for portraying leaves, vegetables and roots and the techniques are valid for drawing or painting almost anything. The detailed instructions are accompanied by illustrations that are remarkably detailed.

There are many mediums covered in this book. There are watercolors, pen and ink, transferring, acrylics, oils and etching to name a few.

The end results of each tutorial may seem nearly impossible to achieve by the reader but by the process of breaking each skill down into steps with detailed explanations, the artwork seem more attainable. Well done!

I would like to thank the publisher, author and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is an amazing book of over 400 pages of botanical art! The artwork in this book contains crayon and watercolour techniques and the artists who showed how to paint/draw individual pieces gave step by step and understandable instructions to complete each piece.

This book would be an amazing gift for any Botanical art fan and contains an absolute wealth of information and beautiful pieces.