The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration

In The Art of Botanical and Bird Illustration Mindy Lighthipe describes step-by-step how she makes her intricate illustrations and gives the reader insight into her artist toolbox. As I am not an artist with formal training in drawing, reading this book from a professional was very helpful for me in many aspects. Mindy Lighthipe's tips range from gathering inspirations, photographing and sketching, using different tools, making anatomically correct drawings, using color, incorporating light and shade, playing with the arrangement of objects, producing a layered drawing with mixed media, to digitalizing the final product. This book has taught me that a lot of work goes into a high quality illustration. By paying attention to detail and breaking the work down into manageable steps, the task becomes less daunting.

A extremely comprehensive guide to illustration. Everything covered from materials to techniques, tips and tricks, all written in an upbeat understandable way. The author is obviously very passionate about her work and that is very apparent whilst reading the enthusiastic writing and enjoying the superb illustrations. Yes a book for beginners but also for those who are wishing to go to the next level and learn more techniques.

Walter Foster art and graphics publishing have a catalog which encompasses all types of graphic and mixed media arts as well as art history and culture. The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration is a 144 page instruction and tutorial manual available in ebook and paperback formats. The author is an experienced artist and illustrator.

There was a lot to like here. I really like the author's calm and reassuring writing style. The photography and individual technical tutorials are well written and very well illustrated. The biological/botanical/anatomical information in the book is well presented and correct. She also emphasizes the importance of nomenclature and precision when drawing and illustrating plants. The book abounds with creative and useful tips for natural positioning and drawing botanical samples. I loved the tip about using floral water tubes and a third hand to hold botanical samples during the drawing process.
I also really liked that the author isn't a purist. It's clear that she's not a shill for any particular brand name. She shows what -she- uses and works with and leaves it up to the student to find methods and tools which work for them.
She even manages to sneak a little philosophy into the book without being preachy or strident at all. She mentions the use of reference photographs and that ethical artists will use stock photographs as reference guides but not slavishly copy them and claim them as original. (She says it in a much less confrontational manner). Intellectual theft and copying is so rife. I think her subtle message is both needed and timely.

There are many things to like about this book. I read it in one sitting and went back and worked on some of the introductory shading and shadowing exercises with a still life. My results weren't terribly impressive, but it's made me want to work on my drawing more rather than frustrating me into quitting. This is not a beginner book. It is , however, an inspirational book and one to grow with.

There is basically zero handholding/spoonfeeding. This is not a book to pick up if you've never held a pencil before. She does go over some basics of perspective and shading, but not nearly enough to get a beginner from a starting point to a position of confidence without a lot of (possibly insurmountable) frustration.

I received the electronic ARC of this book, so I can't speak to the quality of the physical book, but I'm assuming it's the same quality as the other Walter Foster tutorial titles.

Four stars, beautifully illustrated and a valuable resource.

"The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration" is an art instruction book for using graphite pencil, colored pencil, and watercolor to do botanical illustration. It covered the basic materials and techniques for realistic rendering of plants and birds. She covered plant anatomy and how to draw leaves, branches, roots, flowers, and birds. She talked a little about the special considerations in botanical drawing and how it is different from other artwork. For example, you include the different stages of the flower in one drawing. She also talked about setting up a live plant reference with lighting and such.

She did a good job of explaining drawing terms at a level a beginner can understand. In the demonstrations, she went step-by-step from the idea to the final artwork, explaining what she was doing and why. She included clear illustrations of what she was describing. Overall, I'd recommend this informative book.

This is a very good basic book on drawing and illustrating plants and birds. It has un underpinning of the traditional and how to achieve accurate illustrations. There are a few methods to get the detail right, which are extremely useful to both beginners and experienced artists. In this world of razzamatazz, it's great to find a solid book on how to do it right.

Awesome books keep coming my way and I hope it remains like that. This time I got inspired to level up my nature-themed drawing and painting skills with Mindy Lighthipe's book, The art of botanical and bird illustration. It starts with the very basics of recommended materials, their properties and how she makes use of them: from different types of paper to digital cameras and pinterest. She also uses different kinds of mediums: graphite, watercolors, gouache, pastels and colored pencils, which gives more freedom of expression depending what type of illustration we want to achieve.

This is not a 3-step DIY book for you to just follow and copy drawings, if you want instant gratification and a book that helps you create something ready in a day, if you don't want to spend the time learning, then I wouldn't recommend this book for you. If you are willing to do the work and take your time to practice, this book gives you foundations so you can choose your own subjects and create whatever nature illustration you want. It includes tips, notes and exercises that will help you polish your craft. Some of them are: graphite pencil tonal scale worksheet, color charts, brush techniques, how to photograph botanical subjects, surface contour, how to light a subject, leaf, flower and bird anatomy/ morphology (only what is relevant for achieving realistic illustrations), tonal rendering, several examples of her illustration process (with helpful images), how to achieve realism and three dimensionality, etc.

I specially liked how detailed the explanations were and how much of her own experience is shared in here. The way she uses mylar (which I didn't know about) on both sides of the page was totally new to me. I would have loved to own a book like this one when I was studying Biology, but it is never too late to start!. I think this book is a great resource if you want to create realistic nature illustrations with emphasis on plants and birds. Those who practice urban sketching or keep travel journals and include nature in their sketchbooks can also benefit from it.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an eArc of this awesome book.

This book gives incredibly detailed instruction for illustrating nature with stunning imagery! I highly recommend this book to those looking to develop or improve their artistic skills.

This is an ideal book for people who are beginning art classes or teaching themselves. It is full of tips and tricks, guides on all the equipment you may come across as well as beautiful illustrations. I found this book to be inspiring and would be a great book to refer back to.

The Art of Botanical & Bird Illustration by Mindy Lighthipe is a wonderful starting place for a beginner artist looking to understand the mediums, approach and details of how to create botanical art. For me, I had a lot of the first half of the book in my head already but it was a great reminder of the age old principles I had been taught. The second half really hits it's stride on the detailed botanical side of drawing. I am an impressionist by nature and the extraordinary amount of patience, set-up and attention to detail required to create these kinds of work has always put me off. I love admiring it though, it's so intricate. The book illuminates on all the little things one wouldn't think of which will make a huge impact on the final piece. Despite my impatience, I intend to give this a go as soon as my CRPS allows, the author has instilled in me a "can-do" attitude and broken the process down enough that it feels manageable. It's a five out of five on the en-JOY-ment scale.

This book teaches you how to look, not just how to draw. Not only does it tell you how to really LOOK at the subject -- roots, blossoms, edges and veins of leaves -- it also gives you the correct botanical term for that type of blossom, leaf edge, etc. Any artist who wants to learn to draw nature well would enjoy this book!

Just stunning! Beginner and advanced artists alike will savor the advice and sample illustrations within the pages of this beautiful book. Novices will appreciate the careful explanations of types of materials needed. More advanced artists will appreciate the attention to detail and focus on plant parts and bird anatomy. A visual feast. Five stars.

I want to thank the Publisher, Walter Foster Publishing and #Netgalley for providing me with an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This is a magnificent book!!. The botanical and bird illustrations are beautiful. The author made the tutorials step by step and easy to understand, One can learn so much on botanical and bird art in this book, A must have