March 2014 - Lizzie Harper

Inspirations: Hannah Firmin

Posted on 28th March 201427th November 2018 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

Natural history illustrators get inspired by the natural world around them, and by other illustrators like Hannah Firmin. Hannah Firmin talks about her work I recently went to Booth’s Bookshop to see Hannah Firmin discuss her beautiful work, her methods of creating illustrations, and her attitude to her career. (All photos and illustrations in this blog are […] Read more

Composition and sketchbook studies

Posted on 21st March 201427th November 2018 in Illustration techniques

Winter, and my natural history illustration work continues. There’s no problem sorting out composition and sketchbook studies if they’re of conifers, like this Douglas fir. Sketchbook studies: Composition Instead of examining the techniques involved in mixing colour, I thought it might be an idea to discuss composition. This is how a botanical subject sits […] Read more

Natural History Illustration: A Week of Work

Posted on 14th March 201430th November 2018 in Current projects and news

Natural science illustration work isn’t all botanical drawings and natural history illustration. My work load this fortnight shows what I mean. A job’s come in from Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxon Wildlife trust. It involves illustrating a map of their nature reserve at Hartslock. The second part is illustrating a large landscape of the countryside, and the […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Why it’s still relevant

Posted on 7th March 20143rd December 2018 in Illustration techniques

Why use botanical illustration? I recently read a good blog by Susannah Spier. She argues that botanical illustration still matters. I agree strongly with it. It’s the basis of this week’s blog. It’s a relevant question. There are so many good ways of recording botanical subjects with digital devices. Why should the traditional skills […] Read more

Illustrating British Garden Birds

Posted on 1st March 201427th November 2018 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

Encouraging garden birds Unsurprisingly, like most scientific illustrators, I have a lot of love for the bird visitors to my garden. I encourage them by feeding them grain, dried mealworms, nyjar seed and peanuts. Not only does this tempt them in, but it also makes them the unwitting subjects of my illustrations. Garden Birds […] Read more