January 2016 - Lizzie Harper

The Ups and Downs of an Illustration Career

Posted on 29th January 20169th September 2021 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

Life as an illustrator I am, and have been, a free-lance natural history and botanical illustrator for about 20 years now; and it is by no means an easy career path to plough. However, in today’s blog I’m going to explain some of the drawbacks, then show why being an overworked and underpaid illustrator is, […] Read more

Garden Illustrations for National Geographic books

Posted on 22nd January 20163rd March 2020 in Current projects and news

I was recently excited to get a commission in from National Geographic Books in the US. They needed a series of full-colour garden plans; showing plants, and possible planting schemes for wildlife gardens. They will be used in a book promoting wildlife gardening, “Birds, Bees, & Butterflies”. One plan would show a garden designed to encourage birds, […] Read more

Natural History Illustration of the Goshawk

Posted on 8th January 201618th December 2018 in Zoological step by step

After a lot of recent botanical illustration, it was a treat to be commissioned to do an ornithological natural history illustration of the Goshawk Accipiter gentilis for a private client. The Goshawk is a gorgeous bird of prey, and has long been used in falconry. They’re really hard to spot, and are fearsome predators. (A recent and […] Read more