natural history illustration Archives - Page 4 of 5

Illustrating a Deer for Packaging

Posted on 19th June 202019th June 2020 in Current projects and news, Illustration techniques

My earlier blog, Wild Shreds: Illustrating Pet Food packaging gave an overview of completing illustrations of a series of animals for Wild Shreds pet food. In this post I’ll take a look at the work involved in creating one of these illustrations; the Deer. All illustrations in this blog are copyright Spot Farms 2019. My deer […] Read more

Wild Shreds: Illustrating Pet Food packaging

Posted on 29th May 202029th May 2020 in Current projects and news

Wild Shreds is a range of dog food produced in the US. It prides itself on being good enough for humans to eat, and is an organic and high end product. Produced by Spot Farms, this range has recently been re-packaged. And the illustrations on the new packaging are by yours truly! All illustrations in […] Read more

Save the Bees: How to Make Your Garden a Bee Haven

Posted on 24th January 202019th June 2020 in Uncategorised

Save the bees and make your garden a Bee haven! This week’s Guest article provided by Oscar Owens. There are very few small creatures that make the headlines, but bees are one of them. Unfortunately, it’s almost always negative news. That’s why people keep asking: ‘how can we make our garden a safe haven for […] Read more

Foraging with Kids at Hay Festival

Posted on 28th August 2019 in Painting workshops

Foraging with Kids Workshop at Hay Festival: Setting up Back in May, Adele Nozedar and I ran a workshop at Hay Festival. We aimed the workshop at children and their parents, and included foraging and drawing activities. We were also there to promote out book, Foraging with kids, and had a lovely banner that […] Read more

Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus and meadow brown aniola jurtina butterfly natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper

Save our Butterflies: Gardening for butterflies (2 of 2)

Posted on 28th June 201911th August 2019 in Current projects and news

This is a Guest blog by DIY Garden. Illustrations by Lizzie Harper. How Butterflies help in the Garden Butterflies and moths are not only beautiful garden viditors, they are vital pollinators. Whereas bees get covered in pollen, butterflies take a smaller amount on their slender legs. They travel greater distances than bees, flitting around like nomads instead of […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Cheating doesn’t exist

Posted on 10th May 201811th January 2019 in Illustration techniques

Cheating When I chat to people who are just beginning botanical illustration, I quite often get questions about whether or not certain things are “cheating”. This annoys and upsets me. Everyone should be encouraged to draw and paint, and to use whatever tools are available to them. There seems to be a strange idea that […] Read more

Hereford Art Week

Posted on 17th November 20179th January 2019 in Current projects and news

Back in September, I took part in Hereford Art Week for the first time. Hereford Art Week logo Going under the name of Beautiful Botanicals , Lea Gregory (another botanical illustrator) and I set up in her gorgeous hill-top studio. We opened our doors to whoever chose to visit. Busy working desk during Hereford Art week Preparing for Hereford Art week […] Read more

Illustrating a Water Meadow Landscape

Posted on 12th June 20179th January 2019 in Current projects and news

Getting started on a Water meadow landscape I was recently commissioned to complete a large natural history natural science watercolour illustration of a landscape. Woodstock is a water meadow habitat; the illustration would feature my wildlife and botanical illustrations of the species there. This illustration will be used on an interpretation panel, and was a […] Read more

Illustrating a new Damselfly species

Posted on 6th January 201730th December 2018 in Current projects and news

One of the more exciting recent natural history illustration commissions I’ve had is to complete a Sciart watercolour of a newly discovered species of damselfly. I’ve illustrated damselflies before (see my blog) and even done a series of postage stamps on these insects. This commission was different. The insect in question is the Sarep sprite, Pseudoagrion […] Read more

Landscapes, a map, and an otter

Posted on 9th September 201619th December 2018 in Current projects and news

Recently my natural history illustrations and botanical illustrations have been used for an interpretation board for the Combe Mill visitor centre and nature reserve in Oxfordshire. It was a pleasure to work with the excellent graphic and museum designer Linda Francis. It means I don’t have to worry about the lay out, but can concentrate on doing the […] Read more

Crickhowell Art Trail

Posted on 12th June 201513th December 2018 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

Taking part in Crickhowell Art Trail It’s been a busy few weeks for this natural history illustrator. Hay Festival, demonstrating at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales (more of which next week), and illustrating and meeting the public during Crickhowell Art Trail. Bookish is a wonderful independent book shop in Crickhowell. They asked me to be […] Read more

Natural History Illustration: Corvids

Posted on 22nd May 20151st June 2020 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

As a botanical illustrator and natural history science art illustrator, I do have my favourites among the animal kingdoms. And I really love the Crow family, the Corvidae. I’ve only painted a few species from this family which includes jays, rooks, chough, ravens, crows and magpies; but I love both the way they look and their […] Read more

Natural History Illustration: Tits (Paridae)

Posted on 1st May 201512th December 2018 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

This week I thought it might be an idea to look at one family of British birds, the Tits (Paridae). Although I’ve not illustrated all the members of this family yet, I’ve done a fair few, so thought it’d be worth taking a look at each in turn. Tits: Blue tit First up is the […] Read more

Natural History Illustration: Insect anatomy

Posted on 15th January 20157th December 2018 in Biological terminology: Definitions

Insects are my favourite creatures. I love illustrating them in my natural science commissions. Here’s a brief overview of the parts of any insect which should help anyone doing entomological illustration. Insect overview Insects are invertebrates; they sport an external skeleton rather than internal bones. Their limbs are jointed, they’re cold-blooded, have six legs and […] Read more

Slender St Johns Wort Hypericum pulchrum natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper

Illustration: A working week

Posted on 25th January 201427th November 2018 in Current projects and news

Natural Science (or natural history) illustration is like all other jobs, you have good weeks and bad weeks. Last week was a really happy one; I had plenty to do (but not overwhelming amounts); I finished up a big project; and I got two smaller jobs completed. Being able to feel productive and efficient always […] Read more

Natural history illustration, decoration, decorative,

Natural History Illustration for decoration: Cards and Gift Wrap

Posted on 31st May 201314th November 2018 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

Scientific illustration often results in beautiful imagery; and there’s a lot of joy to be gained from knowing that every hair on the stem of a plant or every vein in a dragonfly wing is in the correct place. A lot of the glory of nature is to be found in its details, and this […] Read more

deocration, natural history for decoration,

Natural History Illustration for decoration

Posted on 17th May 201314th November 2018 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

One of the treats of being a scientific illustrator is that you can use your skills in a less exacting manner when the opportunity arises. This can be useful for jobs which want to use natural history illustration for decoration, as a way of creating gifts or mementos, and as a means to decorate your […] Read more

Deer illustrations, watercolours, ducks, and snow!

Posted on 21st January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news

Tweaking the Deer illustrations There were some alterations required on the Whipsnade Zoo finals, oh the joys of process white gouache. Here are the “before and after” shots; see if you can tell what’s been changed… For more on this job, check out my blogs on the deer, the mara, and painting a hog deer. […] Read more

Botanical illustrations, coccolith, and a peacock

Posted on 14th January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news

I have finished the last of the illustrations for ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, and am just waiting to hear if any alterations are needed before sending them off. By far the hardest illustration in the set was the pair of peacock, whose complexity dwarfed any of the deer and antelope. Peacock trouble I think the problem with […] Read more

Deer scientific illustrations and a sparrow

Posted on 7th January 201318th October 2018 in Current projects and news, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

This is a half week of work, but I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve got done. I’ve finished the last of the deer for ZSL Whipsnade; a grand total of eleven animals. If you’d like to see them all in one place, I’ve popped up an album of them on my facebook site: Deer and Antelope […] Read more

Botanical illustration of hawthorn berries y Lizzie with her paintbox

Step by step Botanical illustration of Hawthorn berries

Posted on 1st January 201317th October 2018 in Botanical Illustration step by step

In this blog I’ve broken down the steps involved in painting the berries of the Hawthorn Craetegus monogyna. This approach works just as well for any red shiny berry, although you’ll need to take care with what hue of red you mix. The real secret to getting these berries looking properly shiny is to ensure you […] Read more

Christmas botanical illustrations

Posted on 19th December 201211th January 2019 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

I’ve not been working this week, it’s the holidays. There are five illustrations outstanding for the Whipsnade Zoo commission, but the deadline isn’t for a fortnight so I’ll have plenty of time to complete them ahead of schedule. Instead, I’ve assembled a variety of seasonal illustrations, done over the years. Christmas plants There are lots […] Read more

Mara, wallaby, and a christmas illustration

Posted on 19th December 20123rd December 2018 in Zoological step by step

Christmas is coming! This week has been rather more to do with preparing for Christmas than illustrating. However, I have completed the remaining four roughs of deer for Whipsnade Zoo, and painted a mara and a Bennet’s Wallaby. Mara The mara is an animal that I’d not heard about until this commission came through. I took […] Read more

Deer, camel, and a yak

Posted on 17th December 201222nd November 2018 in Current projects and news

Hog Deer I’ve been working on the Whipsnade Zoo commission this week, and enjoying it. I got a fair amount done, too, which is good. Here’s a picture of the hog deer in progress, showing how I paint by layering up the different tones of the fur in tiny brush strokes. And here is the final. […] Read more