Anna Oszvald - Botanical Escape: 40 Beautiful Tracing Projects to Help You Unwind

When I was about to start my adult life, if someone had asked me what my plans were for the next ten years, I would not have even dreamed of writing a book, let alone writing a book about my passion! This is the most wonderful gift I have ever been given. I say gift, because beside the hard work I put into drawing flowers and building a career from it, there were a handful of people who made this book happen. I am truly thankful for them.

dm, my foundation, my best advisor, my safety net who catches me if I fall, my best friend, my love and the very special one who taught me to believe in myself. I could not be more thankful for you.

ron, you are my sunshine. Thank you for accepting that Mommy has to work sometimes, thank you for your huge eyes when you look at my work and thank you for choosing our family. I am grateful for your presence and for opening my eyes to a new direction.

Franny, thank you for reaching out to me to write this book, for believing in me from the beginning, for being unbelievably supportive both emotionally and technically, for your great ideas and for your hard work. You are the kindest and most caring person I have ever worked with.

My parents, for spending a lot of time taking good care of ron while I was working on this book, and for their constant, caring love.

The wonderful Floral Community on Instagram, who empowered my faith from the beginning of my art journey. The tremendous amount of positive feedback, caring words and all the heart-eyes are my constant motivation to create something beautiful for you. Thank you for your endless support.

My Patrons, whose support made it possible to quit my day job and step onto this artsy pathway surrounded with beautiful blooms. You are all awesome!

And I am truly thankful for the whole Page Street team, for all of your ideas and the hard work you put into creating this book.

Anna Oszvald, a.k.a. @oszvaldann, is a botanical illustrator based in Budapest, Hungary. Her botanical journey started after her son was born, as a naptime escape. At that time she was working as an engineer in the automotive industry and needed a creative outlet. Drawing flowers started as a hobby with an Instagram account and taking part in a daily drawing challenge at @floralsyourway. Soon, Annas passion had her staying up at night, drawing flowers every single stolen minute a mommy can afford. After creating her Instagram account and drawing her first ten flowers, Anna became inspired to teach others. She started to film how she drew her illustrations to show others how she created them. Showing her audience how to draw became her real passion. As this passion for teaching inspired her to create and show more and more, a wonderful audience started to build up and they wanted to learn from her. Creating a Patreon page was the next step. There she developed her method of teaching line drawing through different mediums. Her tracing technique quickly became the most popular method among her Patrons. As a natural next step, combining her own illustrations with teaching others gave her the idea for this book. Annas work can be found on Amour Vert clothes, on stationary at Die Kartenmacherei, on stamps for Mama Elephant and notebooks for Denik.

These templates are here for you to practice your shading. Create your own version of the shading, either based on the original illustration or your own imagination. Remember, you can always go back to the Basics chapter (

This chapter is a bonus gift for you atop of the 40 projects. These pages are perforated, so you can tear them out and work on them more freely, give them as a gift or hang on your wall. It is up to you!

I would consider preparing beautiful paints or markers, metallic gel pens and a cup of scented tea for your creative session.

And most importantly, have fun!

Hellebores simple row of egg-shaped petals are so pure. Can you picture this whimsical wreath worn by a beautiful bride or a fairy? I was not sure if I should leave this illustration so simple, but it just took my heart as it is.