Kristina Mercedes Urquhart - Botanical Illustration

Plant Identification Identify : Sunflower Describe : bright yellow petals around a large, brown seed disc; heart-shaped leaves; 5-foot-tall stem; blooms annually Classify : Helianthus family Name : Helianthus annuus1818page0018page0018.xhtmldried leaves Botanical illustrations make details easy to see. Arts Plants Are Pretty Like all artists, botanical illustrators think about the elements of drawing when working on a piece. These elements include : line : Should the lines be thick or thin? Light or dark? shape : Should the drawing be two-dimensional (2-D) or three-dimensional (3-D)? tone : How should the drawing be shaded? space : How much of the space around the plant should be included? color : Should the drawing be in color? Should it be black and white?1919page0019page0019.xhtmlBotanical illustrators must follow some rules. These rules help make all plant drawings easy to compare. This way, people from around the world can understand the drawings, even if they speak different languages! Here are some rules of botanical illustration : 1. Do not draw too many shadows. (They block out details.) 2. Use dots to create depth and show a plant's shape. (Depth is a sense of space.) 3. Light should appear to come from the top left side of a drawing. (This helps compare plants because shadows are all on the same side.) 4. Keep drawings accurate. 5. Botanical illustrators need to know everything about plants they draw and their parts. (This is called structure. The structure of the plant is how all the parts come together.)2020page0020page0020.xhtmlHibiscus flower Hibiscus rosa-sinensis receptacle stigma sepal anther petal style pedicel Technology Tools of the Trade Today, many botanical illustrators use computers to draw. But simple tools work well, too. Botanical illustrators use ink pens to draw outlines and add depth. They use graphite pencils to add shading. They use brushes made from animal hairs to draw smooth curved lines. Finally, they use pencils or watercolors to add color.2121page0021page0021.xhtmlThe Right Stuff To get a piece just right, botanical illustrators need to look closely at real plants. Once they have plants to study, it is important that they use the right tools to make the best illustrations that they can. Plant Materials Plant samples can be live or dried. Most of the time, artists work from dried plants. These plants have been preserved. That means they have been kept looking the same as when they were alive. Dried plants are stored in plant banks called herbaria (uhr-BEHR-ee-uh). Artists draw from living plants, too. Some plants come straight from the garden! Some artists are also gardeners. They grow their own plants to use as subjects. Other artists travel the world to find their next subjects. preserved samples in an herbarium2222page0022page0022.xhtmlScience Plant Preservation Have you ever put a flower between the pages of a book to let it dry? Scientists and artists do something similar to preserve plants. First, they find plants they want to dry. Then, they put them in a machine called a plant press. It looks like a stack of wood and paper with straps around it. Plants are placed between sheets of paper and cardboard. This helps absorb moisture. When plants are fully dried, they are ready to be stored.2323page0023page0023.xhtmlBotanical Art Materials Artists need good drawing tools. The best tools help artists be precise. Precise means "exact. " Illustrators are very good at this! Art pencils are some of the best tools to start sketching. These are like the pencils you use in school. But these pencils come in a number of different shades of gray. They are great for sketching. They can be sharpened and erased easily. Artists also use colored pencils. Artists can use them to add color quickly without waiting for ink or paint to dry. Some artists use tools other than pencils. One of these tools is a special pen called a dip pen. It gets that name because you must dip it in a jar of ink to use it. The artist may also use a quill, which is the pointy end of a feather. Watercolor painting is another way to add color and detail. The artist mixes the colors and paints them with a brush. quill in ink watercolor painting2424page0024page0024.xhtmlMathematics Shrink It Many artists measure the plants they draw. This helps them keep their artwork in proportion. If they draw a plant half its normal height, then they also draw it half its normal width. This is called drawing to scale.2525page0025page0025.xhtmlModern Technology Artists use many tools. Pencils, pens, and brushes are some of them. These are traditional tools. They have been used for a long time. Modern tools, such as computers, are used, too. Botanical artists practice for many years. Most start out with pencils. Then, they move on to paint. Some learn how to draw on tablet computers with special pens. There are special programs just for drawing. They allow artists to erase and add color, just like they can with pencils and paper. Unlike paper, however, you can use a tablet over and over again. Sketches can be saved on the tablet instead of in drawers. Botanical artists can use traditional tools, modern tools, or a mix of both. But the goal is still the same. They want to make a plant come to life through art. This woman uses a computer to draw.2626page0026page0026.xhtmlBotanical illustrator Wendy Hollender uses pencils and colored pencils to draw a peanut plant. Scientific illustrators also work in other areas of science. Some draw living animals, such as insects, or even extinct animals, such as dinosaurs.2727page0027page0027.xhtmlThe Need for Botanical Illustrators Keeping records is an important part of science. People can learn from records that have been saved. Botanical illustrators work with scientists to make records of all of the plants they find. These records help pass on what we know about plants. Future scientists can learn from these records and add to them. One day, some of the plants that have been drawn may become extinct. People will not be able to go and look at the plant in the wild anymore. The record will be all that is left. Studying extinct plants and animals may help in the future. People can use these records to learn about what caused plants to die. And they may find ways to protect the plants that are still around. Drawings that are being made today can help people in the future. Tangerini draws a plant outside.2828page0028page0028.xhtmlThis drawing shows what life may have looked like millions of years ago. This illustrator draws underwater!2929page0029page0029.xhtmlSTEAM CHALLENGE Define the Problem Sometimes, botanical illustrators preserve plants before they draw them. Other times, they go to the plants in nature. You have been asked to make an illustration of a plant in your neighborhood. Your task is to find the best way to get a detailed drawing of your specimen that is easily identified by someone else. Constraints : The plant must be drawn with the specimen in front of you and not from memory. Criteria : Draw a plant using as many details as you can to help a partner identify the plant.3030page0030page0030.xhtml1 Research and Brainstorm Where do artists find plants? How do artists collect specimens? What are the pros and cons to collecting a specimen? What are the pros and cons to drawing a specimen in the field? 2 Design and Build Make a detailed plan for how you will draw your plant. Will you draw it outside where it is growing? What materials and tools will you use to draw it? Then, follow your plan and make your drawing. 3 Test and Improve After making your illustration, show it to a partner. Can they identify the plant? How can you improve it? Modify your plan, and try again. 4 Reflect and Share Think about your experience. What went well? What did not?3131page0031page0031.xhtmlGlossary absorb to take in or soak up something, usually a liquid accurate free from mistakes or errors botanists people who work in a branch of biology that studies plants categories groups that include similar things exhibits public shows, usually for art explorers people who travel to discover new places fossils traces or prints of the remains of plants or animals preserved in earth or rock graphite a gray mineral that leaves marks on surfaces; used inside pencils herb a type of plant with a strong smell and taste, used for cooking, perfume, and medicine hired given work in exchange for money proportion having the correct shape and being the correct distance apart records documents that tell about past events species a group of plants or animals that are similar and can produce young subjects things that are the focus of study3232page0032page0032.xhtmlIndex art materials Bartram, William botany dip pen ecological explorers herbals herbaria Hollender, Wendy Linnaean style Linnaeus, Carl modern technology parts of the plant pencils plant press preservation quill rules Tangerini, Alice watercolor3333page0033page0033.xhtmlCareer Advice from Smithsonian Do you want to draw nature? Here are some tips to get you started. "To me, all plants are works of art. Capturing their beauty on paper is challenging, but I can't imagine doing anything else! When I was a child, I used to draw the birds and insects I saw in our backyard. Draw every chance you get! " Alice Tangerini, Illustrator "Botanical illustration is very precise. You must get every part of the plant just right. This takes a lot of attention to detail. Sometimes, I study a plant for hours. Only when I feel like I really 'know' the plant do I start drawing. " Rusty Russell, former Botany Collections Manager of the National Herbarium3434page0034page0034.xhtmlRead and Respond 1. How did people use botanical illustrations in the past? 2. How do botanical illustrators preserve plants? 3. What is important about the ecological style of drawing? 4. What personality traits would a botanical illustrator need to have? 5. What types of things might change the job of a botanical illustrator in the future? 6. Think of the top five questions that you would ask if you had the chance to interview a botanical illustrator.3535page0035page0035.xhtmlBotanical Illustration Imagine having a job where you get paid to draw plants! That's what botanical illustrators do. Learn about this job, the tools that are used, and how it helps science. Get inside the mind of an illustrator, and learn about plants. In this job, the beauty is in the details.36