Illustrating Nature course

art

I’ve been slowly making my way through the Illustrating Nature course by Laura McKendry on Domestika. I wanted to start dipping more into how to use watercolours, and although this course doesn’t cover watercolour basics I was really drawn to Laura’s non-traditional and energetic mixed-media illustrations.

This course is all about creative experimentation, making mistakes, playing with different media and different ways of referencing subjects. I’ve mostly been doing the tasks in my regular [[ sketchbooks/Sketchbook 1 ]], which is not exactly made for watercolour or pencils, but is fun to flip back through and see the things that I’ve done. It really feels like the beginning of something, where I’m not too concerned about the quality of the result as much as what I can learn whilst doing it. I feel so creatively energised trying all these different techniques!

I’m still yet to do my “final” pieces, but here’s some of my quick studies so far, mixed in with random journal bits.

Photo of a sketchbook page - an ink and pencil sketch of a collection of foraged objects, including leaves, gumnuts, and a piece torn from a Christmas card

Photo of a sketchbook page - experimental mark making with ink

Photo of a sketchbook page - mark making inspired by kangaroos; a page drawn from frames of a video about kangaroos

Photo of a sketchbook page - notes from the course about drawing in nature; sketches from my courtyard of trees, my dog, my outdoor couch

Photo of a sketchbook page - sketches of Perth birds, deciding on a final subject

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango studies in watercolour + pencil

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango studies in watercolour + pencil

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango studies, various media

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango study, collage and watercolour

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango study, markers

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango study, markers

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango study, markers

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango study, markers

Photo of a sketchbook page - mango study, markers