Illustration + Nature Sketching
I’m excited to announce that I have a new online course ready for you, it’s called Sketchbook Composition and Layout.This class is all about how to create beautiful and interesting sketchbook pages. It will introduce you to basic layout and composition principles you can use on each page and in each sketch, so that your …
In this bird painting video, I show a detailed painting of a ruby-throated hummingbird. These little creatures are amazingly colorful and with their iridescent feathers they look like sparkling jewels. So sketching a hummingbird can only be an attempt at capturing their exceptional beauty. In hindsight and after studying more references of this particular bird, …
From time to time I like to try out new paints to see if they fit my way of working. Receiving and trying out new paint is always exciting, even if it’s not strictly necessary. I’ve been interested in Holbein watercolor paints for a while, since they’re often described as very transparent, very even paints, …
Here’s my next video from my landscape sketching series about folk tale landscapes. In this series, I’m looking for landscapes that could be the background for local legends and folk tales. I’m not looking to illustrate any of the stories themselves, I’m just interested in the mood and atmosphere behind these stories and I’m looking …
Lately I’ve been thinking about composition and how I design my sketchbook pages a lot, so today I’ll share a few of my thoughts on the process. It can make a huge difference if you place an element on the right or the left, if you draw it big or small, so it’s worth thinking …
This week’s video features a really special bird: the lapwing (Vanellus vanellus). This small black-and-white bird with the characteristic crest is endangered in Germany by extensive agriculture (highly threatened status on the German Red List). Watch the video to hear some interesting cultural anecdotes about this bird, and learn how to paint iridescent feathers – …
In this week’s bird video, I show how you can use ink for sketching and add watercolor on top later. This is a great way to create more solid, pronounced linework, and you still have color. For this one I used a dip nib for more modulated lines, but you can also use a fountain …
Finally, here’s the first video from my new landscape sketching series about folk tale landscapes. In this series, I’m looking for landscapes that could be the background for local legends and folk tales. I’m not looking to illustrate any of the stories themselves, I’m just interested in the mood and atmosphere behind these stories and …
I’ve found a few bird painting videos that I recorded a while ago and then forgot about (2020 is a huge blur in my memory). The first one I’ll share is a painting demo for a blue jay – an exceptionally beautiful bird with an interesting range of blues in the plumage. I decided to …
Winter is a good time to watch and sketch birds, so this sketchbook tour will be full of birds. There is little else going on here at the moment, we had quite a bit of snow that’s thawing now, and anything more than walks in the neighborhood is out of the the question. Hope you …
Many countries, including Germany where I live, are in the middle of more or less strict lockdown restrictions at the moment. We’re also in the middle of winter, which doesn’t make this whole situation easier. I’ve heard of a lot of people who are beginning to feel burned out, or are in the middle of …
In the last post, I wrote about how I use greens in my landscape sketches. I explained why I think it’s useful to have premixed convenience greens, but why I always change them a bit to make them less intense. Today, I want to take a very practical look at different green mixes. I have …
Landscape sketches can succeed or fail with the combination of colors we use. Green is a predominant color everywhere in nature, so it’s important to look at how you use your greens when you’re painting a landscape sketch. There are a ton of different green shades out there, yet landscapes usually work best when you …
I’ve finally found a setup for my gouache palette that I really like. Here’s a video version of the post in which I show the palette in detail: My favorite gouache palette setup As some of you know, I’ve been painting more with gouache paint last year. What I didn’t mention is that it always …
So how did I get started on the topic of magical landscapes? Today we’ll take a look on my artistic background and what I have in mind for my landscape sketching this year. Read part one to learn what’s important for me in landscape painting, how I think about landscapes, and how they connect to …