Illustration + Nature Sketching
My approach on sketching landscapes in my sketchbook is that I want to catch the impression of a place while keeping the process quick – and I have basically two modes of landscape sketching: as a part of my journaling page, these are quick, 10-15 minute loose sketches; and as a standalone painting in my …
There are a few tools beside the usual sketching materials (brushes, paint, sketchbook) that I’ve come to really appreciate, because they make my sketching kit so much more practical. Faber-Castell pencil sharpener cap This is sold as a package with a (short) pencil with eraser, and a cap to protect the pencil tip, but the …
I always try to take this mini sketching kit with me whenever I head outside, so that I always have the opportunity to sketch something when I have nothing to do or see something interesting. In this kit I just have very basic tools – pencil, sketchbook, and a bit of ink and color. I …
For the last video in this short series of butterfly painting videos I chose to sketch a moth. Drawing moths follows similar rules as for butterflies, you work with the same triangle shape and just switch it around. The Russian Bear (also called Spanish flag or Jersey tiger) is a big moth (over 50mm) with …
Another eye-catching but small butterfly is the green hairstreak, with iridescent green wing undersides. They never rest with their wings open (the overside is a dull brown). In German, the name relates to brambles (blackberries), but they actually have a large variety of food plants. The green wing color gives them great camouflage. I chose …
Sketching maps can be a lot of fun.Here I’ve drawn a map of the places I’m most active in right now, and that area actually spans through an entire park, over a river and across several fields. I thought it would be fun to note and draw the animal encounters that I often have – …
Swallowtails are among the most beautiful and diverse butterflies I know. The majority of the species live in the tropics, but you can find members of this family all over the world. Tropical swallowtails can be quite colorful and large, but the species that we have in Europe and North America also are beautiful eye-catchers. …
When I asked around among my students a while back what kind of butterfly tutorial they wanted as an update for the butterfly sketching class, I got a lot of votes for the monarch butterfly.I hadn’t included one in my previous lessons, and this was obviously an oversight on my part, because they’re one of …
I’ve just published a big update to my butterfly sketching class with lots of new tutorials and re-filmed versions of existing ones. The update is free for existing students! After a quick introduction to butterfly anatomy (I find it helps tremendously to know what you’re drawing), I show my process for sketching butterflies easily in …
Take your time to observe and get to know a single plant with your sketchbook. Recently I’ve been drawing the plants and trees around me, and it’s fascinating how much you can get from even the tiniest or unremarkable weed. I reserve one page for each plant, and try to find out as much as …
As promised I’ll show a few of my plein air landscape sketches today. I’ve always been fond of landscape painting, and after nature journaling outdoors for a few years, I wanted to take my landscape sketches a step further. So this summer I’ve tried to go out for plein air painting more often, and although …
I’m back from my summer break, and I’ve brought new sketchbook outtakes with me. I haven’t shared what I’ve been up to in my sketchbook for a while, so I thought this would be a nice opener. Over the last weeks I’ve spent time on personal projects like getting better at plein air landscape painting …
Here’s part two of my Q&A about quitting social media. This time we’re looking at more personal questions, as well as my take on social media for artist communities and as a learning tool. Read part one of the Q&A here, or my original post on why I quit social media from last year. If …
One year ago, I quit social media and deleted my profiles forever. I’ve asked you what you’d like to know in an update, and you sent me many questions (Thanks everyone!!): about how my year went, what changed for me business-wise and personally and what I do differently without these services. I got a lot …
I want to share a quick tip with you today. This can help you when you’re afraid of getting started in a new sketchbook, or if you want to experiment more, or if you just want to save money on supplies: Try making your own sketchbooks. Here’s the video version of this post: If you …