{"id":6178,"date":"2018-12-03T17:17:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T21:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevirtualinstructor.com\/blog\/?p=6178"},"modified":"2019-06-27T20:31:37","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T00:31:37","slug":"herbarium-nature-drawing-ink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevirtualinstructor.com\/blog\/herbarium-nature-drawing-ink","title":{"rendered":"Create a Herbarium – Nature Drawing with Ink"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Herbarium<\/div>\n
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What is a Herbarium?<\/h2>\n

A herbarium is simply a collection of botanical specimens found in nature. These specimens are often collected and preserved in the pages of books or mounted on large sheets of paper. They are flattened and dried. As a result, they maintain their structure. In most cases, a herbarium is created for scientific study. As artists however, we can create them for reference and inspiration.<\/p>\n

Chances are that at sometime in the past you gathered various leaves, flowers, cones, twigs, and other natural curiosities. Materials of this kind could be stacked in a box, like a precious treasure in a chest. Others might find their place in books \u2013 or under anything flat and heavy enough to create pressure.<\/p>\n

Dried leaves fade in color but keep their shape. They become a silent reminder of seasons that were long gone. There is something nostalgic and magical about them in their frozen state.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you still like gathering these wonderful gifts of nature and collecting them. In this post, I\u2019ll show you the benefits of having a herbarium and how we can use those special \u201cbotanical treasure chests\u201d to create ink drawings from nature.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll transform your raw materials into drawings, which leads to new possibilities for your art.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s find inspiration and create a drawing from nature!<\/p>\n

\"Herbarium<\/p>\n

Using a Herbarium for Nature Drawing<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ll create a drawing of fern leaves, acorns, maple catkins, a chestnut, and small parts of coniferous twigs. The objects are quite varied, which makes this project more interesting.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not striving for a precise representation of one specific leaf or chestnut. Professional botanical\/scientific illustrators do this when they work on an illustration. Here we’re simply creating a drawing from nature where our concerns for aesthetics outweigh exact accuracy.<\/p>\n

However, if you wish to make an exact copy of any subject, feel free to do so. You may also choose to deviate from the subjects that I demonstrate below. Perhaps you\u2019ll prefer drawing a maple leaf instead of fern or a fir cone instead of acorns.<\/p>\n

My goal is to capture the distinctive features<\/strong> of each specimen and translate my observations into a pen and ink drawing<\/a>. I recommend collecting several specimens of the same kind so that you have a few to compare. If you don\u2019t have access to any real materials, try finding several photos to work from.<\/p>\n

The sketches that we create are aimed at broadening the artist\u2019s visual library and gaining more confidence when creating new drawings. At the end of this post, I\u2019ll share a couple of examples of drawings created from imagination. These drawings were created only after having some experience drawing from direct observation.<\/p>\n

Pen and Ink Supplies for This Drawing<\/h2>\n

For this project, I\u2019ll be using:<\/p>\n