Botanical Illustration 2 Certificate Course
Course Tutor Jo Konopelko
Course overview
This course is for experienced artists who are seeking to develop their skills and learn the techniques of Botanical Illustration.
This is an area with its 'roots' in science and therefore accuracy and an eye for detail are very important.
There is a study unit on the watercolour techniques required for botanical illustrations, but the course does not cover drawing skills.
The course is very highly illustrated and it gives many tips about how to create high quality Botanical illustrations. We then move into the techniques required to produce the different textures found in nature, which the botanical artist needs to be able to reproduce.
The importance of light, shade and shadow in creating a 3-d feel to the picture is explained and demonstrated, as well as the technique of underpainting with shadow modelling before overpainting.
The fascinating history of printing botanical illustrations is explored, as understanding how the effects were created in historical illustrations helps us to understand the subject today. It is especially useful when we move on to pen and ink drawing as it aids understanding as how to create different textures.
Colours are looked at and considered, including colour mixing and how to build your own colour chart. From here we move on the how different mediums alter the watercolour and change the way it handles.
In order to give practical demonstrations of how Botanical Illustrations are built up, two step-by-step paintings are included in the course along with details as to how the illustrations were developed and the how the different techniques were used.
Support
All our courses are written to be complete in themselves. However we realise that students may appreciate being able to get clarification about various things as they work through their programme as well wanting reassurance that they are putting techniques into practice effectively. The Administration Centre is available seven days a week and the Course Artist provides the technical support to deal with relevant queries.
Most courses have their own dedicated Course Artist. The Course Artist keeps the course up to date and relevant to today's students. They are available to the individual student for advice and encouragement. Each course has regular exercises and assignments that are constructed in such a way as to give the student the opportunity to practice the techniques learnt on the course and to test themselves as they go along. The student is encouraged to submit the assignment work to the college for the Course Artist to critique. The student's work will be returned together with the Course Artist's personal critique. On many courses the assignment work may be suitable for inclusion in a student's Portfolio of Work that could be very useful later. The college will use the assignments submitted as the basis for any award of a Diploma or Certificate.
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