Botanical art combines both art and science in myriad ways. Botanical illustrators strive to record the life cycle, colour, shapes, structures and habitats of plants while also providing a pleasing image. It is a scientific tradition that dates back to centuries. Nirupa Rao is a botanical illustrator, who guided us through the process of illustrating each unique detail of a plant.
30 August 2020
In this workshop, we learnt how to create botanical illustrations under Nirupa’s guidance. With a flick brush, we were able to bring the vibrancy of a leaf to life.
This was a beginners’ workshop that explored botanical illustration, but more advanced participants were free to work at their own level. It consisted of an introductory theoretical session and a hands on component.
Materials required -
Unruled paper
Pencil, eraser, sharpener
Ruler
Additional material of your choice (pen, watercolor, color pencil—this workshop will not deal with oil/acrylic)
A flower, leaf or potted plant of your choice
About the Facilitator
Nirupa Rao is a botanical illustrator from Bangalore. A National Geographic Explorer, Nirupa received a grant to create her book Hidden Kingdom—Fantastical Plants of the Western Ghats. She has also published Pillars of Life—Magnificent Trees of the Western Ghats in collaboration with naturalists Divya Mudappa and TR Shankar Raman of the Nature Conservation Foundation. She illustrated the cover of Amitav Ghosh's latest novel, Gun Island, and re-jacketed four prior novels for Penguin-Random House. She recently participated in a Plant Humanities program at Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Centre, and collaborated with the Centre for Wildlife Studies on Wild Shaale, an environmental education program for rural school-going children.
Thank you for visiting PHYTOPIA. We would love for you to share your thoughts and experience about this programme here!