Botanical Illustration from Life: A visual guide to observing, drawing and painting plants

As someone who is newly enrolled in Botanical Illustration/Art courses in real life, I found this book to have as much value as what I am learning in the classes. So clear & beautifully put together! Its obvious Isik Güner is not only a very passionate and experienced artist in her field, but understands how to guide a student/learner through the paths of practice. I have a few other educational/instructional botanical illustration books, but this one stands out as an original. Highly recommended!

I liked the scientific detail used in water coloring the botanical illustrations.

One of the best books i've found on the subject. It teaches the ins and outs of botanical illustration without getting too bogged down in lengthy prose. I would recommend it for anyone interested in taking up the hobby.

I use this book as a reference for watercolour technique for botanical art. It is clear and well put together

Great illustrations but the pages are all so shiny that it is difficult to write notes.

Substantial and very interesting. High quality paper and colors.

I love everything about this book! Beautiful illustrations and comprehensive explanations. Offers a scientific approach

WARNING: This is an in depth review of this book to help people truly interested in making an informed buying decision. For a brief summary, see section marked THE BOTTOM LINE-------------------------------I am an artist, I want to start out by saying that. I work in a variety of media from watercolor to pencil to colored pencil, right on up to fiber and resin. There are certain things that appeal to me in art books. Let's take an in depth look at this book to see if it is right for you.WHAT IS THIS BOOK LIKE?At first glance, this book is boring to me who am HIGHLY motivated by color, texture,, and energy in design. I can and to paint painstakingly detailed and precise, and I also paint randomnly and free flowing - almost holding the hand of serendipity.COLORThe pages that include a lot of full color illustrations are minimal. There are quite a few pages with partially colored illustrations or very low key color-wise illustrations. The advice on color and how to use it and create contrast is not at all the way that I use color. I find that it is very sedate- to the point of boring. That does not mean that I want to go around painting botanical illustrations like they belong under a black lite at a pot party.What it means is that the depth created by color and texture is just lacking in this book. It is not at all motivating to me except perhaps just to see if I can not do a much better job, which in itself might be a good thing.DETAILIf you are a detail person, then this might be a book for you. This book will teach you how to examine plants, position them, and capture detail. The specific parts of plants are laid out in pretty good detail. There are tips for each part of the plant laid out in separate chapters, making it easy to isolate what it is that you ant to do.ACCURACY AND PROCESSThere are quite a few pages that give tips on how to measure, lay out, and put your drawings onto paper and construct them into illustrations trying to get the best enhanced accuracy you can. That is a good thing and will be helpful to a point.DRAWINGThere are tips on drawing which is an important foundation before you start to paint. These instructions are pretty good, but not superlative.ARE THERE EXERCISES TO DO?Yes, she does have some things that you can practice with to start getting your drawing and painting skills going. It is basic, but still helpful to get started.IS THIS FOR BEGINNERS AND HOW MUCH CAN YOU LEARN?This book is a good foundation in some ways and lacking in others (such as color and how to use color/texture to give 3D appearances better). This will be helpful to get from one point to another in some aspects, tub it is not for those who are highly visual and need to be walked step by step through process at first to learn how to capture what you see on paper.I would suggest that you have some drawing/painting practice and/or instruction under your belt prior to trying to use this book.IS THIS A GOOD GIFT?If you have someone you know who loves very placid botanical drawings that are very subdued color-wise, have some accuracy and detail, and who want to aspire to draw and paint this way, then this will be a great book for them. That is especially true of they do well book learning and are not highly visual only.WHO MIGHT NOT LIKE THIS BOOK?If bright colors and contrast excite and motivate you or if you are the type who want to have step by step instructions to mimic what an artist is doing before you learn your own style, this book might not be what you want. If you prefer to do things more spontaneously and flow with whatever you are doing without much planning, again, this might not be your type of book.THE BOTTOM LINEThis is a nice book. The author has a very peaceful way of doing pictures. They tend a bit toward the mundane/boring for my color preferences, but the accuracy and process are such that it is possible to learn some things and put your own spin on them. It would make a nice gift for someone with similar taste as this author as the instruction will mean more to that type of person.MY RATINGFOUR STARS. This is a nice solid book, I did learn some things from it and I will use it. It will not be one that I grab constantly though. It tends to be more for those days when I have time to really think and plan to see if I might take what she does and turn it around to fit my own style. I can see it being used for a lot of botanical illustration purposes and am glad to have it in my library. If I had limited funds and could only afford a few books, this would probably not be one of them, however.

This is a brilliant book for anyone who is interested in the process of making botanical illustrations. Designed to appeal to artists, illustrators, botanists and plant lovers, it is written with warmth and generosity and a great love for plants. It's basically a how-to book but with all sorts of extra information, insights and observations from this highly regarded professional botanical artist and teacher. There are some great contributions from other experts too. Full of beautiful illustrations, Isik Guner takes the reader on a delightful journey through all aspects of observing, drawing and painting plants for scientific accuracy and aesthetic appeal. The book makes a welcome contribution to the botanical artist's bookshelf in that the emphasis throughout the book is on making work from direct observations of living plants. Isik gives the reader lots of useful insights into the craft of working with these difficult subjects, including clear and detailed step-by step examinations of methods of creating botanical artworks. There is also some very wise advice for helping to think around problemmatic areas and knotty issues.I recommend this book to anyone who loves art and plants. In particular, I urge all students, practioners and enthusiasts of botanical art to rush out and buy a copy!

This book was full of beautiful illustrations on every page.The colour reproduction was excellent. There was a good number of step by step instructions which were very clear and informative. I always have trouble with leaves especially the veining. There was a very good section on that explaining the placement of shadows veins and so on. It was clear enough for beginners and detailed enough for more experienced botanical artists. I would highly recommend this book.

This book is great for those who are just starting painting flowers or even those who have been doing botanical painting for some time. It is informative and easy to understand and forms a good foundation for upcoming artists, showing how to observe and re-create the wonder of flowers in the final work.

Beautifully produced book, packed with information and guidance for anyone interested in Botanical Illustration. A serious study in how to observe plants and portray their characteristics. Highly recommend.

..this book is fabulous....covers everything you need to know about drawing and painting botanical pictures...definitely a must have book for the beginner and for those needing a refresher