I’ve been hearing great horned owls from my home for the past few weeks (as they move into their breeding season), and it inspired me to draw this:
Great Horned Owl
Category: Illustration
Natural History Illustration
Earlier this year, I completed an online certificate through the University of Newcastle, Australia: “NHI101x: Drawing Nature, Science, and Culture: Natural History Illustration 101.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this 6-week course, and it genuinely helped me improve my illustration skills. Partly due to the techniques we learned and practiced, but possibly more important, by boosting my confidence as I worked through the assignments successfully. I am wholly satisfied with my progress, and am already planning to take another course in illustration in January (this time, focusing specifically on digital artwork).
My final project:
Here are some additional examples of the work I did during the course:
Ecosystem Exploration
This week, I’m using some Virtual Field materials in one of my classes (Ecosystem Exploration: https://thevirtualfield.org/virtual…/ecosystem-exploration).
In addition to the questions provided with the videos, I’m going to ask them to do some additional field journaling, including sketches. Here are the two I drew as examples (based on the Mojave Desert video), to give them some inspiration. (They aren’t expected to render things as completely as the tortoise, but the level of detail in the plant illustration should be doable by everyone).
As an aside, I think that Gopherus agassizii was the first scientific name I ever learned. My parents had hand towels with these tortoises (along with the name). Wow. It’s not actually too surprising that I’m such a nerd.
