Hello! Your scientific illustration are strikingly beautiful! I would really like to learn to illustrate like that. I tried to draw some simple things (like just the shape/core details of some fishes and shells and plants from my garden and the local museum). It's fun, but I don't really know what I am doing, lol. I never took an art class or something like that. I was wondering how did you get so good at it? Like, are there some "steps" I can follow to get at least decent at scientific illustrations? Sorry if you have already answered somewhere and for my grammar (English is not my first language). Have a nice day!
Hi!! Thank you so much that's really nice of you to say ♥ I'm glad you like my illustrations!
Unfortunately I don't have very guided advice to give, or any set steps you need to take.
I think I have two main pieces of advice. First, to keep doing what you're doing - which is draw from life! That could be either photos or real life (I think it's super cool that you go out to the museum and your garden to draw!!). There's no substitute for practice. Especially if you want to focus on a certain group of species, like I do with cetaceans, drawing and looking at them a lot can really help you develop an eye for their specifics. You get to "know" them in a sense and develop a feel for what looks right and what doesn't.
Secondly, look at other scientific illustrators that you admire!! Not for reference, because I wholly believe that our references should always be the real organism (certain super rare no-photos-available species notwithstanding) . Every artist makes mistakes and you don't want to double the mistakes in your own illustration by adding those of another.
But look at their styles. Their use of colours. Do they try to make all the species pop and look very different or do they utilise colour to create a sense of unity across their illustrations? How do they use shadow and lighting? Do they shade their illustrations strongly or are their animals evenly lit from all sides? What kind of poses do they use? Dynamic or still? Find artists that you like, look at their websites/portfolio. And honestly, study/copy some of their work or at least their style! Not as a permanent solution (or as something that you publish, unless you have their permission), but as a way to get a feel for what in their illustrations you like. You'll continually evolve, and finding new artists that inspire you will mean you'll pick up new tricks, details, ways to portray certain aspects of your illustrations.
For me it started with the illustrations by Brett Jarett. I was amazed that someone would illustrate different ages, genders and populations of cetaceans. I loved that!! It's what got me so hooked on cetacean variation now. When I was a kid I endlessly tried to make field guides like his. But there have been several illustrators in the years since then that had a profound impact on my work. Their use of colours, ways of painting flukes, drawing markings or working on proportions all left a mark on my work. You'll probably have similar "aha erlebnissen" as you go along. Changing the way you look at ears, or defining the way you draw paws, or giving you the perfect technique to draw leaf veins.
So just draw, draw, and evermore absorb little bits of the world around you in your art as you go along!
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