Allison
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Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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I went to one of my favorite sit spots yesterday afternoon. It was windy and a bit chilly, but I was able to observe and sketch for about 45 minutes. Because of my training as an academic biologist my nature journal is always going to look more like a field notebook than a personal journal. I'm trying to learn how to let go and be more relaxed with the journal. Making observations comes easily to me. Getting them down on paper in a sketchbook is a whole other kettle of fish.
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I've found that I like using shading to depict light and dark, even though it takes longer than hatching or scribbling. In the field I'll probably use more hatching, especially contour hatching, as it's pretty fast and effective. Stippling goes way too slowly for me to use in the field, but I drew some illustrations for my dissertation using stippling, and it is a very good way to depict both light/shadow and curvature. I want to get better at depicting 3-dimensional objects on my pages. It'll take a lot of practice. Does anybody else have trouble seeing the reflected light?
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That's lovely! I hope I can someday achieve sketches like yours!
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1. I haven't done much drawing from photos, and it felt a little strange. It is very nice having a model that isn't constantly moving, though! Drawing from the photo made it easier to get overall proportions and the angles of the beak and feet correct--although I definitely didn't get things quite right. It is always a challenge for me to not try to get things exactly right, and to be okay when they aren't (and they usually aren't). I have to keep reminding myself that nature journaling isn't about creating art. It's about recording observations, which I already know how to do, in a format I'm not familiar with and using skills I don't yet have.
2. Drawing always makes me notice things I wouldn't otherwise see. That's why I have all of my students do some drawing. In this example I paid close attention to the angles of the wing feathers. Not that you can tell from my drawing!
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1. I've been nature journaling off and on since graduate school. I am a marine biologist, college biology professor, and general naturalist. I have the observation skills, but have never really been satisfied by my attempts to draw/sketch what I see. I'm much better with words. I hope that the lessons in this class give me some ideas for how to more accurately depict what I observe in nature, and give me courage to spend more time with my nature journal without having to worry about making things pretty. 2. I like the idea of using boxes to organize both text and drawings on a page. My pages tend to be boring, and I'm going to try using boxes to add interest and keep things nicely organized. I also find the idea of a monthly journal inspiring--I might start that in 2020! 3. I guess my most active nature journaling is my natural history blog. I post photos there and write about natural phenomena. In the past few years I've become very interested in nature photography and would like to find a way to incorporate that skill in my nature journal. Maybe the best thing is to keep the blog going, with photos and occasional drawings, for public consumption and keep my journal just for me.
1. I haven't done much drawing from photos, and it felt a little strange. It is very nice having a model that isn't constantly moving, though! Drawing from the photo made it easier to get overall proportions and the angles of the beak and feet correct--although I definitely didn't get things quite right. It is always a challenge for me to not try to get things exactly right, and to be okay when they aren't (and they usually aren't). I have to keep reminding myself that nature journaling isn't about creating art. It's about recording observations, which I already know how to do, in a format I'm not familiar with and using skills I don't yet have.
2. Drawing always makes me notice things I wouldn't otherwise see. That's why I have all of my students do some drawing. In this example I paid close attention to the angles of the wing feathers. Not that you can tell from my drawing! Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)