Pen and ink Illustration of Downy Birch

Real time botanical illustration showing how you can use pen and ink to illustrate the leaves and catkins of the Downy birch, Betula pubescens.

Using stippling (lots of tiny dots) and line work, the film shows how to blend areas of shadow into a leaf, and how to accentuate veins and details of a plant.

As always, the film is accompanied with my explanations and chatter as the illustration is completed.

You can also check out my accompanying blog: https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2021/07/st...

This illustration will appear in "The Tree Line: The Last forest and the future of life on the planet" by Ben Rawlence, published January 2022 (  / the-treeline  )

The original is available to buy from my website: https://lizzieharper.co.uk/product/do...
Please email me on info@lizzieharper.co.uk if interested.

Equipment:

Unipin fineline water and fade proof ink pens 0.1 and 0.05 width

Daler Rowney smooth heavyweight cartridge paper 135 lb/ 220 gsm

References mentioned in the film:

"The Living Wisdom of Trees" by Fred Hageneder

BBC 6 Music and BBC World service radio stations

Wooden bikes: /www.twmpacycles.co.uk

Lucy Smith (waterlily illustrator): www.lucytsmith.com

Julia Trickey talks on Botanical illustration: www.juliatrickey.co.uk › talks







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