Botanical drawings

[Adolf Ceska]

Good book on botanical illustration is:

Botanical illustration: preparation for publication / by Noel H.  Holmgren
& Bobbi Angell.  Bronx, N.Y., USA : New York Botanical Garden, 1986. 

It is an excellent guide. We wondered (my wife is a fine botanical artist) 
about the time estimates given in the book. Bobbi Angell has to draw VERY,
VERY fast (and some people told us that she does). 

Botanical education of the artist is equally important as the technique. I
saw a perfect picture of Erythronium that had sepals. Botanical artists
should know, not only how the plant looks like, but also how it should
look. The maple on the Canadian one-cent coin has alternate leaves,
whereas the German 10-Pfennig coin has an oak branch with opposite leaves. 
Obviously those two coins would fail as a botanical illustration.

Adolf Ceska, Victoria, B.C., Canada

On Fri, 23 Feb 2001, Steven Dessein wrote:

> Dear all,
> 
> I¹m in search for a good book about preparing botanical drawings from
> herbarium material. I¹m especially interested in a step by step guide with
> clear examples. Can somebody tell me which book is the best. At the moment I
> have two options, but probably there are better books?