Presented in a very clean way, the selected pieces stand out in all their beauty and color. I have been in a watercolor school for a few months and appreciating these paintings is very inspiring, as well as how enriching it was to read the Tips for each painting. You can see works with interesting styles of various artistic influences, peculiar looks that capture the light in a subjective and personal way, some with delicate brushstrokes and others with complex composition.
The style that seems most attractive to me is the realistic one, but I really admire the loose wet-on-wet style, with transparent stains that suggest the subject, give it movement and spontaneity. I enjoyed flipping through this book from start to finish, I am a hobbyis enthusiast of contemporary watercolor.

I love this book and it is a great point of reference for any artist's bookshelf. Full of techniques with plenty of room for experimentation, this will inspire you to look more closely at plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables as you take inspiration from them for your artwork. There are examples of different media such as paint, pencil, charcoal, watercolour etc.
A great stimulus or jumping off point for your own artwork, and a lovely addition to the art classroom.

This is a book of beautiful examples of botanical art, although I would say painted rather than drawn. I'm an amateur artist, and while it inspired me somewhat, it didn't offer a lot in the way of practical help. However, it is nevertheless a worthwhile addition to the artist's bookshelf, for inspirational purposes.
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy.

The works in this book are beautiful. This artist is extremely talented. However, most of the work is beyond beginners and the drawings and paintings are not explained in any detail. This is not a how-to book. It gives this wanna-be artist no assistance in learning.

This book is absolutely stunning. The pages are filled with gorgeous inspiring artwork and illustrations.

The artwork spans beautiful drawings and paintings of botanical's, flowers, leaves, fruit, and so much more.

The colors are so vivid and compelling it is truly inspirational. However, this is not a how-to book. Each two page spread shows the artwork on one page and the other tells you a little bit about that piece and the artist, along with a tip related to it's creation and the type of medium used. this book mostly contains painted and mixed media art and does not include many drawings but I absolutely love the book anyway.

The examples are just amazing and completed with a very high level of expertise. This book has no step by step tutorials but is worth its weight in gold for inspiration and beauty alone. All of the artwork shown has been created by real and accomplished artists.

It is filled with some great tips and discusses editing on the computer which, was very fascinating and more cutting edge graphic work but highly valuable information.

I loved loved loved this book!!! The layout, the art, the everything!!! I would literally buy this as a conversational piece on display on my coffee table and for friends. I really can't say enough about it. What a joy to read!!!

I received this book from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing for an honest review. Thank you sooo much this was an incredible read!!!

AUTHOR

Helen Birch is the collator of this unique compendium of magnificent literary work of art. She lives in Manchester, United Kingdom.

WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE

This is suitable for any epicurean of exceptional artistic expertise.

SYNOPSIS

This work is far more than a coffee table book. It is of Gallery quality in its presentation and content. The publication consists of a corollary of disparate international artists, united in their ability to illustrate 90 plants and flowers to an extraordinary level.

The book has full-page spreads of incredibly detailed botanical subjects, from a broad range of subjects. The professional expertise shines through on page after page. This level of artistic skill requires many thousands of hours of practical and theoretical application; with each painting requiring days or weeks of work to complete.

Whilst this is not a training manual for aspiring artists, it would make for an invaluable tool for anyone wanting to attain a higher competency in their craft.

The artistic styles and objects vary throughout the literature, thereby presenting a diverse and interesting presentation across the book. The author includes descriptions of each piece and suggested methods should the reader wish to attempt a similar subject. The format of the display pages has illustrations on one page and the previously mentioned tips and information on the other.

The fulcrum of the work is the Gallery. Alongside the gallery is a student to professional resource where there is some guidance on how to get started in botanical painting. The author includes reference pages and bibliographies for further study.

CONCLUSION

This is a stunning treasure of skill and ability created by a collection of global painters. It would increase the beauty and visual value of any bookcase or home library. Just Draw Botanicals has elevated the standard of botanical drawing compositions exceedingly high, forsaking many others.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My sincere thanks go to Helen Birch, NetGalley, and White Lion Publishing for affording me the opportunity to review Just Draw Botanicals.

3.5-4 Stars! Good book if you’re looking for inspiration. This book does give a few tips and a bunch of pictures but it’s not really a step by step teaching book. This is more of a inspiration for botanical painting pictures!
*I received this book at no charge from the publisher and I voluntarily left a review.*

Absolutely stunning illustrations. Unfortunately it is more for people who can already draw so much skillset wasn't up to scratch but I won't mark it down for that.

Just Draw Botanicals is a lovely book, full of pictures, and is aimed at people who can already draw. 

It is about working with different mediums, and how to approach drawing plants, flowers and fruit 

I really liked the pictures, and I think if you are an artist then it would be helpful for you to read and approach things in a different way.

I'm afraid I don't know enough about art for this to be as useful to me as I feel it would be!

Just Draw Botanicals is to be published on 3rd March 2020,  and is available to pre-order on  Amazon   and on  Waterstones .  I've found a  link  to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

You can follow Helen Birch on  Twitter or through her blog.


I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Quarto (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my  GoodReads profile  to see more reviews!

This book is full of beautiful botanical pictures, professional and artistically done; we are told about the techniques used to create each picture, but not how to do the technique.
The plethora of pictures may be inspirational to an artist who needs inspiration of how to create a botanical, as in, what constitutes a botanical; the artist should already be knowledgeable about how to use watercolor/pen and ink/pencils because those techniques are not taught.
I received an electronic copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Just Draw Botanicals is a beautifully curated artwork collection and gallery book by Helen Birch. Due out 3rd March 2020 from Quarto on their White Lion imprint, it's 208 pages and will be available in flexibound format.

This is both an inspiration book and (much less so) tutorial or instruction book. It covers a very wide range of artistic styles and subjects. The only common theme is the botanical subject. It includes a helpful picture gallery table of contents as well as an artist index, so readers can concentrate on one artist at a time or the entire smorgasbord of variety which is included.

A short introduction is followed by the gallery of works. Each of the studies has the work on a full page with a *short* info and tips section on the facing page. These explanations include techniques such as medium used and other contrast and style info.

The gallery is followed by a short fundamental tutorial for drawing botanicals: choosing tools and materials, getting started, painting, sketching, and working digitally. The tutorial chapter segues into a short (but fairly useful) bibliography and links for further reading.

This is a well done book showing a very wide variety of rendering techniques. This would be a valuable resource for a student up to professional artist, or as a beautiful art book in its own right. I'm emphatically not a gifted artist, but I found a number of good tips in this compilation.

Five stars

This is a great resource for those who are learning to do botanical illustration or prefer to paint plants. I'm not an artist, but I enjoyed paging through this book to see the points of emphasis (e.g., "high-key color" or "selecting a viewipoint." Each set of pages focuses on one of these points, using an artwork to illustrate the concept. And, each set of pages has a Tip that helps the novice to learn how to improve their work. The works of art that are used in this book are varied from abstract to multimedia to traditional watercolor. In particular, I was really impressed with the Scratchboard techniques of Lisa Goesling. All are masterpieces in their own right, but the author has cleverly chosen each as an example of a particular technique. And, there are over 100 pages of techniques in this book. As one who appreciates botanical art, I loved the book. And, I think it would be a great instructional tool for those who are just beginning to learn botanical art.

While illustrated with beautiful artworks from a number of artists, each with a short description and a tip (technical or creative), and so showcasing various approaches to botanical illustration, it is a pleasant passtime to look at, but in my opinion, not very useful for the beginner or intermediate artist.

This is a good book with a poor title. 3 stars for living up to the title, but 4 stars overall if I ignore it.

This is a looking/ideas book, not a "let's draw" book. For one thing, there are more paintings than drawings in this book, so it's more "let's paint" except that most of the paintings are rendered at an intermediate to highly advanced level, and more likely to intimidate than instruct beginning artists. I believe it's part of a series, so I believe this is more a publisher than author issue.

Each 2 page spread has one painting/drawing on the right and on the left is an idea that the painting illustrates. For example, one might say "limited color palette" and then the text below will explain why the painting on the right is a good example of that idea.

The artwork is well chosen and lovely to look at. The artists names are given, making it a good book for finding new botanical artists to look into. I enjoyed looking at the book, and it did provide inspiration, if also at the same time being a bit intimidating, even though I have shown botanical work before in galleries.

I received this book for free for an honest review.

Just Draw Botanicals is full of beautiful artwork. That being said, it was a little different than what I was expecting. If you’re hoping for a how-to book, Just Draw Botanicals most likely is not the book you’re looking for. There was advice and tips on different techniques used in each piece, but the advice was very limited and specifically geared towards the artwork shown.

Don’t let that discourage you, though. The book was full of amazingly talented artists and a huge variety of gorgeous artwork and interesting mediums. Each piece was beautiful and inspiring. If you’re a fan of art, I’d highly suggest checking Just Draw Botanicals out!

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a stunning book of many different pieces of art to be used for inspiration and ideas, rather than copy. This book is not a how to or step by step book to follow.
The book displays different pieces of art and then tells you about each piece and then gives you a top tip for advice if your thinking of trying a piece like it.
A beautiful book for any art collection.

This is fabulous book depicting different artist using various mediums to present some beautiful artwork. each piece is explained in the methods used, including tips and ideas. Much of the botanical material is painted in watercolour and mixed media with some works in oils, pencil, pen/ink and digital. With one item to each page they are very beautifully presented and inspiring.

I was very happy with all the information easy to understand. I'm practicing with watercolors and this book help a lot with my habilities with them, I will use this a lot.

This book is for everyone who want to start drawing. And It's cute and will look beautiful in the shelf.

Copy in exchange of an honest review.

A high-level detailed explanation about the modern botanical drawings. It includes what both the science and the art are looking for in professional level botanical drawings. This book is not for beginners, but for those with professional-level skill looking at how to take their artistic skills to the next step. However, regardless of ability the illustrations included are beautiful and worth a peek through.

Oh my goodness what a book. It’s displays the sumptuous work by a mix of artists so well. Each has a few lines of description and with them and added tip to finish off. I like that the materials are only mentioned until the very back, leaving the work to be enjoyed and encouraged. I will certainly be buying a copy.