Vintage rose pattern, botanical and fruits illustration.

What is Botanical Illustration?

Regia Marinho
5 min readAug 31, 2021

It’s a photo-realistic drawing showing details of the plant.

Botanical illustration is the art of showing the form, color, and details of plant species.

They are frequently made using watercolor on paper and more recently they’re digitally made using an iPad.

Botanical illustration is the precise image representation of plants and plant traits for a scientific purpose.

They must be scientifically accurate but often also have an artistic component It may be printed and or sold as an original work of art.

They’re usually made by a botanical illustrator in collaboration with a scientific author.

Banksia coccinea from Ferdinand Bauer’s 1813 work Illustrations Florae Novae Hollandiae

Before the invention of photography, botanical illustration was the only way of visually recording the world’s many species of plant life.

Today, science books are full of highly detailed photographs — often taken with a macro lens or even a microscope — allowing us to discover the fascinating forms of flora and fauna.

But, before these advances in technology, it was artists and illustrators who were depended on to share the beauty of botany with the world…

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Regia Marinho
Regia Marinho

Written by Regia Marinho

I publish tech, art, food, AI, AR, architecture, interior design, fashion, and photography articles. Ideas to inspire the world through art. @regiaart

Responses (1)

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I never knew there were so many styles to botanical illustration. Well done for finding them and collecting them in your article.