Botanical Line Drawing: 200 Step-by-Step Flowers, Leaves, Cacti, Succulents, and Other Items Found in Nature Paperback – July 24, 2018

So many leaves, flowers, cacti, mushrooms... and with their names! The step by step drawings are superb! Each page has a section where you can practice before doing it on your project. This book is much better than anyone can imagine. So amazing. Anybody can learn how to draw beautiful nature using her method. Thank you for such a wonderful tool.

I purchased this book to help build my line drawing skills. There's no text. It's step by step images of botanicals. For my purposes, it's great. If you're looking for a book with the author's commentary or written guidance, this isn't it. If you want simple images to practice from and use as inspiration, this is your book.

This is a wonderful book for any artist, designer, hand letterer looking for inspiration. The style is fun and modern, each drawing broken down into easy to follow steps. But also can easily be changed and combined to create something unique.PROS:The format is simple - 200 flowers, branches, leaves, succulents, cacti, mushrooms, acorns, etc. broken down step by step. If illustrating has ever seemed intimidating, this book makes it very easy to get started. There's a broad range of flora in the book, including potted cacti and a cute little mason jar terrarium.CONS:The only (small) con for me is, once again, the print quality. Sadly, I returned her lettering book because the quality was so poor there were nearly blank spots in the middle of a few pages. Happily, the quality on this book is MUCH better. But, the gray print still looks pixelated and the paper is still thin. I think this bothers me because it's such a lovely book and deserves to look it's best. Peggy Dean is super talented, and I hope she's able to find a publisher or a better printer for future books.Overall, super pleased I bought this book. :)

I bought this as a mother's day present, and while my mother loves it, I have to admit I've been borrowing the book for my own use, and I'm a big fan as well!The tutorials are very easy to follow along with, and my only complaint is that the plants aren't labeled. It would have been nice to know what it is I'm learning to draw! But the results have been great every time, and while I've been getting better at drawing recently, it's not a natural skill for me. So I really believe that even if you're not an artist, you would be able to follow along with these steps and create very appealing drawings!All of the drawings I've attempted have been fairly easy to adapt and build upon as well, so you'll have a lot to work with even beyond the large variety provided in the book. So if you're a journaler, a doodler, an artist, into bullet journaling and planning, or just looking to fill up the corners and borders of your notes and lists, then I'd recommend this book.

This is a great little book, very detailed, breaks down drawings so well. I’m very pleased. I would recommend this book.

I don’t write a lot of reviews but when something is good then I review, anyway if you feel you don’t have any artist bone in you and want too then this is the book for you. Easy to follow illustrations and the proof is in the pictures. I definitely will be on the look out for more of Peggy Deans’s books! This was my first try at line work, and loved it! I like watercolors and acrylics and using this book I was able to have fun, learn and not stressing over technique, simple easy to follow pictures. Nobody’s will ever borrow this this book , I’ve already ordered it for a friend who saw how easy it was and how great the results are with very few try’s, pictures I posted are my first time through the book, I’m about 1/2 through and still enjoining every page. Looking forward to putting it all together will update with pictures when finished

First of all - if you're looking for an actual illustration guide for botany - this is not the book for you. If you're looking for some super simple line doodles of "general" plants, leaves, flowers - this book is fun and fits that need adequately.What I like about this book.IF you're a beginning artist, this is super simple to follow. The book is packed full of content, and has enough simple line drawings to keep you doodling for days. If you are just starting out, this would be a great book to grab for your daily sketchbook practice. I have the white book with the colorful flowers on the front - which is printed in a sort of newsprint type paper. This makes it easy to draw right in the book. Also, my book seems to have "informal" names for all of the flowers, leaves, plants - which I think some with another version were complaining that their version had no names. Bottom line - this book is a great workbook for anyone to begin their simple doodling/sketching practice. I gave this book 3 Stars mostly because of the abundance of content, and the fact that it's a very workable book for beginners.Here is why I did not give this book 4 or 5 stars" Many of the "botanicals" that are illustrated are just simply incorrectly represented (like the Rowan branches - the leaves are not at all rounded, they are jagged, and the Silverberry - the small oval shapes on her drawing don't make sense; or the Dogwood, Gingko, Western Red Cedar - these are all extremely simplified and not at all accurate. ) After the first few leaves, I started looking their pictures up on the internet before I began to draw them, and actually drew more accurate representations based on those pictures, than her actual drawings. I guess it's the "nerd" in me, but I feel like if you're going to name something specific, then your representation of this "thing" (especially plants) - should be fairly accurate, even if simplistic.I also think it would have been helpful to have both the "formal" and the "informal" name of each plant listed.The drawings are extremely simple - ok - not a big deal, but many of the leaf drawings are redundant and follow the same basic shapes, give or take a few dots or lines here and there. I also feel that many of the more intricate florals are just drawn way too small for the "non-artist" to manage when you're just starting out and trying to master a bit more detail.I love Peggy Dean and have taken many of her classes online because she really is an excellent artist and teacher. But I do feel like with a bit more effort, this book could have hit a home run. Clearly many others do not feel this way - hence the many 5 star reviews. I would say look through the entire book before buying. I purchased mine online and would probably return it if I hadn't started drawing in it.