Natural Science Illustration Program

Drawing I is the foundation course for all Natural Science Illustration courses taught at the Peabody Museum. It is required for enrolling in any 200-level course.  It is here that the necessary techniques in rendering light on form, value, texture, perspective, proportion, and composition are taught.  Students should expect to spend time outside of class working on weekly assignments and a final project.  Both sessions meet online.

Drawing

Learn the basics of observational drawing starting with simple objects so that you can sketch what you find outdoors as well as indoors. Students will be encouraged to carry their sketchbooks and journals wherever they go; and there will be a balance between presentations by the instructor with actual practice, followed by group critiques. Guest naturalists will join some of our critiques so that they can help us identify what we discover in the different seasons. Learn to slow down and observe more deeply as you connect and open up to the ineffable in natural objects through the making of art. 

Session 1 (March 23 to April 27) and Session 2 (May 4 to June 10) meet online.  Session 3 (May 9 to June 13) meets in-person.

Drawing

Students will explore, sketch, and journal outside and then will bring some seasonal specimens they find inside to work from.  In April and May we will be searching for spring flowers, and we will welcome guest naturalists who will help us identify things that we have discovered.  Learn to slow down and observe more deeply as you connect and open up to the ineffable in natural objects through the making of art.

Drawing

Winter is an excellent chance to study the fascinating forms and growth habits of trees as well as the surrounding landscapes.  Learn how to paint simple landscape backgrounds and how to render tree forms using techniques and approaches inspired by Japanese ink painting.  This course meets online.

Watercolor

We will read and discuss writings with the theme of nature, and we will explore and discover possibilities for creating our own haiku and other simple forms of poetry.  We will then see how these words can inspire us when we are enjoying observational drawing, and we will try illustrating our own poems.  Both sessions meet online.

Drawing

Get a taste of what is involved when you paint with watercolor. The traditional approach to transparent watercolor painting will be taught, with the focus on limited palettes, mixing, layering, and glazing to create luminous, beautiful colors in this special medium.

Session 1 (March 7 to March 28) meets online.  Session 2 (April 4 to April 25) meets in-person.

Watercolor

Learn the fundamentals of color theory to enhance your work in any medium.  The class will work mostly in water media and colored pencil, but students may use any medium of choice. One 3-hour session.

Workshop

Start in on the basics of observational drawing as you draw your own maple leaf. You will have the opportunity to practice gesture and contour drawing after watching a demonstration, and at the end you will be able to discuss all drawings with the group.

Drawing

Capture the essence and beauty of a Barred Owl with simple linework using graphite, charcoal, and carbon pencil. No previous drawing experience is necessary. Open to beginners as well as experienced artists.

Drawing

Learn the structure of a blue jay feather and how to authentically portray its color and detail in watercolor and colored pencil. No previous drawing/painting experience is necessary. Open to beginners as well as experienced artists.

Drawing

Exploring the shapes, colors, lumps and bumps of seasonal gourds! All drawn in colored pencil.

Colored Pencil

Explore the intricate and diverse beauty of insects.  Learn basic insect anatomy and colored pencil techniques to create detailed drawings.  Students will focus on three insect orders: Coleoptera (beetles), Hymenoptera (bees and wasps) and Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Students will have access to insect specimens from the Peabody Museum’s collections.  Drawing experience recommended or permission of the instructor. This course meets in-person.

Colored Pencil

Botanists identify trees in winter by their dormant twigs and buds.  In this workshop, participants will use a dichotomous key to identify a variety of tree species by twig and then create their own drawings of the twigs’ special features to use as a field guide so they can identify tree species outside in their own neighborhood when they are free of leaves.  This course meets in-person.

Drawing

Dive right into this beginner class. Guided projects, chosen by the instructor, introduces students to essential colored pencil techniques. No experience necessary.

Colored Pencil

Through the eyes of a naturalist and an artist, explore the fascinating lives of birds of the Northeast, documenting their nesting, breeding, and migrating habits via a sketchbook journal.  We will record and draw our observations of various common species of birds, their anatomy and their interrelationships with plants.  No previous experience is necessary, but Drawing I is recommended.  This course meets online.

Drawing

The shadows and intricacies of bird nests lend themselves beautifully to the medium of pen and ink. This workshop will explore the process of drawing a nest from life using a Micron pen.

NOTE: This course will be taught in a Yale classroom, in-person only

Drawing

Through the eyes of a naturalist and an artist, we will explore the uncommon lifestyles of our common pollinators such as birds, bees, butterflies and moths.  We will record and draw our observations of them in a sketchbook-journal format representing each species and their interrelationship with plants.  No previous drawing experience is necessary, but Drawing I is recommended.  This course meets online.

Drawing

During each class session we will focus on different themes in nature by looking at drawings and watercolors from the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection. We will discuss the works we are focusing on as a group, as the instructor facilitates. A staff member from the YUAG will join us for the discussion and Q&A in the last half-hour. During each month the students will be encouraged to explore the illustrated YUAG online catalog for added information as they write and sketch in their journals.

Other

This class will guide participants through a step-by-step illustration of a well-known dinosaur, Iguanadon.  We will begin by studying the dinosaur’s posture and drawing the skeleton.  Then we'll add the proposed musculature and finally a body covering.  This process can be applied to other prehistoric and modern vertebrate animals.  Drawing experience is helpful but not required.  This course meets online.

Colored Pencil

We will explore some of the wonderful new books out there and have the opportunity to have a dialogue with some authors and illustrators.  We will also learn about the process of creating children’s books by journaling and creating storyboards for our own books!  This course meets online.

Other

Examine the social, scientific, religious, political, and economic factors that influenced centuries of cataloging the natural world, from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment.  In this course which combines art history with hands-on studio practice, students will learn to identify and imitate the traditional printmaking techniques that are integral to natural history illustration through a series of demonstrations in mixed media.  Two hour hands-on sessions will meet weekly while accompanying one-hour recorded presentations on art history will be available for viewing at the student’s convenience.  Each week will highlight a different topic in science including botany, ornithology, zoology, anatomy, entomology, cabinets of curiosity, marine life, and geometry in nature.  Drawing experience is recommended.  This course meets online.

Multi-media

The enigmatic owl will be the focus of this in-person workshop.  Students will be introduced to the anatomy and natural history of owls and depict an owl from the Peabody Museum’s ornithology collection with fineliner pen, using natural science illustration techniques.  This course meets in-person.

Drawing

Are you considering creating an online portfolio or a website? This course is for those who have yet to have their own online space or are looking to reboot their outdated website. Since everyone's needs and goals will be different, this course will guide the students one step at a time to narrow down what type of website service/platform would match their needs while considering comfort levels in the digital space.

Digital

Developing a sensitivity and proficiency in toning with graphite and mechanical pencils is an important skill in natural science illustration. Building on Drawing 1 skills, emphasis will be on creating accurate observations and traditional renderings of botanical and natural science subjects with correct lighting, value, proportion, and scale. Special attention will be given to creating seamless transitions of graphite in toning objects.  Both sessions meet online.

Drawing

This course will introduce students to the fascinating world of drawing and painting birds. To better understand how birds behave, a basic foundation of avian anatomy will be introduced, using taxidermy mounts and skins from the Yale Peabody Museum’s vertebrate zoology collection. We will learn how to observe the structure, behavior, and coloration of various bird species by field sketching and painting birds from live video cams. Hands-on demonstrations will be included, as well as individual guided instruction and critiques.

Prerequisite: NSI 244X: Watercolor I

Multi-media

The beauty and clarity of natural science drawings in ink have been admired for centuries.  Students will master the techniques of traditional scientific illustration using both crow quill and technical pens to depict the natural world in stipple and line.  This course meets online.

Prerequisite: NSI 201X: Drawing II

Drawing

Learning the elements of composition and design is essential for completing successful paintings and illustrations. Exploring Notan composition, spatial relationships, the golden mean, balance, and structure, we will create dynamic studies that will serve as templates for final watercolor, colored pencil, and mixed media compositions.

Prerequisites: NSI 101X: Drawing I & NSI 201X: Drawing II, NSI 244X: Watercolor I or NSI 244X: Colored Pencil I

Colored Pencil

Learn the techniques of applying layers of delicate tones with colored pencil to create velvety finishes reminiscent of early botanical paintings and scientific drawings. We will experiment with tinted papers, solvents, drafting film, and burnishing techniques to achieve these dramatic effects.

Colored Pencil

Begin your exploration of color with this approachable medium. In the first few meetings, students will learn and practice key color concepts: primary and secondary color, local color, color temperature, hue, chroma and value. With this background, students will then learn techniques needed to create beautiful, detailed drawings on a variety of drawing surfaces.  This course meets online.

Colored Pencil

Learn the basic techniques of watercolor painting including color theory, color mixing, washes, layering, dry versus wet, dry brush, and achieving fine detail necessary for natural science subjects. Students will learn how to plan a painting and develop it carefully to capture the beauty of this transparent medium.  This course meets online.

Watercolor

Whether you are taking classes for your own enjoyment or to complete the Certificate program, this is your opportunity to receive personal guidance from an instructor on a work in progress or a final course project that you have not submitted.  You will benefit from the instructor's personal insight and discussion of other student work.  All media will be considered. 

Other

In this on-line class, students will observe and sketch specimens from virtual 3D models as well as from some of the Peabody Museum's vertebrate zoology collection.  Areas of focus will be the anatomy and musculature of the cat and the horse.  To complete the course, students will be responsible for an in-depth study of the skeletal and musculature development for a vertebrate of their choice.

Drawing

In this 8-week course, students will take their completed illustrations in a traditional medium and manipulate them for publication in Adobe Photoshop.  The famously complicated and ever-changing Photoshop palettes and tools will be discussed and the tools most often used by professional scientific illustrators will be covered.  After taking this course, the students should have a working knowledge and basic understanding of Adobe Photoshop.  This course meets online.

Digital

Explore the exquisite variety of form, function, and structural adaptations of flowering plants.  Each week students will draw the parts of one or two flowers from different families to produce an artistic botanical plate of each one. When possible, students will dissect live flowers in class.  When fresh flowers are unavailable to students, they will work from published references to produce their illustrations.  Each class will include a primer on basic botany.  This course meets online.

Drawing

In this course we will use colored pencil and graphite on paper to create a botanical illustration.  Emphasis will be on colored pencil technique creating color studies of the subject using sketches and transferring sketchbook work to a final piece.  This course meets online.

Colored Pencil

Expand on your drawing and watercolor painting skills to paint more complex portraits of various creatures in their natural settings in watercolor. We will paint a different species each week via EZoom; one motif may carry into a second week if complex. Use a phone or document camera over the workspace if possible.

Prerequisite: NSI 244 Watercolor I

Watercolor

Create stunning watercolor paintings of flowers with and without insects. Learn how to complete each painting in specific stages by using painting elements to emphasize what is key. Student prepares a contour drawing from motif provided by the instructor before each class.

Watercolor

Expand on your drawing and watercolor painting skills to paint complete portraits of baby animals in their natural settings in watercolor. We will paint a representative of as many different animal orders as possible or at least a different species each week via Zoom; one motif may carry into the second week if complex. Use a phone or document camera over the workspace if possible.

Watercolor

We will explore the many possibilities of representing natural science subjects in mixed media.  Often traditional mediums are used to reproduce accurate renderings of scientific specimens.  We will keep an open mind in creating works that are dynamic and accurate by incorporating watercolor, colored pencil, gouache, pastels and inks.  This course meets online.

Prerequisites:  Watercolor I or Colored Pencil I

Multi-media

Few artists and illustrators enjoy the business side of art and marketing. Fear comes from the unknown and the unfamiliar; let’s break down those barriers to take the first steps to start and maintain a successful art business. This course will guide the students to break down the overwhelming business marketing principles, terminology, and approaches into something more manageable, fun, and exciting.  This course meets online.

Workshop