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'Drawing From Nature'
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Re-creating nature's living works of art |
January 15 2003 |
Do you like to draw pictures of plants and animals? Lisa Pompelli loved it so much that she decided to study art in school. Today she works as a scientific illustrator and draws  pictures that appear on posters and in
science books.Pompelli drew this picture of a bushtit, a bird commonly found in the Santa Monica Mountains. How do you think she did it? First, she needed to study the bird. She learned that a bushtit is about 4 inches from the tip of its beak to the end of its tail, has a creamy brown/gray color, a short black beak and eats mostly insects. Nests are lined with spider webs and cocoon material. Both parents take care of the eggs. Bushtits protect one another, find food together and, when cold, huddle to stay warm. Next, Pompelli went to the Stunt Ranch Reserve in the Santa Monica Mountains to observe the birds up close. Not wanting to scare them away, she sat quietly and patiently, viewing them through binoculars. She noted where their bodies were curved or pointy, the lay of their feathers and the outline of their eyes. She made rough pencil sketches and later refined them for accuracy. Her final illustration was completed in pen and ink, using a technique called "line drawing." There are many ways to re-create what you see in nature. On Sunday, check this column for the second in a series of lessons on drawing from nature. (Look for future lessons on the third Wednesday of each month.) Show us what you've learned by sending in your drawings. We will publish some of them in future columns. Include one or two sentences about the plant or animal and describe how you drew it. See "How to write to us" for more information. *This Learning Link was written by Carol Felixson for the UCLA Stunt Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains Reserve, nrs.ucop.edu/Reserves/stunt.html, and the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden, www.botgard.ucla.edu If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights. Copyright 2003 Los Angeles Times
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