Natural Science Illustration Program

Drawing I is the foundation course for all Natural Science Illustration courses taught at the Peabody Museum. Learn the necessary techniques to render light on form, value, texture, perspective, proportion, and composition. Students should expect to spend time outside of class working on weekly assignments and a final project. Drawing I is a prerequisite for many 200 level courses. 

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.  This course meets on-line.

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

Practice your observational drawing in the green houses and outdoor gardens at the Marsh Botanical Gardens at Yale in New Haven. The focus will be on drawing practice with time for group critiques. This course meets in person.

Drawing

Take this one-day workshop to add a session to Course 105 or on its own as a 3 hour opportunity to practice your observational drawing as you explore the greenhouses and gardens at the Marsh Botanical Gardens at Yale in New Haven. The focus will be on drawing practice with time for group critiques.  This course meets in person.

Drawing

The bold simplicity of Japanese sumi-e has influenced many artists around the world for centuries. Learn some adapted approaches and techniques for use in Western watercolor. Practice capturing the essence of specimens in a style inspired by sumi-e, while learning the background of traditional Japanese materials and how to incorporate them into your work.  This course meets on-line.

Watercolor

Read and discuss nature themed writings.  Explore and discover possibilities for creating our own haiku and other simple forms of poetry.  Find inspiration in these words as we experiment with observational drawing and illustrating our own poems.  This course meets on-line.

Drawing

In this one day workshop, we’ll take inspiration from amber specimens in the Peabody Museum’s collection and beyond to capture the beauty of insects trapped in amber using watercolors. We’ll learn a bit about amber itself while exploring various techniques and pigment qualities to assist you in creating some interesting pieces.  This course meets on-line.

Painting

Using the growth patterns of these undersea creatures to guide us, we'll create watercolor illustrations based on these oceanic wonders.  We'll use gouache as our medium, perfect for capturing the subtle patterns of shells.  This course meets on-line.

Painting

Assemble and use an ultra-portable mini watercolor painting set in this exploratory course. We’ll focus on practical tips for material usage as well as approaches to make successful compositions on a small scale. In addition to creating miniature works of art, these skills and ideas can be used to take your field journals and thumbnail sketch layouts to a new level!  This course meets on-line.

Multi-media

Be a “botanist for a day” in this one-day workshop.  Learn to dissect fresh flowers under the camera/microscope to reveal the hidden intricate structures that distinguish the flower families. One scientific botanical plate will be produced from these observations. This workshop meets in-person at Yale's West Campus.

Drawing

The autumn season provides a bounty of mushrooms.  Taking cues from the field journal illustrations of naturalists such as Japan's Minakata Kumagusu, we'll make our own collection of pencil and watercolor illustrations.  The course meets on-line.  

Multi-media

This beginner class will introduce you to the basic materials and techniques used with colored pencil. You will be guided through the creation of a portrait of spring blooms and learn how to transfer a drawing, apply, layer, and blend colored pencils, and how to achieve beautiful results. Drawing experience helpful but not required. This course meets in person.

Colored Pencil

Artists often struggle with reproducing the perfect “mixture of color” that one sees in nature. In this workshop, we will discuss how we perceive color and light, and how colors interact with one another in nature. With basic exercises in color mixing, focusing on color families, and tonal relationships, we will create simplistic nature studies using a minimal palette. This class meets in-person at Yale's West Campus.

Watercolor

Explore the world of 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.  This course meets on-line.

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

Gain an understanding of color through lab demonstrations, examples from nature, works of art, and a few simple exercises. Topics covered include the anatomy of the human eye, additive and subtractive color, pigment and structural color, how organisms use color, and basic color mixing. This workshop meets in-person at Yale's West Campus.

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

Drawing owls is challenging and fun!  Using graphite and colored pencil, we will capture the essence and this raptor's personality by using specific measurements of head and body and adding realistic detail of feathers and barring in the final process.  This class is open to beginners as well as experienced artists. This workshop meets on-line.

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 of three insect orders: Coleoptera (beetles), Hymenoptera (bees and wasps) and Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). Drawing experience recommended or permission of the instructor. This course meets in person at the Yale Peabody Museum.

Colored Pencil

This course will introduce students to the beauty and complexity of feathers using the Peabody Museum's teaching collection.  We will observe and study their structure and render feathers in color using colored pencil and watercolor.  Certificate students will present a final project.  This class meets in person at the Yale Peabody Museum.

Painting

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

Re-discover the Peabody’s amazing dioramas which portray Connecticut ecosystems and North American biomes.  Learn the history of the dioramas and the artists who created them.  Enjoy the opportunity to sketch from these iconic scenes where the animals stay still while you draw!  This course meets in person at the Yale Peabody Museum.

Drawing

Take this one-day workshop to add a session to Course 157 or on its own as a 3 hour opportunity to sketch from the iconic Peabody Museum dioramas that portray a variety of Connecticut ecosystems and North American biomes.  Enjoy the opportunity to sketch nature while the animals stay still while you draw!  This course meets in person.

Drawing

The distinctive scales and bumpy textures of reptile bodies can be dramatically portrayed in the medium of pen and ink using specimens and casts from the Yale Peabody Museum's Vertebrate Zoology and Education collections.  This course meets in person.

Drawing

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 in detail using a fine liner pen and applying the principles of natural science illustration.  This course meets in person at the Yale Peabody Museum.

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

This course combines art history with hands-on illustration projects.  We'll examine the fascinating stories behind centuries of collecting and documenting the natural world, from Ancient Greece to the Enlightenment, with a special focus on arts and sciences of the Renaissance.  Using some of the most beautiful and bizarre examples from the last centuries as inspiration, students will develop skills in color rendering through a series of demonstrations in mixed media.  This course meets on-line.

Prerequisite: Drawing I or permission of the instructor.

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 at the Yale Peabody Museum.

Drawing

Using specimens from the Peabody collections, students will depict invertebrate fossils such as trilobites, ammonites and brachiopods in ink using fineliner pens on watercolor paper.  Students will use natural science illustration techniques of line and stipple to render an object of their choice. This course meets in person at the Yale Peabody Museum.

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

Bring your Photoshop files or digital files to experiment and manipulate. In this virtual, open-table mini workshop, students can ask questions or discuss roadblocks when using Adobe Photoshop. Based on the topics provided by the students, the instructor will share examples and demo various techniques, tips, and tricks. Sometimes tutorials don’t specifically apply to current projects, and we will brainstorm together to explore creative solutions. This course meets on-line.

Digital

Learn how to paint these popular flowers in watercolor and place them in a natural setting.  An ability to draw the flower is helpful but not required.  This course meets in person at the Peabody Museum.

Watercolor

Explore a range of watercolor techniques painting a sunset, mountain scene, seascape, and landscape, some in different seasons, and with nature as emphasis. With provided reference materials, learn the sequence necessary to complete each image and gain an understanding of working with painting elements to create dramatic results. This course meets in-person at Yale's West Campus

Watercolor

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.  This course meets on-line.

Drawing

This in person course will introduce students to the fascinating world of drawing and painting birds.  Learn avian anatomy and how to observe the structure, behavior and coloration of various bird species  by sketching birds from live video-cams and specimens.

Prerequisite: Drawing I and experience in watercolor

Watercolor

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 is offered on-line and in person with two on-line sessions available and one session that meets in person at the Peabody Museum.

Prerequisite: NSI201X: Drawing II

Drawing

Using observational skills and natural science illustration processes, students will employ skills and techniques learned in Pen and Ink to depict a bird of prey specimen from the Yale Peabody Museum's ornithology or education collections. Students will also be introduced to their anatomy and natural history.  This course meets in person.

Drawing

This will be a five-hour deep dive into pen & ink using #102 and #104 nib pens and micron pens.  Students will collect interesting fern fronds and moss specimens for class, or opt for provided images.  We will start out with black and white, exploring pen technique.  Afterwards, working in color is an option.  We will aim to complete one piece by the end of class.  This course is offered on-line.   

Prerequisites: Drawing I

Drawing

Get an introduction to the fascinating world of drawing birds in this six week course. Explore basic avian anatomy to better understand the structure of birds using taxidermy mounts and study skins from the Peabody Museum’s Education and Ornithology collections. Students will learn how to intuitively recognize various bird forms by observing and drawing birds from live bird cams. This course meets in-person at Yale's West Campus.

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 201X: Drawing II and NSI 244X: Watercolor I or NSI 244X: Colored Pencil I

Colored Pencil

Using both traditional and experimental methods, students will master the techniques of colored pencil needed to create detailed and accurate illustrations for portfolio presentation or publication. Course concentration will be focused on refining techniques learned in Colored Pencil I, increasing pigment intensity, creating textural effects, and working closely from found objects and museum specimens to create dynamic scientific studies. This course meets on-line.

Prerequisite: Colored Pencil I

Colored Pencil

Learn a step-by-step approach to painting autumn squashes in watercolor. Students will explore the importance of selecting interesting specimens, creating fluid line drawings (from life), transferring them to good paper, learning to build up form using a grisaille, and achieving luminosity and basic textures that define the Cucurbita species. Students will hand in one final piece at the end, where they can choose to add vines or leaves to their squash composition. This course meets on-line.

Prerequisite: Watercolor 1

Watercolor

Begin your exploration of color with this approachable medium. In the first few classes, students 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 on-line.

Colored Pencil

Learn the basic techniques of watercolor painting including color theory, color mixing, washes, layering, dry versus wet, and achieving fine detail necessary for natural science objects.  Students will learn how to plan a painting and develop it carefully in order to capture the beauty of the medium.  This course meets in person at the Yale Peabody Museum.

Watercolor

This course is a deep dive into leaves turning in space, in watercolor.  Students will provide a summer leaf or two they find interesting.  We will work on making the leaves look pillowed using wet on wet techniques, and the option to experiment with maskoid.  This course is offered on-line. 

Prerequisites: Drawing I, Watercolor I

Watercolor

Students will explore and demystify the specific techniques characteristic of traditional botanical illustration and learn how to accurately represent plant portraits in watercolor. Using graded washes, drybrush, charging, masking, and detailing, we will create a series of four botanical portraits focusing on fall, winter, spring and summer in the traditional botanical format on hot press watercolor paper. This course meets on-line.

Prerequisite: Watercolor I

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 the vertebrate zoology collection at the Yale Peabody Museum’s West Campus, a textbook, and from 3D webcams online. Areas of focus will include research and hands-on study of the anatomy and musculature of the cat, the horse, and an in-depth final study of a vertebrate of choice representing its skeletal and musculature development.

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

Learn to create a vector-based illustration using shapes, curves, gradients, layers, masks, and more using Adobe Illustrator.  The “foreign language” of Illustrator terms will be decoded, and students will learn to find and use tools to create a labeled illustration for publication and education.  Many Adobe Illustrator tutorials are for graphic designers; this course is specifically tailored for illustrators to work in Illustrator.  This course meets on-line. 

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

Explore found nature objects and draw a new subject each week using graphite, pen and colored pencil. Working from life, explore different techniques to portray a variety of subjects in nature such as feathers, shells, driftwood and sticks. This course meets on-line.

Colored Pencil

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

Paint an insect with a flower at this in-person workshop. Learn the steps necessary to successfully integrate natural background features with the subject’s details to create impact using elements such as color and value. The instructor will provide references, and the student may work from their own. This workshop meets in-person at Yale's West Campus.

Watercolor

With a reference of a natural landscape typical of New England provided by the instructor, students will learn how to differentiate foreground from mid-range and background spaces in a wide variety of ways in this in-person workshop.  They will then paint one option in full color in watercolor.  Students will also create a second version from the same motif or from one of their own.   

Prerequisite: Watercolor I

Watercolor

Students will learn how to paint palm, birch, willow, white pine, fir and a flowering tree like crabapple or cherry in this in-person workshop. We will also cover the basics to paint a deciduous tree such as maple or oak in four seasons so that its species is identifiable. Key details, such as how trunks meet the ground and branches appear between foliage will also be taught. Students may bring their own tree references for study. This workshop meets in-person at Yale's West Campus.

Watercolor

Student will learn how to portray in watercolor a butterfly’s exquisite details as it sits on a beautiful flower. Using design tricks, the student will also learn how to make it stand out in its setting. This course meets in person.

Watercolor

Learn how to use watercolor to portray shimmering hummingbird details and its wings in motion in a beautiful flower setting.  This course meets in person.

Watercolor

Learn how to portray a great blue heron with its nest in watercolor. Using design tricks, the student will also learn how to make the bird stand out in its setting.  This course meets in person.

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

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 on-line.

Colored Pencil

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 brush aside those barriers to take the first steps to start and maintain a successful art business. This course will guide students to break down the overwhelming business marketing principles, terminology, and approaches into something more manageable, fun, and exciting.  This course meets on-line.

Workshop

This final course in the Certificate Program is for a student who has successfully completed all other required and elective courses.  Sessions will focus on concept development, interim progress and achieving final portfolio goals.  Session dates and times will be determined by the student and instructor.

Other