Botanical Drawing with Crystal Shin with Colored Pencils hosted by the Washington Native Plant Society
Have you ever wanted to draw beautiful wildflowers? They are a true wonder of nature and learning to draw them can be a very satisfying experience. Wildflowers can be challenging to document in the field, but working from photos is a good alternative to removing from their natural habitat. Enjoy the beautiful flowers of summer, and develop your skills in drawing.
For this class, we will draw from photographs used in a poster of the “Alpine Wildflowers of Washington by Burke Museum”, graciously provided by Photographer Donovan Tracy, or draw similar species from your own wildflower photographs. This is a great way to spend evenings while reviewing your species photographs. This class is a repeat however, it will include new flowers from the prior classes, so it is okay to repeat this course and receive new content.
We will work on one flower drawing per session which can be completed at home. You can follow along with my demonstration or choose a different flower of your preference. At the end of the course, you will have completed 4 wildflower drawings!
You will learn how to accurately translate a photo into a drawing by observing form, highlights, subtle changes of tone, shade and color to create dimensionality.
With the use of colored pencil techniques, you will learn and practice how to blend colors smoothly while learning to see the intricacies of beautiful wildflowers.
Date & Time: June 25, 2026, July 2, 9 & 16, 2026 (Every Thursday evening 6:30-8:30 pm, for 4 weeks)
This drawing class is presented virtually via Zoom, where you can participate from your drawing table.
Join Crystal Shin for the workshop series in Botanical Illustration with colored pencil. Find the course supply list here.
The Alpine Wildflower Poster is available in our online store for purchase if you are interested: Alpine Wildflowers of Washington - Poster (wnps.org)
Speaker: Crystal Shin, Botanical Artist and Scientific Illustrator
Crystal studied botanical illustration at Gage Academy of Art and the Center for Urban Horticulture, and earned Scientific Illustration Certificate from University of Washington. She worked as a primary illustrator on the second edition of “Flora of the Pacific Northwest” at the University of Washington Herbarium from 2015 to 2018, generating 882 new illustrations. She also illustrated new species for botanists at the herbarium for their research publications. Crystal is a Natural Science illustrator as well. She illustrates fossil drawings for a paleontologist at the Burke Museum. She is passionate about serving science as an artist. She loves working on any nature subjects found in flora and fauna. She works in graphite, pen and ink, color pencils, and watercolor. View her online portfolio at https://www.crystalshinart.com.