Any good books on trees and plants?

[Andrew Sonea]

I'm not sure if anything on this exists in the way I want...but I am looking for a book (or books) that would cover some different types of trees and plants. Something that would show a variety of species from different climates and have good illustrations or photos. Preferably multiple images per species so that I can see how it varies from individual to individual, or from looking at the textures up close vs far away. I'm not necessarily looking for an art book, but just something that shows me the design language of different species so I'm not going to paint the same blobby plants over and over, but rather will get some more unique and interesting shapes/silhouettes and textures that are more grounded on reality.

[Arshes Nei]

You can look at some Field Guides. I used to keep animal field guides around and Zoobooks as reference.

You can also use http://www.botany.com

I'd mix and match different references like Homes and Gardens, going to the library etc to increase visual reference.

[Kamber Parrk]

It's all black & white, and it's dedicated to "dry media," but Jack Hamm's Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes may help with some of the skeletal "non blobby" stuff.

[jpacer]

"The Artistic Anatomy of Trees" by Rex Vicat Cole is pretty good. It's published by Dover, so it's cheap. He does go quite a bit into growth patterns and the designs of different species, but he tends to stay focused on European trees (IIRC).

I did some googling to see if it was in public domain yet (it's not) and found that his two volume "British Trees" is available as a free e-book from Google books. I haven't read those, though, so can't comment on their usefulness.

Here's a link:

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks...rex+vicat+cole

[briggsy@ashtons]

jp, that googlebooks link doesn't seem to lead to download links outside Nth America, but both volumes plus Artistic Anatomy of Trees are on archive.org, which should work everywhere.
http://archive.org/search.php?query=...iatype%3Atexts

[JeffX99]

I know you know this already but...observation is going to be your best teacher. Books tend to deal with isolated, "ideal" trees to illustrate the particular details and patterns of the individual specimen - all good, but in nature trees more often occur in masses, groves and clumps. Understanding and capturing the character of the mass of trees, how it interacts and lies on the terrain, etc. is more important in conveying the feel of things.

In addition to the books mentioned (which are good) I would study a bunch of artists to see how they handle the same problems - variety in trees and shrubbery. Carlson is of course great for forest interiors and I would definitley look at Clyde Aspevig...and plenty more of course.

[jpacer]

jp, that googlebooks link doesn't seem to lead to download links outside Nth America, but both volumes plus Artistic Anatomy of Trees are on archive.org, which should work everywhere.
http://archive.org/search.php?query=...iatype%3Atexts

Ahh! Thanks, Briggsy! So, "Artistic Anatomy..." IS public domain. That's what I thought, but since it didn't come up with Google books I assumed otherwise. That's what I get for just using Google.

[LORD M]

jp, that googlebooks link doesn't seem to lead to download links outside Nth America, but both volumes plus Artistic Anatomy of Trees are on archive.org, which should work everywhere.
http://archive.org/search.php?query=...iatype%3Atexts

I've been looking for something like this! Thanks man!

[Andrew Sonea]

Thanks for the help so far guys! I downloaded the books in Briggsy's link, and I'll read through them when I get a chance.

[Craig D]

Books tend to deal with isolated, "ideal" trees to illustrate the particular details and patterns of the individual specimen - all good, but in nature trees more often occur in masses, groves and clumps. Understanding and capturing the character of the mass of trees, how it interacts and lies on the terrain, etc. is more important in conveying the feel of things.
.

In that case you will probably be pleasantly suprised when you look at Coles book.

[JeffX99]

In that case you will probably be pleasantly suprised when you look at Coles book.

Cool - I'll check it out.

[Birkeley]

I have a book called "Botany for the Artist" by Sarah Simblet, and found it to be excellent. It's very much parallel to an "anatomy for artists" book - it covers both the anatomy of various kinds of flowers, leaves, stalks, tree trunks and so on to improve your understanding of what you are drawing, and also drawing techniques for capturing them by building them from basic shapes (there is a particularly good section about how to easily draw leaves from any possible angle).

It's generally geared toward those wanting to make detailed drawings of plants, so if you are rather looking to create "background foliage" in paintings or illustrations another book more geared toward that might be better, but if you want to create work with plants and trees as a focal point or in foreground focus, I strongly recommend it.

[Parka81]

I recommend Botany for the Artist as well. Here's a page example.



DK Books should have thick reference books on plants and forests.

[JeffX99]

Nice! Thanks Parka!