Drawing Nature: A look into my illustration process
Drawing Nature
Hey all,
Welcome to Drawing Nature, the companion newsletter to Human Nature, the illustrated psychology newsletter!
This is where I’ll be talking about the process behind the illustrations of Human Nature and my thoughts on illustrating and drawing in general. I’ll be sharing sketches, going into things like ideation, pencil textures, shape, colour, and thinking critically about my own work. So if you’re interested in the illustration side of things, this is for you, and if not, you can simply carry on reading Human Nature.
One of the reasons I’m starting Drawing Nature is because I’ve felt the necessity of a place to reflect on my drawing and illustration practices. Although Human Nature is a psychology newsletter, it is also where I develop my illustration work (even though, as it turns out, it might not be the best place to do it—but more on that later!). While I try to remain objective and remove myself from the writing as much as possible, I put a lot of myself into the illustrations. The way I approach content, line, composition and colour is a direct expression of who I want to be as an artist. Some attempts are better than others (especially because I usually give myself only one day to write and illustrate each article), but I think it’s precisely this trying and failing that’s interesting to discuss.
Another reason for making Drawing Nature is to give you all a chance to support my work while keeping Human Nature free. As I said from the beginning, I never intended to make money from this and I want to keep Human Nature free for all. But that means I have to take a full day off of work every two weeks to dedicate it to writing and illustrating this newsletter, which can sometimes be a tough juggling act. That’s why I wanted to offer some additional content for those who are at least partly here for the illustrations, or those who enjoy reading and want to support Human Nature!
I’ll be aiming to send out Drawing Nature the week after Human Nature posts go out, so you’ll be getting it roughly every two weeks. However, I won’t be as strict with it as I am with the main newsletter, to give myself (and you!) some space to breathe. So if you’d like to access these posts, you can become a paid subscriber when the first Drawing Nature post goes out in two weeks’s time or by pledging your support now.
As always, thanks for reading, I appreciate you being here.
See you next time,
Céline x